Dan felt as if his head was about to split open, it was so painful that everything else was thrown to the back of his mind. He considered it a miracle that he didn't shout in pain, though that might have been because he blacked out and could think of nothing else.

  A gentle familiar sensation went through his body, wherever it passed the pain receded a bit. It started from his chest and made its way slowly to his head.

  Wave after wave, the gentle sensation ate at the pain. Eventually, he could open his eyes, coming face to face with Fleta's cold pair, the glow from her hands lighting her face.

  "How are you feeling?" she asked as she helped him sit straighter, he had fallen at some point it seemed. "And what happened?"

  Dan was about to reply to her when he noticed a more frantic presence at the back of his mind, he was cocooned in the Voyager's gentle aura. The pure soul was sending him different emotions, from concern, fear to hints of relief at noticing him wake up. Dan had to spend a few seconds calming her before he could return to Fleta.

  "Sorry, was calming the Voyager. I tried to use her auras to see if anyone was around," he answered as he massaged his head, only a dull ache remained. "It was too much though and it overwhelmed me."

  "Stop messing with things that we barely know anything about." Robert shook his head. "You should at least tell us what you might be trying."

  Only then did Dan have the chance to look around. He saw that Fleta and Robert weren't the only ones there. Many of the crew were around him, worried expressions on their faces.

  "Sorry everyone," he apologised, "I was just too worried, who would have thought that it would turn out like this."

  "How did it go?" After everyone made sure that he was alright, Marcus finally asked, "Did you notice anything?"

  "Someone was following us," Dan said seriously as he tried to stand up, "I didn't get much of a glimpse at them, but two figures were floating in the air around a kilometer or so from here. They disappeared as soon as I laid eyes on them though, I think they are gone now."

  "Let's just continue with the plans we have set already," Marcus said, "We need to leave this area as soon as possible. We will take a path that would lead us deeper into the ocean while heading North. Once we are far enough and we make sure that no one is after us, we turn around and continue moving south to Sticky Reefs."

  No one had anything to say to that, so they returned to their posts and set the Voyager on the correct path. After making sure that everything was working well and that nothing was off, people started going to their rooms to rest. It had been a long night, and it was pretty late, almost sunrise, so their rest was more than deserved.

  Dan himself headed to his room after making sure that he wasn't needed anymore, and telling the Voyager to wake him if anything came up. After he entered his bed, he almost went for his phone to read the next chapter of the book he had been reading for a while now, but the tiredness made sure that that wouldn't happen, so he just closed his eyes and pushed it all aside.

  Dan woke up quite late, which was expected after the night they had. He first went through his morning routine before heading to the Skyline. He would have made it to the bridge first, but nothing seemed to have happened during the night, he doubted he would be needed urgently there at the moment.

  The Skyline was quite lively even though it was a bit later than usual for food to still be served. From the side, Dan watched Raymond, who still seemed in last night's high, as he served people with his wife Ruby next to him. It was clear to Dan that his wife wasn't that happy about listening to her husband's very dangerous adventure, but he didn't seem to have noticed yet.

  Dan shook his head at the man, he might have quite the lecture awaiting him in the very near future.

  As Dan looked around casually, he noticed Mrs Raily sitting in one corner with a cup of coffee and a light smile as she overlooked everyone. Her eyes drifted from time to time to the husband and wife manning the counter. One of her glances met with Dan's and she gave him a light smile and a nod. He replied with his own. The old lady had always been a great person, he could feel himself relax just from meeting her gentle expression.

  Almost done with his breakfast, Dan was just about to clean his plates when someone sat opposite him. Looking up, he was met by the smiling face of old William.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  "Morning, captain," the old engineer said with a smile, "How are you feeling today?"

  "Morning," Dan greeted him back, "I'm good, what about you? You seem happy."

  Dan could still remember how his chief engineer was the morning after the Ghostly Lantern's attack, he had been dejected and felt pretty bad about not being able to help at all.

  It seemed to be different this time. The old man looked quite happy, even though he wasn't part of the people who went to the black market or those who helped in one way or the other.

  "I'm good, great even," Old William said in high spirit.

  Dan thought for a second and he could guess why he was acting that way,

  "You took a look at our new stock, didn't you?" he asked with a light smile.

  That seemed to be the only possibility. The man had been perfecting the Production line and the Reloading Station for a while now, of course, he would be happy when the materials needed to turn those visions into a reality arrived.

  "It was that obvious, huh?" William shrugged. Adding jokingly, "You know I had to, that I managed to hold myself till today and didn't run at it in the middle of night was a miracle in itself."

  Dan just shook his head at his old friend, he expected it really, the man had been searching for a way to be useful for a while now, he threw himself blindly at the tasks he and Francis were working on because if he didn't he would find himself with nothing to do. Even the Voyager seemed to be fixing herself, so his professional role was also taken from him.

  "You started working on prototypes already?" he wondered.

  "We should have a prototype going for the Reloading Station late in the evening," William said, "Why don't you come and take a look then? I will show you how things are and how our plans have changed since the first time I came to you with them."

  "Okay, that sounds like a good idea." Dan was quite interested in what their plans had turned into. He knew that William and Francis would become quite the combo.

  They talked some more before old William left, telling Dan that he would seek him in the evening.

  Done with breakfast, Dan left the Skyline for the bridge. Not in any kind of hurry, he took the longer path there, one that would have him walk on the side of the Voyager, having a breathtaking view over the ocean.

  "Oh, hey George." He didn't walk for long before seeing the ex-soldier. "How are you doing?"

  "Morning, captain," George lifted his head from his AKM as he greeted, "I'm good, been a slow morning."

  Dan smiled a bit and almost shook his head at how he was addressed. Even those not of the crew were starting to use his title from time to time.

  "Is there something wrong with that?" Dan finally asked, pointing to the AKM, after they had talked for a while.

  George had been just standing there when Dan noticed him, his AKM in hand while he seemed to be lost in thought as he looked at it.

  "No it's nothing." He shook his head. "It's just a new skill I got, I was wondering what to do with it."

  "Oh, what is it called? If you're alright with me asking?" Dan asked in interest.

  George was the only other person among the crew, other than Diana, who had the word Otherworldly in his Class. He was an Otherworldly Soldier. Once he knew about it, he had wondered what such a Class would give its owner, he was quite curious.

  "It's called Bind Weapon," George didn't seem to care about keeping his skill a secret, answering nonchalantly, "Don't worry, it's not like your Class, my AKM won't be running around on its own anytime soon. It just lets me bind a weapon from our world, having it grow with me and become stronger and stronger."

  "Interesting," Dan murmured, then asked in interest, "And you chose the AKM?"

  "I haven't made my choice yet." George shrugged. "But most likely. It's the best we have with us from Earth, and I'm curious to see how an AKM would grow stronger with me."

  "What level are you by the way?" Dan asked, he wondered how many levels the man had.

  "I'm level 7." George again looked down at his gun. "The fight with those undead monsters gave me the majority of those levels, and yesterday after we returned from the black market, I got the 7th."

  After he was done speaking, Dan was blinded by a split-second flash. As he blinked again and again trying to get his sight back, he looked at George just to see the guy summon and dismiss the AKM in his hand as if it was a magic trick.

  "Huh," George said, "I didn't expect that."