Chapter 10
"Do you think they'll notice us if we open fire?" Nemay asked.
Gently, Jade maneuvered the Shadowdancer slowly, as of now unnoticed by the Magog. "Their ships must home in by size," she said, thinking out loud. "Swarmships on larger ships, Sleathes on the smaller."
"But we fall right in between?" Nemay guessed hopefully.
Holding her breath, Jade slowly increased the acceleration.
Several swarmships immediately turned on them.
"Shit!" Jade yelled, punching the Shadow's engines to full power. "Nemay, get those mother fucking swarmships!"
Nemay didn't respond, completely focusing on his weaponry. A brilliant starburst erupted in front of them as six Magog ships abruptly disintegrated from the concentrated firepower. "Punch it!" he ordered. "We can beat the swarmships through pure speed! We're too big for the Sleathes."
Complying, Jade hit the thrusters, accelerating trhough the hole created in the Magog defenses.
Like moths drawn to a light, the explosion of the six swarmships only attracted more. A vicious chase insued, the swarmships following the Shadow through all her twists and turns.
"Can't you lose them?" Nemay demanded.
"No backseat driving!" Jade snapped. "Focus on the weapons!"
Nemay pressed his lips together and took out his frustration by blowing up a helpless Sleath fighter. Suddenly he yelled and flinched back as a crackling ray of crimson energy spewed in front of them.
"That's the same energy that disabled Andromeda!" Cursing, Jade immediately hit the reverse thrusters and dove, biting her lip until she tasted blood. Even with the engines in full reverse, they kept inching toward the ray.
After what seemed like an eternity, the energy ended. Jade could see it disappear harmlessly into space. The swarmships seemed to have lost them temporarily, so she shut down the engines and powered down the rest of the ship, muttering a brief prayer that the swarmships wouldn't be able to find them.
Nemay leaned over from the co-pilot's seat and flicked two switches next to Jade's knee.
She flinched at this invasion of her personal space and looked down. "What are you doing?"
"Cloaking device," Nemay replied, sliding out of the chair and onto the floor next to the panel as the light next to the switches turned red. He flipped the switches off, then on again.
The Shadowdancer shuddered, and Nemay gave the panel a good, hard whack. The electronics made a whining sound, and the light turned green.
"Yes!" Nemay whispered, clenching a fist in triumph before getting back in the co-pilot's chair. "It drains power like the Abyss, but we'll be invisible to both sensors and sight for..." he paused and looked at a small countdown clock that had slid out of the wall on their right. It read 00:09:53:43 and counting down. "An hour less than that if we want to have any power left."
"Over eight hours, and we are able to absolutely nothing," Jade sighed.
"We could try to make a run to Andromeda," Nemay suggested, his eyes asking why they hadn't done that in the first place.
"Andromeda is being overwhelmed by Magog," Jade answered bluntly. "In all likelihood, our best chance of survival is out here."
Nemay, unable to stay solemn for long, grinned. "Well, don't that suck?"
Preview of Chap11: Xena receives an unexpected message and assistance from a mysterious voice.