Dan lay down in his room as he tried to have a nap. He was chased from the bridge as soon as they were sure that they were out of danger, and that whatever was going on with the hive, it wasn't after them. That had been an hour and a half after Voyager used Boost, speeding away from there.

  At that moment, he was in his room trying to sleep, and failing miserably at it. His mind kept bringing up all that could have gone wrong with the Harvesters, the fact that they were this close to losing everyone on the island made his heart turn cold and his mind go haywire.

  Sighing for the nth time, he thought back to the skills he had got for his three level-ups. As expected, none of them were good enough for him, not that he expected them to be, seeing how almost everyone on the Voyager only had two to three skills to work with, even after almost one month in this new world.

  He didn't focus on that a lot though, instead, he once again called the description for Voyager's level 18 skill, Surge.

  Voyager's mental and physical states were perfect for one of her aura's innate Abilities to awaken. Usually, such an Ability would be outside of the System's count, remaining available for her while not accounting for a skill slot. But considering how Voyager already operates outside the tiers system used by all -the tier of her skills being linked to your highest tiered one- it was deemed fairer for that innate Ability to be taken as her level 18 skill, which gives you Surge. Surge: Burn your mana to augment your auras, their effects and their range.

  -Skill tiered-up, Surge:

  Tier 2 Surge: Burn your mana to augment your auras, their effects and their range. Lowers the mana consumption and raises the effects and range.

  That was the first time Dan even knew about innate Abilities, and that there was a way to acquire skills other than system level-ups and that they weren't counted in the same way that the normal ones were. Well, he doubted many people knew about them, especially with how Nulara never mentioned it at all.

  That system notification also answered something that had been on his mind for a long time, how the tiers of Voyager's skills were counted? And it seemed that it was really linked to him, her skills would always be the tier of his highest-tiered skill.

  Even though he had gotten that notification hours ago, what it meant still made him feel a bit jittery, Voyager could end up with 34 tier 10 skills. People who achieved that feat were so strong that they were basically myths, imagining Voyager with more than three times that number of skills at her command was simply scary.

  The skill itself, Surge, might seem useless in day-to-day uses and the like, but when the need called for it, when they were in a situation where every little bit mattered, it could mean the difference between life and death.

  Remembering how fast the mana had been consumed, Dan decided that they should leave that skill be till they raised its tier a few more times, lowering the consumption enough that it would be manageable, not leaving them a sitting duck after every time it was activated.

  Thinking about Voyager, her skills and their tiers, Dan's mind finally calmed down enough for him to fall asleep, the thought of what was awaiting them filling him with a sense of anticipation and wonder.

  Once Dan opened his eyes again, he lazily reached for his phone, finding that he had only slept for 2 hours, even though he felt that he was fully rested and refreshed. He remained on his bed, just looking at the ceiling for a few minutes before flipping over as he stood and washed up before leaving his room.

  He made his way to the Skyline, it was a bit late for breakfast, but not by that much, and Dan was feeling a bit hungry. After all, while the whole mess with the Harvesters was ongoing, food was the last thing on anyone's mind.

  Once Dan got into the Skyline, he saw someone he didn't expect at all to meet there, Jackie. The bosun had a light breakfast in front of him, seeming to be in deep thoughts as he looked blankly into the air.

  "A busy morning?" Dan asked with a smile as he sat across from him.

  "Well, not all of us can be like you, Captain," Jackie said, a teasing smile tugging at his lips, "Going to sleep while everyone else is neck deep in work. Ahh, to be part of the ruling class!"

  Dan just chuckled at his bosun, he knew that he shouldn't have poked him like that.

  "Well, you can take my position if you want it." Dan shrugged, seeming every bit as unconcerned as he was feeling. "I would love to retire, I'm getting old for all this excitement."

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  "Don't say that." Jackie seemed truly worried about that possibility. "I'm happy with what I have, don't try to throw even more responsibilities my way."

  They went back and forth like that before Dan finally asked:

  "How are things with our guests? With you here I take it that they are set and everything went well, I hope?"

  "All is good," Jackie said, looking unconcerned, "We showed them their cabins, also the restaurants they are to use for their meals. Old Raily and Nulara are still with them, the young native is going to be of great use with all of this, she went through what they are going through after all. All in all, everything went great, they are way more polite and easy to manage than our previous passengers. It's just..."

