XML driven auto slideshow with no buttons

I have been trying to get some help on this for a few days now. I am wondering how to create a very simple image slideshow where the images fade in on top of the previous and they are stored externally. I would like to preload the next image while the current one is displayed. Don’t want any buttons or visible preloaders. Should be very simple for an actionscript guru.

Thank you for your time.