"That went better than expected," Dan murmured to himself as his shoulders relaxed.

  Once it was decided that they would take the slaves, discussion started between him, Marcus and Old Raily. A plan of action had to be set. It was while Marcus and Old Neil were talking about their positioning that the latter mentioned that they could use shock to their advantage, shocking the pirates with overwhelming might and leaving them with no thoughts of retaliation.

  It seemed like a good idea at first, but Marcus brought up a few points, mainly how risky it would be to initiate the attack, as that could set off the pirates and they would have to deal with a head-on confrontation. The other thing was how they needed to account for magic, skills and all those shenanigans. The pirates' flintlocks didn't seem that advanced or dangerous when compared to their rifles, but skills could fill the gap. Dan also had those reservations, and he almost put an end to that train of thought right then and there, but Old Raily said that they didn't have to be the ones to attack first.

  And that's how their plan of goading one of the pirates to act before dealing with him came up. Everything from there went as expected.

  After Old Raily's and Marcus's attacks, the pirates were much more willing to follow directions. Soon after, the slaves from what Nulara called the Western Continent were brought up and boarded the Voyager without any further problems.

  Dan had to ignore a notification he had from his system as it wasn't the time for it. They still had to deal with their new passengers. And with them there, who knows, they might finally get some information about this system and all its intricacies. At that moment he was holding on one level up at least, and he hoped he could deal with them soon.

  "Captain," Jackie's voice sounded from the walkie-talkie, dragging him from his deep thoughts, "We have here 127 new occupants, I have assigned them to the inner cabins in deck 4. George and Hank are keeping watch at the entrance of that section."

  "Good job Jackie," Dan replied, "how is the situation though? Any problems?"

  "For now, no," The bosun said in his light tone, "But I would say that that's mostly because they are still in shock, give it a bit of time and they are going to start talking for sure. I think I even spotted what could very possibly be a Karen."

  "I hope not," Dan chuckled lightly as he shook his head at the bosun's joke, "Anyway, I will be there soon, we'll try to deal with the situation before it turns sour."

  "Okay Captain, we are waiting."

  "So everyone!" Dan turned to the people on the bridge after the call with Jackie ended, "I know there's much to talk about, but let's leave that for later. For now, who wants to join me in welcoming our new guests?"

  Dan's invitation was met with silence, which he could understand. Facing a group of otherworlders capable of magic wasn't that easy.

  "I will go," A voice finally answered after a long time, turning towards the voice, Dan was met with Fleta's expressionless face, "I want to see if any of them need some medical care. We can't have them die here after going through the trouble of saving them."

  "Well, count me in then," William, the old Chief Engineer stepped forward too.

  "Okay," Dan nodded, then turned to the man next to him, "What about you Robert? You want to join us or are you staying here in case anything happens?"

  "Hmm," Robert pondered for a bit, "Well, I'll just be here, who knows what might jump on us in this new world."

  "Okay, good luck," Dan patted him before heading to deck 4 with the other two.

  After 10 minutes or so of walking, they were finally close to the corridor cluster where Jackie led the slaves. They had decided to turn most of the generated electricity towards helping the propulsion, meaning that some of the elements like elevators weren't recommended for use.

  "Remind me to get some of the scooters the crew used to move around, they would be of help getting from one location to the other faster," Dan said jokingly.

  "You should walk some more," Fleta gave him a side eye, "You started putting on weight, walking some more would be good for you."

  "...Why would you attack me like that?" Along such banter, they walked as they took in the empty ship.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Seeing the Voyager empty was something he could never get used to. She was made to be a floating city, a marvel of human ingenuity, seeing her as empty as a ghost-town never set well with him. He dragged his hand on the railing as they walked, taking comfort in the feeling.

  "Captain," Jackie shouted when he saw them from afar, running towards them, "I'm glad you came. That Karen is making trouble."

  "What happened?" William questioned with a frown.

  "One of the people we saved keeps on going on and on about this and that," Jackie sighed as he massaged his forehead, "It's honestly getting pretty annoying, and I fear he's gonna get himself in trouble. Old Raily has been giving him the stink eye for a while now."

  Dan heard what Jackie meant before he could see it as a voice reached them.

  "I'm telling you, I want to see your leader! I demand to be treated as a man of my standing ought to be!"

