Part 2

The stars took on a different appearance this far above the ground. Gabrielle stared out the window, trying to find familiar star formations, but at this height the stars were as unfamiliar as the landscape below.

"See that star there?" Parks pointed out the window at a small pinprick of light, not very distinguishable from the rest.

"That one?" Xena asked, trying to locate the star Parks was pointing at.

"No, the one next to it. Yeah that's it. That's Earth."

"Where our ancestors originally came from. That's where we're going now, right?"

"Soon. There's still a few things we have to do here first."

"Like what?"

"Like, we have a few marine squads down on your planet taking DNA samples."

"What do they need those for?" Xena had found out what DNA was two days ago when they were examined by a 'doctor' shortly after coming on board the UNSS Invincible with Parks.

"I don't know. Admiral Grant ordered it. Guess they're just gathering scientific data about the people. You are the first humans we've discovered living on an unexplored planet" Parks leaned back in his chair and poured himself another double shot of whisky, which he quickly swallowed. The Officers Mess wasn't as busy as it normally was at this time of day, but it was still busy enough to require the operation of all five serving droids. Along the wall opposite the bar was a low platform that played holograms of a variety of bands. Currently a contemporary band which Parks didn't really care for was being played, and was really beginning to get on his nerves despite his best efforts to ignore it. Xena, Gabrielle and Autolycus were seated with Parks around a circular table by one of the large windows which provided the officers with a grand vista of space. The three natives, as Xena, Gabrielle and Autolycus had been dubbed, were dressed in plain blue coveralls which the Star Force kept aboard their starships and issued to civilians who came aboard.

"So why isn't Hera booting them off?" Autolycus asked after a mouthful of his drink.

Parks shrugged. "Guess 'cause they're keeping quiet and avoiding contact, I guess, or maybe for another reason, I don't know. It did take her a couple of days before she did anything about me." He said rather distractedly, which concerned Xena.

"What's troubling you?" she had noticed that Parks had had something on his mind all evening.

Parks poured himself another shot, but hesitated before downing this one, thinking about how best to answer Xena's question. "Well, you know how I was relieved of duty after we returned, and had my ass chewed out by every ranking officer aboard?" he began.

Xena nodded. "Yes."

"Well, I was told today that a Board of Inquiry is being convened on Earth to examine what happened down there and decide if I should be court martialled for my actions."

"Court martialled?" Gabrielle asked.

"It's like a military trial for servicemen who have broken military law. Even if I'm acquitted, it's going to affect my chances of promotion."

"And what happens if your guilty?"

"Either a dishonourable discharge or several years in the stockade, either way it'll mean the end of my career."

"Captain on deck!" came the cry from the Marine guard as Captain David Dawson, commanding officer of the UNSS Invincible, clambered down the ladder connecting the ships Bridge to the Combat Operations Center. Immediately, everyone in the room came to attention for him.

Because of the military's love of acronyms and nicknames, the Combat Operations Centre was commonly referred to by the crew as COC, Ops, the Centre and the Cave, the last one owing to the dingy red combat lights that came on when the ship went to battlestations.

"As you were." Dawson dismissed them with a wave of his hand and everyone returned to their previous duties. "Anything to report Lieutenant?"

"Nothing much, sir. All systems are green, both sensors and Threat Board are clear and -" the Principal Warfare Officer on duty, Lt. McCormack, was about to finish his report when the crewman at the Navigational sensors noticed something on his displays.

"Gate gate gate! Incoming jump! Bearing two four three point seven eight, mark zero zero niner. Range two four zero clicks." Dawson stepped off the ladder and moved quickly to the Captains seat whilst everyone else in the room sharpened their attention and started scrutinizing their consoles more closely. 240 kilometres away from the Invincible, a somewhat smaller spacecraft emerged from a flat, 2 dimensional circle of darkness that hung strangely in our 3 dimensional space as it exited through the event horizon of the artificial wormhole it had created to shortcut the long interstellar distances.

"Do you have a make on them yet?" McCormack asked the young Electronic Warfare Officer who was responsible for target identification.

"Getting it now sir. It's a Grou'mall slave ship sir, Victor class. Designate target Sierra One"

"Grou'mall's? Damn it. Those fucking lizards again!" Dawson grumbled to himself. "Advise them that this is UN space and order them to stand down." Dawson ordered.

"Aye sir. Comms, radio Sierra One and order them to stand down." McCormack relayed the Captains order to the appropriate crewman, who quickly carried it out. Then all hell broke loose.

"VAMPIRE VAMPIRE VAMPIRE!" the passive sensors crewman used the code word for a thermally guided missile, "MULTIPLE INBOUND TRACKS! BEARING TWO FOUR THREE POINT SEVEN EIGHT, MARK ZERO ZERO NINER. RANGE TWO TWO EIGHT AND CLOSING FAST." the warning was shouted.

"Oh shit!" was all Dawson could manage before his training and experience took over. "Evasive maneuvers. Shields up and launch decoys. Sound General Quarters." All through the ship, a loud alarm sounded as everyone flew into a flurry of well drilled activity.

"Fuck! What now?" Parks asked irritably as he jumped to his feet.

"What in Tartarus is that?" Autolycus said as the other three stood as well.

"General Quarters, battlestations. Since I'm relieved of duty, I have to report to the Brig. You guys stay with Williamson." Parks told them as he quickly joined the crush of officers trying to leave the mess and reach their posts as quickly as possible. After most of them had exited, a large man in the grey Marine duty uniform and wearing corporal's stripes, poked his head around the door and beckoned the natives to follow him. He led them down a maze of corridors until they reached a stretch with several open doors and a number of armed marines standing guard. These doors were larger and thicker than most other doors onboard, and inside each of them, Xena could see several padded seats lying on their backs so anyone sitting in them would be facing up rather than forward. The corporal, whose name was Brian Williamson and who had been assigned as the natives escort whilst they were aboard and took responsibility for them at times like this, pushed them through the nearest door and ordered them to strap themselves to the seats.

"What is this?" Gabrielle asked .

"Escape pods. This is where you are to be when General Quarters is sounded. Understood?" he ordered.

"Why are we here?" asked Xena "shouldn't we be helping to fight?"

"Not you three. As civilians, you three are the first to be evacuated if this ship takes a critical hit or is boarded and lost. Subsequently we wait here until the all clear is sounded." he explained for them.

"Is the Phalanx on-line?" Dawson asked.

"Phalanx is on-line." a crewman confirmed. The Phalanx Close-In-Weapons-System was a modern version of a twentieth century point defence system deployed on the warships of that time. When a missile got close enough, a high speed autocannon, directed by its own targeting radar, would open fire and hopefully shoot the missile down. The modern version worked on the same principle, except it used a rapid fire Molecular Destabilization Projector and modern sensors to target and destroy incoming weapons at a greater range and accuracy than the original.

"Time to impact?"

"Thirty seconds." McCormack read off a timer on the wall that counted down the time until the first missile detonated.

"Time 'till missiles are in Phalanx range?"

"Twenty five seconds."

