"About three cables," responded Hercules, his eyes pinned on the two quickly approaching biremes.

"The others?" she demanded tersely as her eyes flicked over to where Toris and Autolycus stood close to the anchor cable ready to release it and noted that they had axes to hand ready for her second signal.

"Maybe four miles astern of them. Do you think we can pull this off?" he questioned, knowing that the dangerous manoeuvre was their only real hope.

The pirate flashed a dangerous smile at him, "We'll soon find out," she assured him. "I just wish we had a little more distance on the others." She glanced up at the three Amazons in the rigging with just their belt knives. One was all it would take, but if the Roman's had archers then it would pay to have back-up.

The demi-god shot an assessing look at the ten ships some miles back, "Actually, we've got more room than I thought we'd have. I think the other captains decided that our two friends," he gestured at the two biremes that were continuing to close the gap, "were going to make the capture and have eased off on their rowers."

"Take it to starboard a point, Iolaus," instructed Nebula trying to make it seem as if she were attempting evasive manoeuvrers. The bireme on that side responded effectively shepherding 'Dancer' back onto it's original course. She turned back to Hercules, "Well, I'll take any luck we can come by. We've still got a long way to go and a lot of games to play before we're going to be free of this mess." She threw another look at the sail, "Watch your luff," she warned the blonde at the wheel.

"I know, I know. I was just about to make the correction," he muttered testily.

"Never doubted it, Curly," she grinned, the very picture of the competent, confident pirate she was.

With 'Wave Dancer' taking advantage of every morsel of wind to pull the Romans on an ever increasing chase south, they were improving their chances of evading capture with every moment. - Only if we can pull this next manoeuvre off! - Nebula reminded herself. - Otherwise it's gonna be a quick fight with quick deaths for the lucky few, enslavement for most of those that are left and Crucifiction for those considered expendable ... such as an old pirate like me. - She had to admit it gave her every incentive to make her plan work.

"How far?" she asked Hercules again.

"Maybe a cable ... probably a little less." he responded.

"Time to get to your post," she told him keeping a firm grip on the adrenaline rush that was bringing her to a peak of excitement. She watched him climb down the steps that led from the stern deck to the main one and move across to a long coiled length of rope that snaked it's way up to the top of the mast.

"Are you sure even Herc's going to have enough strength to do that?" asked Iolaus quietly.

"If he doesn't we're dead ... or we'll be wishing we were," she told him coldly, "However, Toris and Autolycus will help him as soon as they're free and so will some of the Amazons once they run out of arrows."

"AHOY THE SHIP!" screamed a voice from the bows of one of the Roman biremes, "DROP SAIL AND SURRENDER .. IN THE NAME OF LORD CAESAR!"

Nebula swung herself up onto the stern rail and yelled back, "BITE ME! YOU SONS OF BACCHII!" She watched as the man who had been shouting leaned down and exchanged comments with someone she couldn't see, before straightening and yelling across the water filled distance that separated them.

"THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE! HEAVE TOO AND PREPARE TO BE BOARDED OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!"

Not bothering to respond, the tall captain jumped down and instructed her crew, "Be ready! They'll be alongside any time now!"

As preparations were made, with bows being strung with new strings that had been protected from the salt spray of the sea, Ephiny's voice could be clearly heard by every Amazon archer on deck. "Aim for the officers and those around the wheel, but only once they have begun the move to come alongside the ship. We need to take out the chain of command to confuse them and give the captain the time she needs to pull this off!"

Satisfied that all was ready, Nebula turned her attention back to the two biremes that were moving slowly into flanking positions about a hundred yards away on both sides of the ship. They could hear the high whining crack of the slave master's whips encouraging the rowers to keep in time with the deep thudding beat that was drummed out for them. Inch by inch the biremes were slowly overtaking them until they reached that pre-defined position just abreast of 'Wave Dancer' and altered their course just fractionally to converge upon their quarry, aiming to make the smaller ship the meat in their sandwich.

As the attacking ships narrowed the gap piece by piece, the pirate licked her lips in anticipation, waiting for the exact right moment to put her plan into action. Too soon and they would have time to counter her actions .. too late and they would be all over them like maggots on week old meat. Everything required .. exact .. timing! "NOW!" cried Nebula watching as the Amazon archers scrambled up from their concealment and started peppering the decks of the two biremes with withering volleys of deadly arrow. The anchor cable was let loose to drop the big heavy sea anchor to help drag them to a halt and she sent a quick nod to Toris and Autolycus as they grabbed for their axes in readiness for her next instruction.