  Looking where the voice came from, Dan saw a rotund man shouting at the armoured Leonard. Dan didn't know where he got the guts to do such a thing, the bodybuilder wasn't just a bit intimidating in his armour and full-face tactical helmet.

  "What's going on here," Dan changed to his meeting-the-passengers persona as he made himself known to the gathered crowd. He nodded lightly at Marcus and Old Raily, as Jackie said, the old man didn't have the best of expressions.

  "Are you the captain of this vessel?" The rotund man shouted before anyone could answer. Dan lifted an eyebrow, Jackie wasn't kidding for sure, they did have a Karen on their hands.

  "Yes." He didn't let his mild annoyance at the man reach his expression. He kept a blank face as he met his stare, "Who might you be, and what do you need?"

  "I'm Baron Hickens," The man said as he pushed his chest up, or tried to, the only part that became more pronounced was his already impressive belly, "I'm a noble of the Empire and I demand to be treated with the dignity that that entails!"

  Dan could feel his expression start to slip, which was only made worse by how some of their other passengers were also getting restless over the man's antics.

  "You are already being treated to the best that we have," Dan tried his best to keep his feelings internal and not show them, "Now can you please stop disturbing the peace and return to your room?"

  "What?" Dan's words didn't calm the man down, instead they seemed to have the opposite result, "You said that you had a good relationship with the Empire! I'm a noble, and I demand to be treated as one of my standings is to be treated, you can't expect me to share the same space as those vermin from the Western Continent!"

  Dan's expression hardened once he heard that. He finally realised that he wasn't dealing with an unruly passenger like usual, but an entitled man-child who was used to having his every whim followed.

  Dan saw old Raily's face scrunch even more as he took half a step to the rotund man. Fortunately, he met Dan's gaze and fell back down when he gave him a slight nod.

  "Mister Hickens," Dan half growled, his blank professional facade giving way to something darker as he stepped into the man's personal space, "I saved all of you because it wasn't much trouble for me and my crew. Not because of any obligation to the Empire or whatever you think in that little empty mind of yours."

  The man was quite short, and having Dan, who was on the taller side, step up to him and look down at him made him collapse upon himself, his head retreating into his neck like a turtle.

  "Now if you, or anyone else," Dan continued, removing his eyes from the man and giving everyone gathered there a glance, "Find a problem with that and try to cause some trouble, then a few more bodies won't make the ocean water rise any higher.

  "Do I make myself clear?" He returned his eyes to the man who shrank even more, as he nodded.

  "Good," he lightly patted him on the shoulder, a smile surfacing on his face, then turned to the others there, "Now then, we will work on returning you to the shore soon. Till then, please remain in your rooms and don't cause any more trouble. Or our guards will not be so lenient with you anymore."

  Done with that, Dan felt that things still needed a bit of a push, so he turned and said:

  "Hank, George?"

  "Yes Captain." Hank flinched, probably not expecting to be called, while George just answered stoically.

  "You now have the permission to shoot those who make trouble or try to leave this section of the ship, understood?"

  "Understood Captain," they answered, most likely not without a bit of bewilderment, but Dan couldn't see that due to the helmets, so he acted as if everything was alright.

  He knew that Hank most likely won't use such drastic measures, he wasn't a real soldier after all, just a mechanic who found himself in such a situation. George, though, he felt that he had to talk to the man in private later on. He didn't want him to take his order too literally. He also didn't need Hank to turn into a battle-hardened guard, just for their passengers to consider him as such, that would do the most heavy lifting in keeping everyone in check.

  "Now that the unpleasant business is out of the way." He clapped his hands as he ignored the look Fleta gave, she must have had a few choice words for what he said to her little brother, but that was for later. "We can finally move to the more important matters. First, is anyone injured, or in need of urgent medical care? If you need immediate help, step up and we will take a look at you. Come on, don't worry, if you need urgent help, step up!"

  No one stepped up for a while, then a young girl with a swollen cheek appeared from the crowd, hugging her arms and looking nervous. Dan's heart turned cold when he saw her and he wondered if they had left the pirates off lightly.

  "Come here, don't worry," he tried to keep his tone gentle as he talked to her, "Here Fleta, see if you can help her."

  He needn't say anything though, as the cold doctor passed him and started checking up on the young girl.

  "Captain," William suddenly said as they watched a few more stagger towards them, "See if we can find their navigator, that would help us determine where we are and where to head next."

  "Yeah," Dan nodded lightly, "I was going to see about that next."