Xena reached behind her head and grabbed both the swords sheathed on her back. Pumping her arms she ran towards the Tarlaxan and jumped in the air before cleanly slicing its head off.

“Xena behind you!”

Whipping around she ducked as another Tarlaxan flew over her. As it came towards her, she stepped aside and flung her blade straight into its back. With a roar it too fell over like the other one. Swiping her blades against nearby rock she then put them back into her sheath. She tugged at the bandana covering her face, pulling it higher to protect her face from the dry desert air.

“Command says that’s the last of them.” Zeke said from behind.

“You go ahead, I’ll catch up later.” She saw that Zeke gave her a weird look, but said nothing as he jumped on his hover bike and sped away. She watched him go until she could no longer see the dust trailing from his bike and only saw the heat waves rising from the ground. Xena opened the wrist compartment on her suit and stuck a shiny, thin piece of metal in. She moved it around until she heard a soft click as the tracker popped out. Taking a bot from her bag, she attached the tracker to it and gave it the coordinates of where Zeke was heading. Climbing onto her own bike she sped in the opposite direction, to Jathi City. As she wove through the streets of Jathi, Xena looked down at the map projected from her bike. She watched as the red dot slowly made its way towards the beeping flash of light. Only a few more minutes and she would be there. Switching screens she saw that the bot she had let go was now roaming Magnus City where everyone else was. Xena revved her engine and drove faster, now entering the borders of Jathi city.

She had reached the marketplace where Sevos said he would be. The map from her suit showed the flashing light a few paces from her red dot.

“In here.” a voice whispered from her right. Next to her was a dark alleyway,which looked empty. Looking around her, she quietly stepped into the hallway.

“Sevos?”

“Here, here my child.” Xena peered into the closest door and saw Sevos running around the room frantically. “I don’t have much time to explain, they’re coming for me.”

“What? Why?”

“They know I have knowledge of the pre-wars. Forget about me, if they are coming for me you’ll be caught too. I tried to send you a message but it was too late.”

“What do I do now?”

Sevos scurried to the other side of the room and lifted the lid of an old wooden trunk. From its depths he pulled out a small bag.

Feet padding on the earthen floor, he handed it to Xena “Here, this is it.” Xena opened the bag and slowly shook out its contents onto her palm. In her hand lay a single rectangular object. It was made out of plastic for the most part and at one end was a bit of metal protruding out.

“This is what the Order is looking for?” She twirled the object around in her hand, trying to decipher how the object had all the answers.

“It was called a USB. It was used to hold information. The last known records about the pre-war are on there. I looked at them, so now I too am a liability. I would advise that you do not make the same mistake.” Xena couldn’t believe that such a large thing had to be used to hold information. Even places like Jathi City, which was primarily a trading post in the desert, had better technology than this.
A chillingly familiar voice rung out from outside, “He’s here, I know that old man wouldn’t leave.” Loud bangs filled the alley as the Order’s army swarmed Jathi City.

“They are already here, go! I will be fine.” Sevos shoved Xena towards a small window in the back of the room which faced into an opposite alleyway. Xena looked one last time at Sevos before jumping through the window. The bag was safely tucked away in her suit.

Reaching down she took out the gun resting on her thigh and crept through the empty back-alley. Xena tugged the bandana higher up her face, this time to hide her identity. She had covered her suit with a long robe that was native of Jathi City. All she had to do was get to her bike which she had hidden away near the Sevos’ house a few streets over. Her wrist flashed a white light indicating that she was nearby. Xena stopped in her tracks. Near her bike was one of the Order. He was blocking her only entrance to getting it, although unaware of the hidden bike. Xena raised her arms ready to pull the trigger, her arms were steady as always, her mark perfectly on target. She had done this countless times before under the Order. Fighting Tarlaxans, taking things by force, killing, it was all part of the Order. Realizing that this is exactly what she was fighting against,  Xena lowered her arms, reholstering her gun on her leg. Instead she launched herself onto the balcony of the house next to her and then scaled her way up onto the roof. Here she could see the man standing right below her and her bike behind. Xena grabbed onto the ledge and dropped herself down and landed behind the man. Before he could even twitch, Xena had knocked him out cold. Shrugging off her robe, Xena swung onto her bike and sped through the streets of Jathi City away from the very person who she took orders from. After clearing the city borders, she checked her wrist. Her red dot flashed continuously as it slowly inched towards the flashing light of her bot all the way in Magnus City.

Xena didn’t know how many more people would have to die by her hands under the Order before they were stopped. She didn’t know if she could keep up this game of being part of the Order until she could transfer the USB to base. With those thoughts heavy in her mind, Xena sped towards Magnus city, the USB burning against her skin the entire time.