Her anxious eyes swept aloft to where the women in the rigging sawed frantically at a rope which snapped with an audible 'TWANG' and she saw the great sail flutter limply towards the deck as she heard the rasping sound of the rope, that Hercules stood by, quickly paying out until the canvass settled and the demi-god had hold of the rope end.

The effect of all this was to bring 'Dancer' to a swift shuddering stop, that threw all standing members of the crew to the decks in the sudden change of motion, whilst allowing the two biremes to shoot past them in a flurry of oars and bewilderment. Not only that, but the two enemy ships were set on a collision course with each other, that might have been avoided if a quick witted officer had made the right decisions, but Ephiny's warriors had done their best to ensure that no officer was alive to make any decisions! Furthermore, the Amazons were continuing to pepper the area around the wheel with wicked volley's of death dealing shafts to try and ensure that no one could get close enough to the wheel's to change direction of the ships anyway.

- Part one completed, - acknowledge Nebula, taking her eyes off the enemy to order Toris and Autolycus, "Cut the cable," before ordering Hercules, "Hoist the sail!" Then turned back to the two biremes in time to see them collide with each other, oars sheering off in the impact, and the sound of the slaves screaming as long shivers of woods sliced through their galley like knives. The two would be out of action for a while.

Turning her attention back to her own ship, she saw the son of Zeus straining his incredible strength to haul the sail back into position as quickly as was possible. It normally took twenty crewmen five times as long as it seemed to be taking him. The heavy thud of chopping axes drew her eyes to where Autolycus and Toris had almost cut through the anchor cable, and she was in time to see the last strand finally part under the thief's blow. Both men then dropped their tools and hurried to help the demi-god in his muscle straining task.

"As soon as we have way on, pick a course to get us past that mess," she told Iolaus, indicating the tangled ships ahead of them.

Aye, aye, captain," grinned the blonde jubilantly, more than happy that the plan was working.

Returning the grin, Nebula turned her attention to the ships behind her, confident that Hercules and the others could tie off the sail without her help. The stop they had performed, and the time it had taken then to get under sail once more, had been exceptionally quick. However, the ships behind them had not stopped and, although they hadn't realised just what had happened yet, they were still approaching at a steady speed that had inevitably closed the gap on them.

- The question is, have we got enough of a lead to make it to those rocky islets? Because as sure as Centaurs don't eat hay, they aren't going to fall for a trick like that one again. -

"Unggggnnnhhh!" came a muffled cry from beneath a pile of sheets and blankets as Gabrielle was shot unceremoniously from her bed to tumble against the wall of a cabin that she was sharing with some of the girls that Patroclese had rescued from slavery. "Dammit Xena!" she cursed blearily, "I thought we agreed that you wouldn't drag me out of bed like that anymore ... I'm getting up I promise!"

She fought with the blankets until she found a way to get her head out of their suffocating stranglehold and found herself looking up into the concerned eyes of a child who appeared to be no more than seven summers old. "Oh ... hi," she offered as she fought clear of the constricting hold of the bedclothes and rose unsteadily to her feet. "What's going on?" she asked rubbing the sleep from her eyes and looking around at the three other faces.

The child shrugged and looked worried, "It's okay, sweetheart," assured the bard, though she was far from sure that it was worrying the girl.

Reaching out a small, tentative hand the child placed a finger on that hated collar that remained locked around the bard's neck, while her other hand fingered the thicker, heavier iron band that hung loosely around her own, "You're like us?" she asked uncertainly. She was certain the collar marked Gabrielle as a slave, but she'd only ever seen one other slave band like the one the bard wore and she guessed that it made the adult someone special.

The young queen swallowed hard and wondered whether these children had been born into slavery or were the captured spoils of some war. "We're all the same," she told the child.

"All slaves?" came the small voice again.

Gabrielle reached out and gave her a hug. - Those collars have got to come off as soon as Autolycus or maybe Hercules has the time, - she vowed to herself. "No, sweetheart," she told her firmly, "No one on this ship is a slave .. especially not you and your friends." She looked from face to face, "What's your names?" she asked.

"I'm Kendra," she told her importantly, "and they're Embla," she said pointing to the oldest of the girls, a willowy fair haired child of maybe twelve summers, "She's a Norse savage," Kendra told her and received a grin and a friendly punch from the other girl, "And that's Milburga .. we call her Milly," she told her confidentially indicating a child standing just behind Embla, showing little than wide brown eyes. She seemed to be maybe nine. "And the little one is Cassie." she shoved a hand out and roughed the five summer old brown haired cherub's head. "She nearly got squished by a rock! Didn'tcha?"