"It's gonna be close."

A group of five self guided missiles were fast closing on the Invincible, each of them carrying a fusion warhead large enough to annihilate a comet. As they approached, the barrels from several Phalanx cannons swiveled, each targeting a different missile, until their computers established a firm lock on their assigned targets. The cannons tracked them until they entered their respective ranges, were they opened fire. A rapid series of white flashes discharged from the cannons as all five missiles where safely disintegrated only moments before reaching the Invincible.

"Tracks one through five have been destroyed. Sierra One is still closing on us fast on one six five mark two two, range eighteen clicks." The crewman studied the targets projected course for a moment more, unable to believe what he was seeing, "Holy shit! They're gonna hit us!"

McCormack stared at the large three dimensional holographic tactical display in disbelief, watching the target speed toward them, leaving no time for them to move out of the way. "They can't be serious. Sir, they're on a direct collision course with us!"

"I can see that Lieutenant. Shields to max, brace for impact."

Another siren, an urgent, high-pitched whistling this time, sounded throughout the ship, along with an ominous voice "Brace brace brace. All hands, brace for impact."

"What's going on now? Impact with what?" Autolycus asked.

"Just do it!" Williamson ordered sternly.

To the crew of the Invincible it appeared that the captain of Sierra One was intending to ram them. In actual fact, this was exactly what the Grou'mall captain wanted them to think. At two hundred metres from the Invincible, the agile slave ship suddenly altered course to fly along the top of the Invincible at a distance of one hundred metres. As it did, dozens of energy beams lanced out from the underside of it, striking all over the Invincible. Luckily the shields bore the brunt of the attack, but the ship was still severely shaken by the blasts. In Ops, the red combat lights flickered briefly and some data displays died as they lost either power or their information feed. Sierra One flew straight over the top of the Invincible and turned to dive directly at the planet.

"Son of a bitch! Bastard turned at the last minute and instead sprayed us with fire."

"Where's he going now?" McCormack asked the ensign.

"He's heading straight for the surface, sir. Looks like a small town on the coast of the Aegean Sea."

"Can you get a lock?" Dawson asked

"Negative sir. Computer can't calculate a firing solution." McCormack answered.

"Do we have anything on the ground?"

"Just a marine squad taking DNA samples from the village." McCormack consulted a display.

"Launch the fighters, then. Shoot to kill. See if they can't get them before those lizards kidnap some slaves."

Marine Captain Breeana Arnold surveyed the crowd of people gathered in the marketplace. Her squad was quietly hiding in the alleys between buildings, using their sensors to remotely take DNA samples from the inhabitants whilst keeping well away from them. As long as none of the inhabitants got too close, their camouflage systems kept them hidden, even in plain sight. Their suites did this by taking on the appearance of what was around them, much like a chameleon could change its skin colour to blend in with its surroundings, and they did this so well that they could stand in front of a wall, in plain sight, and anyone just glancing at the wall would not notice a thing. Of course, if they were to look closely at the wall, then that was another story.

Arnold watched the crowd work, they appeared to be building a fountain or something. She reminded herself that the culture around here was very similar to Ancient Greece, so it could have been an aqueduct for all she knew. One man caught her eye. He was taller than the rest, with long brown hair and the well built physique of someone who was no stranger to manual labour. Arnold watched as the man lifted a rock that looked to weigh well over a tonne. She consulted her handscanner and confirmed the mass of the stone. Now she was extremely puzzled. That man should not have been able to lift such a heavy rock all on his own. Arnold watched as the man put the rock down as a short man with blonde hair and carrying a bucket and ladle approached him.

"Hey Hercules, you want a drink?"

"Thanks Iolaus." Hercules took the ladle of water offered to him.

"So how's the fountain going?" Iolaus asked as Hercules swallowed a large mouthful.

"Well, we're getting there." Hercules said as he passed the ladle back.

"Ah. Okay, well I'll just finish my rounds then lend you a hand."

"Thanks." Hercules said as Iolaus moved on to offer a drink to the next man along.

Arnold had tuned her audio systems to listen in and translate their conversation, and was some what surprised to learn the tall one was named Hercules. Arnold remembered learning about the mythological Hercules, or Heracles as he was originally known as, and his twelve tasks in high school. This Hercules didn't seem to act like the legend she had been taught about, but he certainly had the strength. Arnold was broken from her train of thought by a voice over her radio.

"Oscar five, Oscar five, this is Invincible. We're tracking a bogey inbound to your position from southwest high orbit. ETA is twelve, over."

"Invincible, Oscar five. Okay, we'll keep our heads up. Over."

"Oscar five, be advised bogey is a Grou'mall slave ship. Do what you can to prevent them taking any slaves. Over."

"Invincible, Oscar five. Understood. Out." Calling Sergeant Mansfield over and switching to a secure channel, they quickly discussed tactics.

"We can't evacuate the villagers?" Mansfield asked.

"Too many, and not enough time. Besides, the Lizards sensors would find them in no time." Arnold shook her head.

"Well we can't hope to shoot 'em down, not with what we got. But, they do have to drop their shields to take on slaves, so I'd say trying to take out their tractor beams before they snatch any villages."

"Sounds like all we can do at this time. Lets go with it. Put Chavez on lookout on top of a building and have the others take up concealed firing positions outside the village. Fire on my signal. I'll take care of the primitives, they're going to go ape shit when they see the Lizards."

"Right ma'am." Mansfield left to get the rest of the squad ready. He didn't bother saluting Arnold though, you never saluted an officer in a combat zone, and this area was about to get very hot, very soon.

"What the fuck are Lizards doing here, Cap?" Private Francisco Chavez asked whilst looking for a way to climb to the top of the tallest building in the village.

"They're Lizards, buddy. Lizards don't need a reason. Fuckers think they're masters of the universe." Corporal Mohammed Raman interjected.

"Okay, everyone shut up. Position check." Arnold ordered.

"Chavez, check, but I don't see jack shit up here."

"O'Conner, check." Private Sarah O'Conner said from her position amongst some bushes by the road leading out of the village to the west.

"Krushev, check." Private Jack Krushev reported in from a nearby rock formation.

"Lee, check." Private Hwung Lee called in from a clump of trees.

"Foreman, check." Private Natalie Foreman reported from somewhere in the woods by the village.

"Raman, check." he said from a clump of trees by the road on the other side of town to O'Conner.

"Mansfield, check." The Sergeant was hiding in the same woods as Foreman, but a good distance from her.

"Everyone stay alert, they'll be here any minute now. Chavez, you just watch the sky and tell me if you see anything."

"Nothing yet ma'am -. Wait a minute, I think I see something up high, getting closer. Looks like a Lizard slave ship alright. What is that, a Victor class?"

"How far Franky?" Mansfield asked.

"Thirty eight clicks, Sergeant." Chavez read the distance off the laser rangefinder in his helmet.

