Somewhere in the Gate's circuitry, its intelligence matrix detected a temporal disturbance not of its making. Ah, so the Time Lords had sent an agent. Judging by the temporal signature of the object, the Gate could tell that a TARDIS was headed towards Earth and from the key coding in its matrix, it knew that it was an old model and one that was no longer in service. As discreetly as it could, the Gate sent a pulse out to the Doctor's time machine. At last it would have the power it needed to free Callisto and Velasca and wreak havoc throughout the cosmos...

The Doctor was busy at the console when the ship's lights started to flicker and then dimmed considerably. A warning went up from the monitor suspended above the console. The Doctor studied the information available to him and noted that the Gate must be trying to establish a link to the ship and try to bleed the ship of its artron energy supply. The Doctor set to work trying to remodulate the TARDIS' vortex shielding to block the power drain. The Cloister Bell began its resonant clanging and the Doctor worked furiously to thwart the Gate's attack. The lights in and around the console room flashed and winked as they fought to stay lit. One corridor suddenly went pure white as a creeping hoar frost overtook it. Still working like mad, the Doctor reached out and turned a switch only to have it short out on him. He paused a moment as the time rotor lurched to a halt and its lights died. Slowly, even the Cloister Bell's peals were silenced from the power loss. Braced against the console, the Doctor could tell the ship would soon fall out of the vortex and be caught in the Earth's gravitational pull...

The Gate's tap into the TARDIS' power had disrupted the artron energy flow sufficiently to pull the TARDIS out of the space-time continuum. The ship plummeted towards the Earth, powerless.

The Doctor worked like a mad man. The residual power left in the capacitors indicated to the Doctor that the Gate had tapped into the artron energy stream released by the Eye of Harmony. Checking the power store, he noticed that the Eye itself was still feeding power to the ship, only the temporal capacitors were not receiving it to power the rest of the ship. He guessed the TARDIS had attempted to maintain some kind of shielding around the Eye's reception nodule in the Cloister Room. He smiled at the ship's ingenuity. He saw that he had no other choice and would have to divert power directly from the Eye itself. He would have to be careful, though. If the adjustments were off, the TARDIS would be sucked into oblivion. He allowed himself a slight smile when he remembered that Grace had been forced to rewire the ship during their unforgettable escapade together. Setting to work with the trusty sonic screwdriver, the Doctor fought to bring the TARDIS back to life again.

* * * * *

"So you see Xena, you can either join me again, or I'll have the Gate release Callisto and Velasca to hound you and Gabrielle for eternity. Consider the possibilities; I have it in my power to now use them to rule the universe."

"Ah-ah-ah, Ares. We wouldn't want Zeus getting wise to your plans, now would we," she growled, "I can't allow you to use that obscene thing. If I have to move heaven and earth, so help me, I will stop you."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"Then you leave me know choice. Prime, show them your stuff." As the time portal started to activate, Gabrielle came to stand by her friend. "Xena," she said quietly, "Can he do it? Do you think he can?"

"I don't know for sure, but I do know that IF indeed he has that power, then he won't hesitate to release those hags."

"How will we fight two goddesses bent on our deaths?"

"Like demons if we have to. But however we have to fight them, we'll do it side by side," Xena said as she reached out and took Gabrielle's hand in hers. "Ready?" she asked the bard?

"Why not? It's just another day in the life." The women prepared themselves. With the power that Prime had leached from the TARDIS, the portal glowed a blinding white. Partially shielding their eyes, the women stood their ground as a small platoon of soldiers stepped forth out of the Gate. Under the control of the Gate and at Ares' command, the soldiers stopped and stood in formation. They were all clad in black material and they had some kind of helmets that were black and had dark shielding over the eyes. At their sides they carried strange weapons that neither women had seen before. Xena assumed automatically that they were from the future. At that moment, Ares gave the command, "Attack!" The soldiers sprang and Ares shoved Joxer into the middle of the fray. Xena gave her piercing battle cry as she came to meet the soldiers head on. A couple of well placed blocks prevented her getting skewered on the end of a futuristic sword and kept Joxer from being sliced in two. She shoved him out of harm's way, sending him reeling over towards Gabrielle who was just barely holding her own against two more soldiers. Busy with the soldier directly in front of her, the warrior princess did not see the figure come up from behind her. At Gabrielle's shouted warning, she feinted to the side and the two soldiers cut each other dead. Another good swing severed one soldier's head from his shoulders, sending blood spurting into the air. She looked over to see that Gabrielle was still managing to hold two of the goons at bay, who were trying to get at her and Joxer who was at her back with his sword drawn and trying to jab the soldiers like needles into a pin cushion. A kick from one of the soldiers sent Joxer reeling into the bushes. Seeing that they were at a stalemate, the soldiers around Gabrielle backed off and one of them brought one of their strange weapons to bear on her. It was barrel-like and had a trigger at one end. A muted whumph! sounded and a pulse of light slammed into the bard. Gabrielle went down, her shoulder blasted open, with blood streaming from the wound.

"GABRIELLE!!!" Xena bellowed when she saw her friend fall. A murderous rage filled her and releasing the latch that held it in place, Xena let her chakram fly at the soldier who was standing over Gabrielle preparing to fire the strange device again at her head this time. He barely had to time register what was happening to him as the chakram's razor sharp edge severed his hand from his wrist causing him to yelp in pain and drop his weapon. Xena ran him through with her sword, her eyes shining dangerously. Forgetting everything but Gabrielle, she rushed over to her companion's side and took her in her arms to support her. Joxer had roused from where he had been knocked senseless and was trying to position himself as a human shield between the two women and the soldiers. Reaching up, Xena deftly caught the chakram and readied it to be released again. She looked down into Gabrielle's pain-filled eyes.

"Xena," she slurred, "The pain...please...stop the pain." There was blood everywhere. The impact of the blast had shattered the bone and Gabrielle's life slowly ebbed away. Eyes beginning to dim with tears, the warrior used a pressure point technique to dull the pain in Gabrielle's shoulder, causing a tortured gasp to escape her lips. Xena couldn't bear it. She cradled Gabrielle and tried to comfort her as the tears began to flow. She stroked the angelic face and wiped the tears from the bard's eyes.

"I-I l-love you, Xena," Gabrielle managed weakly. Xena gently shushed her, "I know. I love you too." The warrior then lifted her chin and kissed the bard's soft lips. Joxer, witnessing the scene, felt a surge of bravery and anger at his friends' suffering and with a howl, lunged at one of the nearest attackers only to be knocked senseless again. Xena's anger was growing and she began to release the chakram when she was frozen in mid move. She and Gabrielle had been frozen to the spot, stunned. One of the soldiers was holding a weapon that had emitted some kind of energy pulse around the two women. Straining with all her might, Xena couldn't budge it. She was trapped, Gabrielle was bleeding to death and the strange soldiers brought several more of the same barrel-like devices to bear on them. Xena could only stare as the soldiers closed in for the kill...

Coming soon,

Chapter 4, DEUS EX MACHINA...