  "What is it?" Dan frowned as he saw the Oceanic Druid look a bit troubled.

  "Oh, don't worry." Jackie waved his worries off. "It's just something I, Robert and Old Raily have noticed about them. Some of them seem to be too stressed and worried around the guards now that they are on Voyager. It most likely has to do with how they were treated by the people on the island."

  "I'm sure that they are going to open up with time," Dan said, "We just need to give them the chance to."

  "We will." Jackie nodded seriously. "Especially those kids, some of them are barely 14 or 15 years old, I just hope what they went through didn't scar them too much."

  "Seems that Mrs Raily is going to have a lot on her hands for the foreseeable future. Her Class is going to be of great use for all of them."

  "She's already there." Jackie chuckled as he shook his head. "In the restaurants we have decided that the natives are going to use, she's been there since they got on Voyager. I think that she's going to be spending most of her time there the next few days."

  "That's good to know," Dan said, and he meant it. He knew what some of those people went through and they could use all the help they could get their hands on. He then thought for a bit before saying hesitantly, "Do you think there is hope for them to be ready to return to land by the time we make it to the Dynasty?"

  "I doubt it," Jackie said with a light frown, "What they had been through isn't something that could be fixed in a few days. It's going to take them months, or maybe even years to be normal."

  "Let's just hope that Mrs Raily's help is going to make it easier for them," Dan said, "Her Class is perfect for dealing with such situations, and I know that she wouldn't rest if she didn't give it her all."

  As they were still talking, Dan noticed three other people he didn't expect to see there enter the Skyline. The leader was Fleta, who wasn't that surprising if not for who she had with her, she was leading Arkus and a young short-haired familiar-looking girl wearing a light blue dress and looking quite shy behind her.

  "Hey Fleta, is everything alright?" Dan asked after she saw them and made her way towards them.

  "Don't worry, it's all good," she said before turning to Jackie, "I actually came here for Jackie, I needed him for something."

  "Oh, what is it?" Jackie asked in interest.

  "I'm sure that you know these two with me," Fleta said as she pointed to the two behind her, the young girl hiding a bit behind Arkus while the man just smiled, though Dan noticed that he looked a bit anxious too.

  "Well, I know Arkus for sure." Dan nodded at the man. "But I'm not sure I know the young girl."

  "Well, that's to be expected," Fleta said with a light shrug as she glanced at the young lady, "I present to you Andrea, or as you might have known her as, Andre."

  "Andre?" Dan asked in surprise, remembering the pale cowering young boy who had arrived on Voyager with Arkus.

  "Yes, that one," Fleta said, Dan could tell how fun she found the situation even if her expression didn't show it much. "After you sent her and Arkus for a check-up with me, one glance was enough to notice that she was a girl in disguise. With them in a safe space and everything going smoothly, I managed to convince both her and Arkus that there was no need for her to hide herself anymore."

  Dan looked at Arkus in a new light, the pressure the two must have been under was unimaginable. It wasn't that hard to guess why they had kept the fact that Andre, well Andrea, was a girl a secret. With how women were treated on that island, the fate she would have faced if it was ever found that she was a girl wasn't that hard to imagine. Dan was just glad that they had managed to save them before the worst came to pass.

  Dan noticed how Jackie too seemed to be looking at Arkus differently, his gaze holding quite a bit of respect.

  "So why did you come looking for me?" Jackie finally asked.

  "I thought that it would be great for Andrea if she had girls her age to interact with," Fleta said as she gently patted the young girl, "So I wondered if you could send her to play with Tracy and Tiffany."

  "That's a great idea!" Jackie said as he stood up, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go find them, those two are most likely in the Arcade, it would be great for Andrea to have some fun there too."

  With Jackie slipping into his silly, entertaining facade and engaging with Arkus and Andrea, the young girl was smiling shyly before they even made it to the Arcade.

  Fortunately, most of the gaming machines and consoles in the Arcade were working, not being linked to anything that Voyager had under her control, so the place was one of the few that people on Voyager went to to relax, and of course that included their youngest members.

  Dan, Fleta, Arkus and Jackie watched as the two young girls led the shy Andrea around after Jackie introduced her. It didn't take long before the young native was laughing and smiling as she tried game after game.

  From the side, Dan acted as if he didn't see Arkus's red eyes and trembling lips, or the few times he had to wipe his eyes.