River of Fire

"Oh, one more thing. Admiral Sam wants to know, if you need back-up." "Great! The more, the merrier." A minute later, Sam appeared next to Debbie, clad in his long cloak and wide brimmed hat and asked, "When does the fun, begin?" Debbie instantly snapped to attention and saluted. "Hold on there, cadet. Don't go military, on me. Relax, we're in the field." Calistus explained, "We have to stop, about two dozen men and two gun boats, before sunup. Su should be sending a large tank of flammable solvent, through a portal, any moment now. But, I haven't seen any guards as of yet." A horizontal portal opened twenty, feet above the water and a large metal tank slipped through unnoticed, and hovered just above the water to close to their position. Calistus sighed and said, "I can't ignite it there, it'll fry us all." "I'm on it," whispered Debbie, eager to show off, for the admiral. As she dove in the water and pushed the container into position. Just then, a pirate poked his head out of one of the gun ships, spotted something moving and hollered, "Who's there?" And began to fire at the tank of flammable solvent, igniting it into a ball of fire. That swiftly spread over the water turning, the inlet into a river of fire. Debbie quickly dove underwater, to avoid getting hit. But she was struck in the side, before she could react. She struggled desperately to stay afloat, and managed to make it to shore, where she collapsed. Calistus hollered, "Sam, let's try and get them in a crossfire!" In minutes, the camp was swarming with pirates, firing at anything that moved. After a ten-minute gun battle, the pirates strapped Debbie's limp body, to a tree and the leader hollered, "Drop your weapons and surrender, or the woman dies!" "Sam, they've got Debbie! Hold your fire!" The two men approached the pirates, with their hands and guns over their heads, Sam whispered, "Protective shields on, weapons on stun, once we reach Debbie, we position ourselves in front of her, to protect her, then, we let 'em have it." As they reached Debbie, the men quickly spun around, Calistus hollered, as he leveled his rifle at the pirates, "I think it's you, who should surrender!" Laughter suddenly broke out, amongst the crowd, mocking Calistus's bold statement. Sam shouted, "Fire!" Blasts of energy streaked through the night rapidly finding their marks as bullets ricocheted off their shields. Once silence reined, Calistus glanced at Sam and inquired, "What's wrong?" "I was hoping for a knockdown, drag out, gun fight. Instead, all we got, was a bunch of wimps!" "Whatever, Sam. Why don't you round them up, before they come to, while I take care of Debbie." Carefully untying her and lying her on the ground, Calistus contacted Moon Base One, "Su, I need you here and fast, cadet Debbie's been injured." Seconds later, Su appeared, then, hollered, as she dove for the ground, firing her pistol "Look out!" A blast of energy struck the would-be assassin, liquefying his body into a yellow-brown ooze, which swiftly seeped into the sand. Su quickly returned, with Debbie. Sam bellowed "A little help, here, if you don't mind!" Having the prisoners tied up, Sam surveyed the pirates and commented "What a motley crew they are. Do you think we'll get any information, out of 'em, Cal?" "Nope! None of them, look like, they have the brains to come up with a strategy, as complex as this. Deb did mention about Norm, who tried to waste her. He's probably their contact." "How are we going to locate one person, in this jungle? " questioned a frustrated Sam. "Sam, you're slipping in your old age. Deb mentioned that she was washed up on the beach after the ship was destroyed. That should be on the other side of the island." Calistus contacted Su and inquired, "Can you contact the nearest coast guard, and inform them about the bunch of pirates, we have tied up. Then, see if you can bounce a signal off one of Earth's satelli