Iolaus had passed the bucket and ladle to one of the women to continue handing out water to the men and joined Hercules in moving heavy stones so that skilled masons, which the town had gone to an enormous expense to import from Athens, could cut them into the required shape for the fountain. The fountain was being built on the remains of an old well, and which the town had decided to turn into something more useful which would put them on the map. So they had spared no expense to make a fountain worthy of Caesar himself. When Hercules and Iolaus had arrived on their way through, and seeing as they were in no real hurry anyway, they had decided to lend a hand. Now Iolaus paused to take a breath and check the position of the sun, when he saw a shape descending from the heavens.

"Hey Herc, what do you suppose that is?" He pointed out the rapidly growing shape to the demi-god.

"I don't know Iolaus, but I don't think it's good." By now other people were stopping and taking notice of the object that had grown large enough that it was blocking out the sun. Soon everyone stood, staring in awe and curiosity at the strange sight.

"So far, so good. They're just staring at it." Arnold skulked around the entrance to the alley, ready to sprint into action when the inevitable panic started.

And start it did. When the object stopped its descent less then 150 metres above the ground, people started their flight away from it. A section of its underside slide open, revealing a pitch black interior. As the population panicked, some of them began to rise into the sky towards the opening, pulled by some unseen force into it. Hercules and Iolaus were trying to direct people out of the town and away from the object, making sure no one was left behind.

Arnold tapped out three short dashes into her radio, the signal to open fire, before moving through the panic stricken crowd, pulling people to their feet who had fallen down and roughly pushing people who were moving in the wrong direction, into the right one. All around the village the flashes from the Marines MDP's flared in rapid succession, and more flashes appeared inside the opening as the squad tried to hit the tractor beams which were pulling villages into the ship to become slaves to the Grou'malls. As Arnold had guessed, the Grou'malls responded in kind. The same energy beams that had battered the Invincible now lanced out once again in search of the hidden Marines, but they didn't confine their fire to the area outside the town where they were hidden, they fired inside the town as well. Explosions ripped across the marketplace and around the town, sending bits of bodies flying. Arnold moved cautiously through the carnage as a nearby building was blown apart. The body of a woman landed on the ground in front of her, her dead eyes fixed on Arnold. She stared at the dead face contorted in pain and terror, yet sensed there was a vague familiarity about it. Turning away, she put the woman out of her mind. After all, it wasn't the first dead body she had ever seen.

"Iolaus, get that child over there." Hercules pointed to a small girl who was standing and crying in the middle of the marketplace as best he could with his arms already full of wounded and frightened children.

"Right." Iolaus yelled as he dashed over to grab the girl and pull her out of the way of a bolting horse in the nick of time. Handing the girl back to her terrified mother and sprinting to catch up with Hercules, Iolaus felt a strange tugging on him and his feet leave the ground as he rose into the air. "HERCULES!" he yelled.

Hercules spun around to see his friend being pulled toward the strange thing in the sky. "IOLAUS!" he yelled. But there was nothing he could do as Iolaus was already out of his reach. He just stared in desperation as his best friend disappeared inside the thing whilst buildings exploded around him.

Chavez fired aimlessly into the opening in the hopes of either hitting a tractor beam projector or one of the captured villagers. Even though any villagers he hit would die, Chavez consoled himself with the thought that it would be preferable than life as a Grou'mall slave. A nearby building exploded, forcing Chavez to duck the flying debris from it. Fuck this! I'm getting the fuck off this thing! Chavez thought as he crawled to the edge of the roof. As he rolled over the edge, one of the energy beams hit the spot where Chavez had been just seconds ago, ripping the building apart and blowing him clear across the marketplace.

Hercules was still staring at the opening when he heard a loud thump on his right. He turned his head in search of what had made the noise and his half-god senses picked out something the size and shape of a man lying on the ground. Handing the wounded children to a group of villagers passing by, Hercules went to investigate. Kneeling down beside the object, he was about to touch it when he was roughly pushed out of the way by...... nothing. Hercules sat on his haunches and watched in utter amazement as both the shape on the ground and another shape that was kneeling over him seemingly changed their appearance into two figures wearing what Hercules could only guess to be some sort of armour. The second figure that was kneeling over the first removed its helmet, revealing an attractive young woman with shoulder length blonde hair that was tied back in a tight pony tail. The woman reached down and practically tore the helmet off the first, revealing a young man with an appearance and skin colour that Hercules had never seen before. The demi-god watched as the woman shouted at the man and shook him gently before checking the mans airways and breathing by placing two fingers alongside the mans neck in a spot that Hercules recognized as one regularly used by Xena on wounded people. The woman picked up her helmet and spoke into it in a language he had never heard before.

Arnold was relieved that Chavez hadn't died from that explosion. She'd lost soldiers under her command before, but Chavez was one of a kind and Arnold didn't want to lose him. After checking his vital signs, Arnold turned to look at Hercules, and decided on the spot that she could trust him. Using sign language she motioned for him to stay and watch Chavez before moving off to continue trying to control the panic.

Hercules watched as the woman pointed first at him, then her eye and then at the man lying unconscious on the ground. He realized that she wanted him to stay and watch the man, so he nodded his co-operation as she moved off in a hurry.

Arnold was trying to re-direct people away from the town and into the surrounding woods when suddenly the Lizard ship stopped firing, closed up the opening and began to move away. Arnold watched, trying to figure out why they had suddenly called off their raid, when the answer came in a flight of three fighters screaming out of the sun with their weapons blazing. The fighters turned in formation to chase the slave ship.

Lt. Chris Hamilton led the flight that had been scrambled to shoot down the Grou'mall ship. They had fired on the Lizards to get them to cease their raid so they could raise their shields to defend themselves against the fighters. Now that the lizards were fleeing, Hamilton directed his flight to give chase. They had been instructed to shoot down the Grou'malls at a low altitude in order to minimize the number of captured slaves that would be killed in the eventual crash.

"Red Crown, Baker one. We're on the bandits six and are pursuing."

"Baker one, Red Crown. Copy that." The controller aboard the Invincible acknowledged.

"Okay, now we got his attention, let's go missiles and smoke him." Hamilton instructed his flight to switch from energy weapons, which weren't powerful enough to break through the Grou'malls shields, to missiles which were armed with miniature fusion warheads, not as powerful as the ones launched against the Invincible, but powerful enough to punch through their shields.

"Copy that. Baker two, going heat."

"Baker three, going heat."

"Baker one, going heat." Hamilton thumbed the selector switch on his control stick until he selected a self-guiding heat-seeking missile that would home in on the heat of the spaceship. The computer started playing a low tone in his helmet to inform him that the missile was acquiring its target. When the missile had gotten a firm lock on the target, the tone changed from a low to high pitch and on his helmet visor, amongst the clutter of other targeting and flight data, the word 'Shoot' appeared and began to flash. "I got tone, I got tone!" he announced to his wingmen that he was preparing to fire.

"Shoot that sucker!" Baker two encouraged.

"Baker one, fox one!" Parks announced as he squeezed the trigger. Almost immediately, a missile leapt from the starboard launch tube and began tracking towards its target.

"Baker three, fox one!"