"Well Kendra," the bard smiled, "I'm Gabrielle. Has anyone told you what's going on?" she asked carefully.

"Only that we're running away from Lord Caesar's ships and that we were to stay in here until it was safe," answered the child her green eyes serious as she shook her dark curls to emphasise her words.

"I see," said Gabrielle, chewing her lip thoughtfully, and not liking what she was thinking. "Well you be good girls and stay in here so that you don't get under any of the warrior's feet. I'm going to see what's going on and check on a friend of mine .. but I'll be back and I'll tell you all a story before you go to sleep, how does that sound?"

Four heads nodded enthusiastically, although they weren't too sure what a story might be .. none of them had heard one before. Kendra reached out a hand and tugged at the bard's skirt as she turned towards the door, "G'berell?"

Turning, the bard knelt down to be on eye level with the child, hiding a smile at the mangled form of her name, "Yes Kendra?"

"If we're all the same as the people on this boat ... why do only we," she obviously included Gabrielle with the other children, "haf to wear collars?"

"Oh honey," the bard said drawing the child in to give her a hug, "as soon as we get away from those ships I'll get one of my friends to get those off of all of your necks .. I promise."

"Yours too?" questioned the child, concern in her eyes.

"I think me and my friend, who's got one just like this," she said fingering the metal at her neck, "will have to wait until we get home."

"Is your friend the animal?" asked Embla, "The one they used to make watch while they beat us?" she added softly.

"Why do you call her the animal, sweetheart," asked Gabrielle softly.

"Because that's what the soldiers called her. They said, 'The animal has misbehaved and you're to be punished because of her!' She always looked kinda sad kneeling before us as they whipped us. She didn't really look like an animal to me."

The bard drew a deep ragged breath, "She isn't an animal, Embla," she told her. "Her name is Xena, and she's the bravest, strongest, most caring person I know. I'll tell you a story about her tonight and maybe when she's well you can meet her properly."

"Is she hurted?" asked Milly shyly.

"Yes, sweetheart, she is. I've got to go and see her and make sure that she's going to get well. But I'll be back later, okay?"

"'Kay!" came a chorus of four voices.

"Stay here," Gabrielle reminded them as she slipped out of the door and headed for the deck looking for someone who'd be able to tell her what in Tartarus was going on.

As she came up on deck, everyone was rushing around in a flurry of activity. A quick check of their surrounding showed her a pair of tangled biremes just falling behind in their wake, and some distance off a cluster of several more of the war ships. "Hades Helmet!" she swore.

Looking around she spotted a likely looking figure and snagged Autolycus' arm, "Hey!" exclaimed the thief turning around sharply to see who had grabbed him, "Oh it's you .. what do you want?"

"What's going on Autolycus .. why didn't someone wake me? What the Hades is happening?" demanded the bard.

"We're being chased by Caesar's ships. We didn't wake you because there's nothing you could do and you needed to sleep. And we've just managed to take two of the chasing ships out of the action, but we've still got ten more chasing us ... satisfied?"

"Dammit ... when are you all going to stop treating me like some little kid!" she demanded become steadily more angry that no one had considered it was necessary to let her know what was going on.

"Probably when you stop acting like it," came a quiet voice in her ear making her almost jump out of her skin.

"Don't do that Eph!" she growled when she got her beating heart under control. "And I don't act like a child!" she yelled stamping her foot as anger got the better of her. The Regent looked meaningfully at the deck and her foot and Gabrielle had the grace to colour with embarrassment, "Well not often. But dammit Eph! What do you expect. Something like this going on," she waved her hand at Caesar's ships, "and no one thought to tell me."

"Oh we thought about it," assured the blonde Amazon. "But there was nothing you could do so we thought we'd let you get some sleep so you would be fit to help where you are needed."

"Oh," snarked the bard, "And just where do you think that would be?"

"TURN ME LOOSE!" came an infuriated scream of rage from below decks at that exact moment.

"How about there," answered Ephiny blandly.

"ARES BALLS! WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE YOU'RE GONNA PRAY FOR A QUICK DEATH!"

"Preferably before she kills out best healer," she added to Gabrielle's quickly retreating form. "Why are things never easy around those two?" she muttered, before turning her attention back to her own tasks.