"Well what are we going to do about all of this? Just sitting here like ducks on a pond isn't going to help." Eduardo stated, leaning back against his chair. It had been a few days since the group had started rotating shifts, keeping watch out for any ships coming up on them. Sam had long tucked Lily into bed, and the group had assembled in the dining hall to talk.

Morgan shook his head. "I know. But what more is there for us to do? They know we're out here. I'd hate to think of what would happen if we tried to dock somewhere, if they're as intent as I've heard, they'd tear the place to shreds."

"Well we're not too far away from one of the abandoned navy island. Maybe we could head over there to port? That way we'd be on land if they did attack us." Thomas suggested.

"Abandoned navy island?" Sam asked.

Eduardo nodded. "Actually not a bad idea. A couple years ago the navy had an island out a couple miles out past Moldor. They used it for naval training and that kind of thing, but funding ran short, so they had to abandon the base. It's not a very large island, only a mile or two big."

"I agree, it sounds like a pretty decent plan actually," Morgan chimed in, "Eduardo, you know where it is?"

Eduardo nodded, already making his way towards the wheel. "Yeah I do. I'll set our course out there now. We actually shouldn't be but a mile out from Moldor, so it's bound to be nearby." Eduardo exited the dining hall, leaving the rest of the group to continue to discuss their plans.

"Well since the Sirius is quite well known around, it's only a matter of time before they show up. It'll probably do us some good to come up with some booby traps to place around the island so when they do show up, we'll have them." Nathan said from his corner of the room.

"Like what? You think we could dig some pits or something around there?" Russell asked.

"Probably. Most of the island is just sand, it'd be perfect for digging up some pits."

"Well what besides pits could we do?" Sam asked.

Russell leaned forward, patting her on the back, smiling. "Don't worry about that one Sam. The guys and I will take care of that. We'll give 'em something good to remember us by. You just need to worry about keeping Lily safe."

"Well obviously," Sam stated, "but where are she and I going to go? Are there buildings there for us to set up camp?"

Thomas nodded. "The naval office should still be there. Two story building, concrete. Should do you two some good."

"What about weapons? What kind of weapons do we have?"

"Well we have the cannon, but if we're going to be on land it's not gonna do us much good being here on the Sirius, so that's out. We still have the rifles we got from our last hunt, they're all in pretty good condition still. A good amount of ammunition for them too. Then of course we still have your pistol along with Eduardo's, and ammunition to go along with those. Besides that, we have our own individual weapons, plus three extra swords that we got a while back."

Sam laughed. "That all?"

Eduardo walked back into the dining room. "As I thought, we're actually not but a few miles from the old naval base, so we should be there within the next few minutes or so."

Morgan stood. "Alright, well when we get there, Eduardo, you lower the anchor and we'll dock the ship. Then Russell, Nathan, and Thomas will load up the life raft with the weapons, and take it to shore. Take them to the old naval office for safe keeping. That way we'll have them there when we need them. Then we will all go ashore together and set up camp."

Everyone quickly stood up and began filing out of the dining hall, heading to their stations. Sam and Eduardo remained behind briefly. Eduardo looked over at Sam, his expression worried, and Sam understood why. After their last encounter with these pirate hunters, she'd ended up getting herself shot. She hated that he worried, but she appreciated his concern. They had bigger problems to worry about now, having Lily with them now. She smiled at him the best she could. He then walked over and snaked an arm around Sam's shoulder, leading both of them out of the dining hall and up the stairs to the deck. It was still night, and the stars glimmered in the moonlight.

Eduardo kissed the top of her head, and returned to the wheel to steer them. Sam walked over to the side of the ship and leaned over, seeing the tiny island just up ahead. She went about helping the rest of the crew with their upcoming arrival. She decided to allow Lily to sleep for a little while longer before she went to wake her, knowing how tired she would be if she woke her now. She heard the anchor drop, crashing down into the waves below. The ship slowed to a stop, and the boys went into the ammunition room and began grabbing their weapons.

Sam helped carry the weapons they had out to the life raft, plopping them down into the bottom. There were fewer weapons than she'd expected, but they would have to do. As good of a shot as she knew all of them were, with both a gun and a sword, she didn't worry about the weapons. She wanted to help them more when the inevitable attack came, but she knew that her place would be to defend Lily. These men weren't going to go easy on them, and Sam knew that. Even if Lily was just a child, they wouldn't hesitate to attack her if they had the chance. And by heavens she wasn't going to let anyone harm a hair on her child's head.

Sam had noticed that the ship was arranged in a funny position next to the island. It was positioned where it faced away from the island, and towards the open waters. Eduardo quickly explained to her that it was a precaution of his so that any on coming ships would think that they were still sailing on the ship. Just as an extra safety measure to help them fend off any oncoming attacks.

Thomas volunteered to be the one to row to shore with the weapons ahead of everyone else, so he could run them up to the naval office before the rest of them arrived. Sam and Nathan ran into the kitchen together and began gathering food and some other supplies for their stay. Nathan tossed her a large sack and instructed her to fill it to capacity with food, and that he would do the same. Sam began shoving as many cans and other food items as she could into the bag, until she feared it would give under the pressured. Hauling it back to the deck, she quickly gave it to Thomas as they were lowering him and the raft into the water, so that he would also have a supply of their food with him to take to the base.

Sam watched as Thomas began to slowly row to shore, and the rest of the crew continued to hustle and bustle on deck. Wiping some of the sweat that had accumulated on her forehead, she sighed. She knew they had to rush about tonight so they could get ashore as soon as possible. As it was night time, they were extremely vulnerable to attack. Visibility was lowered, so it would be optimum time for another ship to attack them. Sam ran down the stairs and packed a few of her and Eduardo's into a bag, and then a separate small bag for Lily. Throwing whatever she thought that they would need into the bag, she then flew back up the stairs onto the deck. She tossed their bags onto the growing pile of small bags the other guys had left for themselves.

Sam helped Eduardo and Nathan load the bags onto another of the life rafts. Christopher agreed to be the next one to row to shore, so as he could set up some of the medical supplies he wanted to take with them to shore. He was then quickly lowered down into the calm ocean waters, and rowed away just as quickly. Sam ran up to join Eduardo in front of the office door, where he had been with Morgan.

"That's the last of it. Next raft will be for us." Morgan said.

"Will the raft hold all of us?" Sam asked, slightly concerned as there were still six of them left on the ship.

Eduardo nodded. "Yeah, we left the larger of the rafts here for us to take in. It'll hold us just fine."

As Morgan and Eduardo continued to quickly discuss more plans, Sam began to sniff the air. She had smelled something a few minutes ago, but it was now much stronger than before. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but it was now getting to be pretty noticeable. She broke away from the other two men as they conversed, and headed towards the front of the ship, where she felt the smell was coming from.

As she made it to the very front of the ship, she could see smoke drifting up from down below. She ran forward and leaned over the front, looking down where the smoke was coming from. Looking down in horror, she could see fire coming up from a spot just below the front mast of the ship. She was about to shout up the warning to the rest of the crew, but felt something that pulled her attention firmly away. A quick brush of wind brushed her, as something whizzed past her head. She jumped and looked behind her, where an arrow was lodged firmly into the wooden wall behind her. Her eyes widened as she saw that the arrow had been lit on fire, and was now spreading from where it had landed.

"Fire!" She screamed as she ran back towards the deck.