"Baker two, fox one!" The other members of the flight launched their missiles using targeting data transmitted from Hamilton's fighter. All three missiles flew straight and true, detonating within a second of each other on the rear of the slave ship, destroying the engineering section of it and causing it to suddenly drop from the sky like a fallen stone.

"We got him! He's going down, he's going down! Red Crown, we got the bastard!" Hamilton shouted in jubilation over his kill.

"Baker one, Red Crown. We copy that. Good job. Stay on station and track the wreckage."

"Will do Red Crown."

Two hours after the raid, Arnold wandered through the mass of survivors who sat huddled in small groups whilst medics from the Invincible and the other UN ships in the solar system went between them, attending to the injured and trying to comfort the survivors. The death toll from the attack numbered in the hundreds, with more dead or missing than survivors. Arnold thanked God that none of her squad had been killed. Chavez would have to be shipped back to base for medical attention, but other than that everyone came out of it unscratched. Admiral Grant had traveled down to the surface to inspect the area himself and had consulted with the few surviving town councilors as to what would be done with the survivors. But this did not concern Arnold, she was looking for Hercules but was not having much like in finding him.

Hercules stood on a hill and surveyed the scene below him. The town of Pethia lay a smoldering ruin and what few survivors there were had gathered in a small huddle to receive aid from the visitors.

"Terrible, isn't it." A voice from behind him. Hercules didn't need to turn around to know whose it was.

"Why did this have to happen, father?" Hercules asked, trying to hold back the grief in his voice.

Zeus took a few steps forward so he was standing next to his son. "It was inevitable. I knew they would come, and now is the time. What truly saddens me is that you must now go with them. You cannot stay here anymore."

"What?" Hercules asked, turning around to face the King of the Gods. "Why?"

"I cannot tell you now. You will find out in due course. Trust me Hercules, I know what I am doing, and what must happen."

"But I don't even speak the same language as them." Zeus touched Hercules forehead.

"Now you do."

"But why must I go with them?"

"Because that is the path the Fates have determined for you. Do not worry, you will return in time. But for now, they are where your destiny lies. In time, everything will turn out for the best"

"How can you say that after something like this? What about all those people down there, suffering? What about all those people that have been kidnapped and will be forced into slavery? Don't you care about them?"

"I do care Hercules! But certain events must come to pass before we see any good out of this. You cannot make fine wine without squashing a few grapes Hercules, even you must realize that by now."

"I'm not concerned about what will happen, I'm concerned about the here and now. There are people suffering down there, and once again you refuse to use your powers to help them."

"You should be concerned about what will happen, Hercules. You will see. It is all for the best." Zeus said as he faded away. Exasperated, Hercules turned to stomp away down the hill, but found his path blocked by the woman he had seen appear earlier during the attack.

"I've got a few questions I want to ask you." she said forcefully.

"What the hell are we going to do with them?" Admiral James Grant wondered aloud to himself. He was standing off to the side of the huddle of survivors with Dawson and Captain Arrafat of the UNSS Carter.

"Relocation off-planet I suppose. Too dangerous to keep them here, now they know about us." Arrafat said.

"Guess so. Whichever way, it's out of our hands. The Security Council is due to make a decision on Wednesday, but they'll probably argue so much it won't get made until the end of next week." Dawson said cynically.

"Yeah, probably." Arrafat agreed with him.

"Sir." Grant's personal aid appeared and handed him a computer pad with a recently received communiqué from Fleet Command before disappearing back whence he had come. Grant took it and read it before letting out an exasperated sigh and handing the pad to Dawson, who read it as well.

"Now we find out the Grou'mall's may have gained intelligence on our mission." Dawson waved the pad around.

"I assume they're going to keep this one quiet?" Arrafat asked.

"That's the word from HQ. How's the search going?" Grant inquired about the search that was being conducted for the wreckage of the Grou'mall ship which had disintegrated before crashing in the Alps, spreading the wreckage over a large area of rugged, mountainous terrain. To complicate matters, the Grou'mall's reactor had exploded, raining radioactive material over the area. The radioactivity wasn't high enough to be lethal, but continued exposure to it would result in radiation poisoning, so it was imperative that they find any survivors soon. The radiation also interfered with their lifeform sensors to the point that they were next to useless at long range, meaning they would have to physically search the area for survivors instead of locating them from orbit. Another consideration was the cold, it was towards the end of winter and though it was starting to warm up, the temperature would never get much above freezing.

"Damn slow. The geography is just too different from the Alps on Earth, which makes our maps useless. We're going to have to get the entire wing in there to search every valley and peak if we hope to find anything." Dawson said grimly.

"If we had someone who knows the terrain, it would speed up the search. Those three on the Invincible maybe?" Arrafat said.

Grant shrugged. "Couldn't hurt to ask them. If they say yes, take 'em to the base camp to co-ordinate the searches there." He was about to turn to board his shuttle and head back to the Invincible when he heard someone call out his name.

"Sir? Admiral Grant?" A young female Marine Captain marched up to the small group, followed by a tall native, came to attention and snapped a salute at Grant, who absently returned it.

"Yes, what is it Captain?"

"Sir, someone here I think you should meet. Says his name's Hercules."

"Hercules? Like the son of Zeus, Hercules? Dawson asked.

"That's what he says, sir."

Grant addressed the primitive, "So, your Hercules. What can we do for you?" Grants WristComp translated his English into Ancient Greek.

"I'd like to join your search for the captured villagers." He stated plainly in english, to everyone's surprise.

"You speak english?" Dawson asked.

"Zeus changed my language so I could speak with you." he explained.

"Can you guide us through the mountains they crashed in?" Grant asked.

"No, but I'm willing to help in any other way."

"I'm sorry. What we really need is someone who knows those mountains. Since you don't, there's really nothing you can help us with." Grant turned to walk back to his shuttle.

"I said I'd help in whatever way I could. My best friend was one of those kidnapped, and I'll do whatever it takes to get him back. And if you won't help me, then I'll do it myself." Hercules said forcefully. Grant turned to listen to Hercules speech, and afterwards considered what he said for a few moments.

"You realize he's probably dead, not many people survive a thing like that. And if he did survive, the cold will probably get him in a matter of hours."

"Then I suggest we get a move on."

Iolaus opened his eyes and immediately shut them again to protect against the sudden glare of light. After a few moments, he slowly opened them again. His first impressions were of extreme cold, light and a thumping pain in his head. He lifted his head up off the cold ground and examined his surroundings, and discovered the cause of his chill. Snow. Somehow, he had gotten himself half buried in a snow drift in the middle of a rugged mountain range. He had lost consciousness after being lifted off the ground and into the flying object, his last memories before blacking out were of him calling for Hercules, who could only watch helplessly as he floated away. He tried to sit up, but every time he did he was punished by a sharp pain in his chest and a wave of dizziness and nausea that was overpowering. Slowly, taking his time, he pushed himself into a sitting position and finally to his feet. Hugging himself to try to keep warm, he thanked the Gods that none of his bones seemed to be broken, and looked around. Scattered around the snow drift were over a dozen bodies, all apparently dead. Hurrying as best he could in his condition over to the nearest body, he discovered the man was indeed dead. Iolaus had been one of the few lucky ones to survive the crash. The section of the ship he had been stored in separated from the rest of it relatively intact and had fallen into a valley filled with deep snow drifts. On the descent, the section had disintegrated further and scattered its captives over the area. Most died on impact, but Iolaus, luckily, had landed in a drift that had cushioned his landing somewhat, but he hadn't come out of it unscathed. Every time he moved, he had a sharp stabbing pain in his chest, and ached all over.

"I'm sorry, but I need this more than you do at the moment." He apologized as he removed the man's cloak and wrapped it around himself. But he still wasn't warm enough, so he stripped the clothes from several other bodies and put them on, wincing all the time at the sharp pain. Only just warm enough to avoid freezing to death, he made his way to the body of a young woman who had landed in a deep drift like him. Thinking her dead like the rest, he understandably jumped when the woman's hand flinched. Almost sprinting the last few steps, he knelt down and rolled her onto her back which brought the woman back to consciousness. Glancing at her body to make sure she had no serious wounds, he noticed her rounded belly and realized the woman was very pregnant.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

"I don't think so, I don't feel any pain." she said groggily before jolting awake "My baby!" Iolaus didn't know much about unborn babies, but he placed his hands on her stomach anyway to try and feel for it, when he felt something gently push against his hand. "Oh, did you feel that, he kicked." she said gleefully.

Iolaus grinned. "Yeah, I guess this means he's okay. Here let me help you up." he said, offering her his hand and pulling her to her feet. "What's your name?" he asked as he wrapped several cloaks around her.

"Agapenthe."

"I'm Iolaus. We should get out of here and find a cave or something." he suggested. The two started walking uphill, stopping at every body along the way to scavening more clothes to stay warm.

Xena surveyed the camp as she stepped out of the shuttle and joined Corporal Williamson on the makeshift landing pad, a flat area of ground that had been compacted down until it could take the weight of the space craft that would be landing on it. Gabrielle and Autolycus followed her out.

"Didn't think I'd be seeing this so soon." Autolycus commented absently as he sucked in the fresh mountain air.

"So soon? We're you planning on coming back, against Hera's orders, sometime?" Xena asked.

Autolycus realized his mistake and hastily replied "Oh, no! No no no no no! I meant....... well, you know what I mean." he said, slightly guilty over his slip of the tongue.

Xena just gave a little, knowing, smile. "Yes, I know what you mean." she said as Williamson led them to a large tent that had been erected towards the centre of the camp and which he had been directed to by a young Private. They had swapped their blue coveralls for Marine fatigues and combat suits and had been given a crash course in how to use them before they left. Xena was openly impressed by the suits abilities and had resolved to learn how to use one properly, but when she inquired about this she was told she'd have to sign up with the military to use one.

The inside of the tent was both familiar and yet foreign to her. As she expected the command tent was full of maps, officers and reports. But in this tent; the maps were all holographic and more accurate than she would have dared dream, the officers, of which there were few, focused on certain tasks and were structured in a very organized chain of command rather than all gathered around a central map and bouncing strategies off each other, and the reports were all done in real time by computers rather than written reports being hand delivered by a runner. All this resulted in the commander receiving an enormous amount of up to date information, information that was crucial to victory in a battle. As they entered, a middle aged man in a marine officers uniform who had been watching a holographic replay of the shooting down of the Grou'mall ship, spotted them, stopped the replay and went over to greet them. Williamson came to attention and the two men exchanged salutes.

"Sir, the three natives who are here to help your search." Williamson informed him.

"Mmm-hmmm. Your their escort, I assume?"

"Yes sir."

"Very good Corporal. Go get yourself a coffee and then just hang for a while."

"Yes sir." Williamson dismissed himself whilst the officer turned to the other three.

"So your our guides? I'm Major George Freeman, I'm in command down here." he introduced himself and shook hands with them. All three of them were still trying to get into the habit of actually shaking hands rather than gripping forearms in a Roman handshake.

"I'm Xena and this is Gabrielle and Autolycus." Xena indicated the other two whilst eyeing the Major whose skin was as black as the coffee they had been introduced to and whose hair was just starting to go grey. Freeman nodded hello at Gabrielle and Autolycus before turning to a large holographic map of snow capped mountains in the centre of the tent. Xena saw that there were large gaps in the map and guessed she was there to fill those gaps.

"As you can see, we haven't been able to map most of the area where the wreckage fell. The ships in orbit are giving it their best, but they were built for fighting, not geological surveys. Their sensors are having a hard time seeing into the valleys, so we're having to send assets out there to inspect them for wreckage or survivors at close range. So far we've found fifteen pieces of wreckage and only three survivors, they were here." he pointed to a red dot in a shallow valley full of snow drifts.

"Where are they now?" Xena asked before Freeman could continue.

"The survivors were flown directly to the Invincible, the wreckage too, after coming through here first. We're leaving the bodies of those who've died already until last, then we'll hand them over to the survivors. And the sooner we finish searching, the more survivors there'll be."

"And you want us to show you the most likely areas for survivors." Xena continued. Freeman nodded.

"All the ones we've found alive were either already secured in the stasis pods by the Lizards or landed in a deep snow drift which cushioned them after a short fall."

"Well, I know these two valleys here have deep snow drifts in them." Xena pointed to two unexplored valleys. Freeman noted them and pressed a button on the map controls which overlaid a tactical display, showing the positions of all their assets in the area, as well as several coded designators for all points of reference and items of interest. Calling the Captain in control of all air assets over, he showed him the valleys Xena had pointed out.

"Check out Valleys Delta Zero Eighteen and Oscar Two Thirteen, ASAP."

"Closest flights are Tango and Juliet, they're on their way to inspect some promising sensor returns in these valleys." The Captain pointed to two separate valleys. "It'll take 'em about ten minutes to divert and check out those valleys."

"Well, what else do you have?"

"Baker flight's just finished with Valley Quebec Three Thirteen. I could redirect them, but that'll take twelve minutes."

"Okay then, run with Baker."

"Yes sir." The captain left to issue the necessary orders, as an odd commotion started outside.

"What's going on outside?" Xena asked.

"That's just some wreckage we've recovered. Comes here where we do a preliminary search to sort the important parts from the scrap."

"What's important?" Autolycus asked.

"Technology, records, maps, computer records and so forth. Anything with intelligence value." Freeman suddenly remembered something. "Oh, there's somebody on that recovery flight who you might like to meet." he said leading them out of the tent and to the edge of the camp where several large piles of mangled wreckage were stacked. A shuttle with a tractor beam was hovering over the area, dumping a load of wreckage, which a team of Marines would sort through. The shuttle, after releasing its tractor beam, gently settled down on a nearby patch of compacted ground long enough to allow several more people to jump from it. One of the people who left the shuttle was instantly recognizable.

"Hercules?!" Autolycus stated, flabbergasted. The demi-god turned, saw them and broke into a huge smile as he jogged over to greet them. Like them, he was dressed in fatigues and a combat suit. A young, attractive, female marine followed him over.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I could ask you the same question." Xena smiled at him as they shook hands. "What are you doing here?" she motioned towards the piles of wreckage.

"I'm helping them sort it all out. It's about the only thing they could find for me to do."

"Where's Iolaus?" Gabrielle asked, searching for him in the crowd.

"Iolaus was one of the ones kidnapped. That's why I'm helping them search."

"And he's doing a pretty good job so far." said the woman with Hercules.

"Xena, this is Captain Breeana Arnold." Hercules introduced the Marine to the warrior.

"Pleased to meet you." They shook hands. "So your the ones who helped Mike get back?"

"That's right. How do you know him?"

"We went to high school together. How's he doing? I only got to talk to him for a few minutes before being dropped on this planet."

"He said he might be court martialled for his actions." Arnolds eyes opened wide in surprise.

"Court martialled? I knew he'd face some disciplinary actions, but I didn't think it would go to a court martial. He's got to be shitting himself."

"Well he is pretty down." Gabrielle added.

"Captain, this is Gabrielle and Autolycus." Xena introduced her two friends.

"Well, it's nice meeting you. I've got to go fill in some paperwork now, I'll see you around." Arnold said as she turned and left for the Command tent.

"Hercules, do they have any idea where Iolaus is?"

Iolaus and Agapenthe were moving painfully slowly, a result from the deep snow, the cold sapping their energy and Agapenthe's unborn baby. In the two and a half hours they had been moving, they had walked only eight kilometres, with Agapenthe having to stop and rest every couple of hundred metres. Iolaus had decided the best place for them to find a cave to shelter in was around the base of some cliffs high up on the mountains that formed the walls of the valley. As they drew closer, Iolaus had picked out a large cave about six hundred metres ahead. Now they were almost to it and Iolaus was wondering what to do after they got there For starters he needed to find some wood for a fire, plus he needed to find some food and water. The later wouldn't be a problem, all they had to do was melt some snow to get their water, but they still needed a cup or some other container.

"Come on, just a few more steps." Iolaus said encouragingly, helping her up the last few metres.

"Thank you Iolaus." Agapanthe sat down at the mouth of the cave to rest. "We've come a long way." she commented as she looked back down at the valley where they had started off from.

"Well, we've still got to go a lot further." Iolaus said leaning back against the side of the cave. "But now I've got to find us some food." he wondered how he could find anything to eat in this wilderness.

"Maybe you could catch one of those birds." Agapanthe pointed at a group of distant shapes moving silently through the air. Iolaus watched the shapes for a moment as they quickly grew closer, and suddenly a sense of panic struck him.

"In the cave, now!" He dragged the pregnant woman as gently as he could away from the opening.

"Yeah, I got 'em. Three bipedal life signs underground. Looks like they're sheltering in a cave." Hamilton said over the radio. "Radiation is screwing up my readings like a mother fucker though. Either of you getting anything better?"

"Nah, my lifescans are screwing up as much as yours." Lt. Kim Soong, Baker Two, said.

"Got the same here, sir." Ensign Helmut Wykurz, Baker three, reported.

"Okay, we'll call it in as three possible survivors plus wreckage and bodies." Hamilton decided.

"Iolaus, why are we running?" Agapanthe desperately asked as Iolaus dragged them deeper into the cave. They had gone so deep now that the sun was having difficulty shinning its light for them to see, and as such they stumbled over unseen rocks, stalagmites and the generally rough and slippery floor of the cave. The cave was sloping upwards and Iolaus had to be careful he didn't lead them over a precipice.

"Because we can't let them catch us again."

"Who? Who's going to catch us?"

"Let me put it this way, those weren't birds you saw." And Agapanthe knew immediately what he meant.

"What is after us? And why?" Iolaus stopped to let Agapanthe rest and he sat down on a blunt stalagmite.

"I don't know." he shook his head, "It's not anything to do with the gods, and it's not like any monster I've ever encountered before. Whatever it is, I have no idea."

"Will it find us in here?"

"I hope not. I'm going to see how much further this cave goes. Don't worry," Iolaus added quickly in response to the fear that gripped Agapanthe's face. "I'll be back shortly. You just stay right there and don't make a sound."

"Okay. Don't leave me alone for too long. I get scared when I'm alone." Iolaus smiled, trying to allay her fear.

"I won't be too long." he said strolling deeper into the cave.

Agapanthe turned her head from side to side, searching the darkness for any signs of danger. There were none. The silence was both scary and welcome. It was scary because she did not know what lurked out of sight, and welcome because the rational part of her mind told her nothing dangerous could live in these freezing conditions, that the only danger was from the cold and hunger instead of from the teeth and claws of some beast. Time was passing, but Agapanthe stayed where Iolaus had told her to. To pass the time she started humming to herself, an old tune she remembered from her childhood. A childhood that had been happy and carefree, untouched and unaffected by wars, hunger and other miseries that plagued her society. Until now, she thought as she reflected back over the past few hours.

Just as she was beginning to calm down and relax, Agapanthe began to hear a soft scraping. The scraping started and stopped, then started up again before stopping again and repeating the whole process. The walls of the cave echoed the sound around enough so that she was unable to locate its source.

"Iolaus? Is that you?" Agapanthe called out in a voice mixed with hope and fear. She was answered with a low guttural sound, somewhere between a growl and a snarl she thought, that could not possibly have been human.

The dropship circled high over the valley floor whilst the pilot looked for a relatively decent spot to land in amongst the wreckage and snow drifts. Finding none, she decided to perform a soft landing, touching down just long enough for people to debark whilst keeping her engines powered to prevent the full weight of the dropship compacting the snow underneath and burying it. In the main troop compartment, a platoon of Reconnaissance Marines, the elite of the United Nations Marine Corp., were making final preparations and equipment checks. Since all the Search and Rescue Marines, the troops specially trained to rescue stranded and often wounded humans from behind enemy lines, were deployed elsewhere, the decision to use the Recon Marines had been made. Squeezed in amongst them all were four people who clearly did not belong there.

"Explain to me again why you need so many people to search a cave?" Autolycus asked as he struggled to attach his helmet to his suit.

"Well, for starters we have no idea what's in that cave, so there's safety in numbers. Secondly, it's a big cave and will take a while to search it, so the more people we have to search with, the faster it'll go." Williamson said as he took Autolycus's helmet and snapped it into place with a faint hiss as it sealed.

"Okay, makes sense. Guess I'm just used to working alone. All this strategy and teamwork is more Xena's style."

"Well in the Marines, teamwork is the operative word." Williamson said as he moved on to check on Gabrielle. The light in the compartment suddenly switched, bathing everything in an eerie red light as two words were spoken across the intercom, "One minute".

"What happens in one minute?" Gabrielle asked as Williamson checked her life-support controls.

"That's when the hatch opens and we jump out." he stated simply. All through the compartment, Marines performed a few final checks, shared a few words, and made a few last jokes. All up, there was a jovial sense of purpose in the compartment, which surprised Xena. She would have expected an atmosphere like this from her army, but not from soldiers as extremely well disciplined as these. Xena knew the main reason armies like the Roman army were so feared was because of their unwavering discipline, a characteristic she had tried to drill into her troops but had not had much success. You couldn't expect a group of mercenary cutthroats like those to behave like professional soldiers, now could you?

"Is this what it's normally like when you go into battle?" she asked Arnold who was seated next to her.

"No, not at all. This is just a job we get stuck with every once in a while. Normally when we go into combat the atmosphere's a lot more tense. Nobody says much, cause they're too busy with other thoughts. If this were a combat drop, by this time we'd all be praying to God to see us through alive." Xena nodded in understanding. What Arnold described was very much what her army would go through as they lined up on the field, right before the battle, except they often prayed to Ares or one of the other pantheon of gods, not Arnolds' Christian god. The fact that the god worshipped by these Christians, Jews and Muslims was the same god that the Hebrews on her planet worshipped failed to escape Xena who made the connection upon learning of Him. Xena was sure that religion hadn't been carried to her planet when the Gods had left Earth. Why would they bring with them the very reason for them to leave? This had Xena very intrigued and she had already made up her mind to investigate it further.

Xena was brought out of her train of thought by the gentle settling of the dropship as it came to a slight rest on the ground, with hardly any of its weight on the snow. The hatch swung open and everyone filed out, with the four natives bringing up the rear with Williamson and Arnold. After everyone had disembarked, the pilot closed the hatch and began ascending again to wait in a geosynchronuos orbit above them. As they had been instructed to, the Marines split into two groups, one consisting of two squads, the other of only one. The two squads would search the cave for the three life signs inside whilst the other squad tended to the bodies and wreckage in the valley. Xena and Hercules, being the most able bodied of the four, with Williamson and Arnold, accompanied the two squads, leaving Gabrielle and Autolycus in the care of the remaining marines to assist in the tagging and bagging of the bodies. Arnold, being the only officer in the troop, the Platoons Lieutenant remained on the valley floor to co-ordinate the activities down there, assumed command and led the nineteen strong force up the side of the mountain to their objective. Xena found the going easier than she would have thought, the suit somehow seemed to lower the gravity around her that ordinarily would weigh her down, causing her to strain and tire. But now she was able to scramble up the mountain as if it were a simple grassy knoll. She absently checked to make sure her Chakrum was still at her side, held in place by a magnetic clamp, almost like magic until the science behind it was explained to her. Unlike the Marines, the four of them were not armed and Xena had only just persuaded the Quartermaster to let her keep her Chakrum, which she said she felt vulnerable without.

"Iolaus?" Agapanthe called into the gloom again. The creature growled again, this time closer than before. Agapanthe began to panic now, she could sense the creature out in front of her somewhere. Although she could not see it, she knew that it was huge, much larger than a person, and more dangerous than any wild animal. "Iolaus! Please help me!" she cried as the creature moved closer. It stepped from the dark shadows into the gloom, but stayed out of the few rays of light that filtered this far into the cave. Agapanthe could see that the creature was indeed larger than a man, almost twice the height, and with a girth to match. The creature was clearly reptilian in nature, with brown scaly skin and well formed and powerful muscles rippling under the skin when it moved. It had a tail that only just touched the floor and lay swishing between its muscular hind legs. Its arms were shorter than a humans, but still looked capable of snapping one in two. Its head was far larger than a normal reptile's in relation to its body, with a very short snout, which unlike a normal reptiles, sported lips which it curled back into a sharp snarl. It walked with a stooped forward posture that suggested it was capable of walking on all fours as well as its hind legs. If Agapanthe had known what a crocodile and a dinosaur looked like, she would have described this creature as a cross between the two with an overly large and misshapen head. It had the tattered remains of a metallic coloured sash and belt hanging limply from its body.

It took a step forward, and Agapanthe screamed.

Halfway down the mountain, the rescue party stopped their ascent when they heard the scream through their audio systems. The cave walls had very good acoustics, and the cold mountain air was perfect for carrying sound over long distances, so they would have been able to hear the scream quite well even without the amplification the suits computers felt were necessary.

"What was that?" someone asked. Arnold began attacking the mountain again with more gusto than before.

"Alright Marines, double time it. We got ourselves a survivor!"

The creature obviously was not pleased with Agapanthe's screaming, and came straight for her this time, baring its razor sharp claws. Agapanthe huddled into as small a ball as her enlarged abdomen allowed, her arms flung up to protect her head. The creature was almost atop her when she heard a mighty whump and saw the creatures feet stumble to the side as a large rock hit the ground beside it. The creature roared in pain and Agapanthe seized that opportunity to see where the rock had come from. Several metres away, stood Iolaus, wincing in pain as he reached down, picked up another rock and threw it at the creatures head, hitting it a few centimeters below a large gash from the first rock.

"IOLAUS!" Agapanthe called out, still curled in a tight ball.

"Agapanthe, just stay there. Don't move." he said as he through another rock at the creature. Unfortunately this time it was able to react fast enough and caught the rock in one hand, then crushed it as if it were nothing more than a clump of dirt. "Uh oh. Not good." Iolaus said as the creature started stalking towards him, claws raised and ready to rip him apart.

Iolaus began to back up quickly, but when the creature increased its speed, Iolaus turned on his heels and began to run, partly to draw it away from Agapanthe, but mainly out of survival. Whatever his reasons, the creature followed him deeper into the cave.

Outside, the rescuers had reached the cave mouth and began to fan inside the cave, following their sensor readings. As much as they would all have liked to have thrown caution to the wind, their training and experience made them slow down to a quick trotting pace. Four scouts moved ahead of the main group in a standard two by two dash-and-cover tactic. Following close behind them was Arnold, Xena and Hercules with Williamson maintaining a watchful eye over the two natives. It wasn't long before they reached Agapanthe who was still huddled in a ball on the ground, crying with terror.

"Ma'am!" one of the scouts called Arnold, to bring her attention to the pregnant woman. Arnold moved closer to her so she could examine her better.

"Medic!" she called over her shoulder as she knelt down beside the woman and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Iolaus." the woman whimpered through her tears.

"What? Where's Iolaus?" Hercules pushed his way to the front of the small crowd that had gathered.

The woman lifted a hand and pointed further into the cave. "Down there. Hurry, he's in trouble." Without another word, Hercules took off in the direction the woman had pointed, with Xena following close on his heels.

"HEY!" Williamson shouted as they left and began chasing after them.

As much as Iolaus wanted to stop and alleviate the pain in his chest, he knew if he did, whatever it was chasing him would render him to shreds in moments. So he ran, until he rounded a corner and almost impacted head on with a dead end. A low growl behind him made him spin around to face the creature that had now rounded the corner and saw that its prey was trapped. It snarled and gnashed its teeth as it advanced. Iolaus had no where else to run, he was now forced to try and fight his way out, for all the good it would probably do him. He jumped and tried to deliver a kick to its head, but the pain made him crumble to the ground in a heap instead.

The creature uttered a low growl, it knew its prey was wounded and would be unable to put up any sought of fight. It bent down and grabbed the puny little mammal to finish the kill.

Hercules rounded a corner and stopped short. There, in a dead end was Iolaus, suspend high in the air by the large scaly hand of an enormous monster around his neck. The creature roared and Iolaus coughed and sputtered as the creature slowly crushed his throat and spine. Hercules, not wasting any time, dove for its legs, trying to tackle it to the ground. The creature noticed Hercules dive and battered him away with its free hand, sending him crashing into a wall.

"DROP HIM OR I DROP YOU." The creature turned and saw Williamson standing at the bend, his weapon raised and aimed at the creatures chest. It roared and tossed Iolaus at him, bowling him over. Satisfied that the immediate danger was over, the creature now turned its attention to Xena.

Xena took a step back and reached for her Chakrum. Drawing back, she threw it with all her strength. The deadly disc flew straight and true, puncturing the creatures thick hide and imbedding itself deep in its neck. The creature howled in pain and tried to pull the Chakrum out, dark red blood oozing from the wound. As it grabbed the disc and tugged, something smashed into it from behind, toppling it over.

Hercules picked himself up from where he had landed after crash tackling the creature whilst it was distracted. Unfortunately the creature was just as quick, and regained its feet as well. It lunged at Hercules, but despite being half its size, the demi-god was more than a match for it and meet it head on. The two grappled, trying desperately to gain the upper hand over their opponent. Xena joined in as well, landing a flying kick to its side, which the creature just shrugged off with a guttural grunt. It reciprocated by swinging its tail around and knocking Xena off her feet, then summoning up all its strength, broke free of Hercules grip and swatted him to one side with its tail as well. Not wasting a moment, it leapt at him, ready to rend him limb from limb. All Hercules could do was cover his face with his arms, before it was atop him.

Hercules sagged under the weight of the creature as it landed on his chest and felt the claws digging through the tough material of his combat suit. He shut his eyes and hoped the end would be quick, but a brilliant light flashed through his eyelids as the creatures weight just seemed to disappear, as if the creature vanished from atop his chest. Hercules tentatively lowered his arms and opened his eyes. The creature was indeed gone. He lifted his head and looked around. Standing at the bend of the passage was Breeana Arnold, lowering her weapon after just having fired it. Hercules heard her mutter over the intercom "Fucking Lizards.".

Hercules stood at the mouth of the cave with Xena and Williamson as the medics brought Iolaus out, strapped to an anti-grav stretcher.

"How are you feeling?" Hercules asked him with a huge smile on his face, glad to know that his best friend would be okay. Since Zeus had altered his native language, he now had to use the translators in his suit to communicate with Iolaus.

"I've been better. I just hope these people are as good at healing me as you say they are."

"Don't worry." one of the medics said as he ran a sensor over Iolaus's chest. "Just a few cracked ribs and some internal bleeding. We can have that patched up in a few hours, but you'll still be a bit sore for a few weeks."

Xena nodded her head. "Here that. You'll be fine in a couple of weeks."

"Just in time for the Equinox Festival in Corinth, huh Herc?" The smile disappeared as Hercules face fell.

"Iolaus, I'm not going to be around for Equinox."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not going to be around for a while. I have to stay with these people. I have to return to their home with them."

"Why?"

"I don't know yet. All I know is what Zeus told me, that I have to leave for certain events to come about, and that everything will work out for the best in the end."

"Your leaving just because Zeus told you to? Hercules, that doesn't sound like you."

"I can't explain it, it's this feeling in my heart that says I should follow his advice this time. That this time, he's right."

Iolaus thought about that for a few moments. "Will you ever come back?"

"Eventually. But not for a long time."

Iolaus turned to Xena, "Well, at least I've still got you and Gabrielle." When Xena hesitated in answering, Iolaus felt his world was turning upside down on him. "Don't tell me your leaving as well." Xena just nodded sorrowfully.

"Hera's orders. We learnt something we weren't supposed to know, now Hera's banished us. So, unlike Hercules, we won't be returning. I'm sorry."

"Just great! Who else is going?" he asked more out of exasperation than curiosity.

"Autolycus is the only other one."

"Autolycus?!" he sighed, then said "Well if everyone's going, I might as well leave too."

Hercules smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that." He called Williamson, who was maintaining a respectful distance from the group, over and told him Iolaus's wish.

"You'll have to request asylum from one of the officers if you really, and I mean REALLY, want to stay with us, but you can do that on the Invincible. Right now we got to get you to a -" Williamson was interrupted by a sudden cry from Agapanthe, whose stretcher was placed a short distance away. Immediately, several medics turned their attention to her. After consulting her and their instruments briefly, they flew into a frenzy of activity. One of them came over to perform a few hurried checks on Iolaus.

"What's happening?" Williamson asked the corporal as he checked Iolaus's temperature.

"She's going into labour. About to give birth to a baby boy." he completed his checks and went back to the soon to be mother.

Iolaus thought about that for a moment or two before turning to Xena and Hercules with a big grin on his face. "You know, after all that's happened, I guess life does go on." He said as the shadow of the approaching shuttle passed over them.

Three days after the Grou'mall raid, Parks sat alone in the Officers Mess, a few tables away from where he had sat with Xena, Gabrielle and Autolycus earlier, and stared out the windows at the stars. The Mess wasn't very busy at this time of day, right before a change of watch, and only a few other officers sat at the bar or in a few small groups of two or three. He took a sip from his beer and failed to notice Arnold enter the mess.

"I thought I'd find you here. Drowning your sorrows again?" she said as she sat down opposite Parks.

"Fuck! Am I that predictable?"

"No, you've been doing it since high school, so I'd say it's more of a habit than behavior." Parks just shrugged and had another sip. "Are you still worried about the Board of Inquiry?"

"Yeah. I've just been summoned to appear before them. I leave on the next supply ship in four days. Xena, Gabrielle and Autolycus have been summoned to appear as witnesses, so they have to leave with me. They're going to get absolutely hammered by the Board, despite legal advice from the JAG officers."

"Well look on the bright side, it could be worse. You'd still be stuck down there if it weren't for them."

"True. But I mean, what was I supposed to do? I tried to follow regulations, but those just got me into even deeper shit. I only got out of there by using my head and breaking a few rules. It's these fucking bureaucrats who just make decisions with out knowing all the facts."

"Yeah, I agree with you on the fucking 'crates, but you got to admit that because of you a kingdom is now without a ruler."

"Yeah, well, Typhus was a dickhead anyway. I'm not sorry he's now a barbecue." he said with a grin, which Arnold joined in.

"So leaving in four days, huh? I've got a few weeks of leave due, do you mind if you have someone in your corner."

"No, not at all. I'd be glad if you could come and back me up. But you'd better file your application now or you'll miss out."

"Okay, I'll do that now. See you later." she said as she stood up and left.

Parks returned his gaze to the stars, which for the first time in his life seemed cold and unfriendly, promising him some dark times ahead.