Other than a small episode where they met some kind of sea monster that looked like some overgrown seahorse, they made it to the Voyager without much trouble.

  Dan didn't wait till he was on the bridge before starting to give instructions, as soon as they got tethered, he turned on his walkie-talkie and contacted Keith,

  "Dan here, move us away from this location as fast as possible, our location might have been compromised. Over."

  "Got it, over," Keith didn't ask any questions, she just acknowledged the command and started things on her side.

  "Nulara," Dan focused on the young lady, trying to get as much information as he could, "What do you know about tracking skills? what's their range and how long do they last?"

  "I don't know," Nulara answered hesitantly. She seemed shocked because of what they had just been through, "I've never met such skills..."

  "What about you?" Dan turned to the young man, "Do you know anything about them?"

  "Honestly not much," He shook his head, "For it to be functional at this range, though, my guess would be that it's either a very specific kind of skill, or one that has quite a few levels behind it. I'm sure that it has a time and distance limit, but who knows how much that could be."

  "Okay," Dan released a long breath as he patted them, "Thank you. Marcus, have someone lead them to the cabins to rest. We can continue with what you two are going to do from here on, tomorrow."

  That matter dealt with, and feeling the Voyager starting to move under their feet, Dan took the map and the included book from Fleta as he started his way to the bridge. He only took a few steps before he saw his chief officer making his way towards him.

  "Captain, what happened?" Robert asked with a frown.

  "Our location is compromised, that noble left some kind of tracking mark on the ship, we need to move," Dan answered, not stopping to talk.

  "A tracking mark..." Robert murmured to himself, as if trying to understand what that meant. He then said, "Doesn't that mean that even if we change our location, we would still be found out?"

  "I know," Dan grumbled, that wasn't lost on him, "But what can we do? Just sit and wait for them to come for us? We need to be on the move. The boy said that the skill for sure has a distance limit, we can first try and get as far as we can from land and see how it goes."

  "We need to think about dealing with this from the roots too," Robert said, "Maybe we should see if any of the people with us took Classes related to that?"

  "I fear that even if they took related Classes, I doubt they would have acquired skills that would help us with this already," Dan said. He had considered that while they were making their way to the Voyager. He thought of many things, and was left with only one feasible route to try, something he didn't really want to go with, but if it came to it, there might be no other way. "We should try at least though. See if we can find anyone with skills that would help us. If not, let's meet again at the bridge."

  "Okay, will do," Robert nodded.

  They then walked back in silence till they made it to deck 16, where Robert went on his own to ask for similar skills and Dan went to the bridge.

  "Captain," As soon as Dan entered the bridge, he felt eyes on him as Keith called, "What's the situation? Is everything alright?"

  "A tracking skill of some kind was used on the ship," He explained again, "We need to start moving. Here, take a look at this map and take the route that's going to have us be the furthest away from land. Also, see if any of your skills might react to it."

  Dan passed her the map and the book they got from the old lady in Windy village. He felt that they might have more use for it at the moment.

  "On it," She didn't waste much time before she started studying the book and the map. Freddie, the second officer, soon joined her.

  With the current matters dealt with, Dan turned his attention to what they might have to do to deal with this mess. He had to wait till Robert was back, but if he didn't bring any good news with him, then they could only fall into their last resort. It also didn't escape his notice that this all could have been avoided if he hadn't brought the natives into the ship in the first place. But it was already too late for regret.

  "Captain," Dan was pulled from his thoughts by Robert patting him on the shoulder, "You alright?"

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  "Sorry, I was just thinking." He waved him off, "How were things on your side though? Found anything?"

  "It was as you said," Robert replied with a frown, "Some of them do have classes that might deal with things like this in the future, but they have no such skills currently. We are still too low-levelled."

  As he heard that, Robert's words about finding ways to level up, even if that meant hunting pirates and sea monsters, sounded in his head again. Throwing that aside for the moment because he didn't have the interest or time to deal with it, he turned to Robert,

  "I'll ask for help from the islanders," He said resolutely, "We need to deal with this, and fast. I can't have us under such threats."

  Dan watched as Robert opened and closed his mouth a few times. He could guess what his good friend wanted to say even without him saying anything, he went through all that himself before bringing this up with him after all. The biggest problem with what he was aiming to do was how it was going to showcase a weak point of theirs. Who knows if the islanders would make use of that and put their own tracking skills on the Voyager? But it was either that possible scenario, or the real threat of their location being known by a hostile power.

  "Okay," Robert finally said, "I will remain here, just in case, while you go and see about this. Make sure to take Old Raily or Marcus with you."

  Dan just nodded before turning around and leaving the bridge. As he walked, he brought out his walkie-talkie and contacted Old Raily.

  "It's me, Dan," He started as soon as he heard the click of someone picking up on the other side, "Are you in the inner cabins on deck 4? Over."

  "Yes, I'm there, over." Old Raily's voice sounded back.

  "Good, I'm making my way there to have a conversation with Corgan, the old man. Over."

  "Okay, I will be there. Over."

  Preparation done, Dan made his way there with a heavy heart. A part of him even considered going to his room to change his clothes, but he discarded that, they had more important things to deal with.

  With his hands on the railings, he looked all over at the ship around him, his eyes falling on the camera. Ever since they concluded that the Voyager might be keeping an eye on them through the cameras, he found himself extremely conscious of them.

  "Big girl," He whispered, his eyes still on the camera, "Don't you have a way to deal with this?"

  For a second, he felt that gentle aura that covered the whole of the Voyager pulse once, but nothing happened after. Sighing he continued on his way.

  Soon Dan found himself in the hallway leading to the inner cabins where the islanders were kept. He noticed Old Raily and Marcus there, George, Leonard and all the other guards were also standing around the door in full gear. Dan nodded to both of them in greeting. But before he had the chance to say anything else, Marcus beat him to it,

  "You're going to ask for help from them?"

  "Yes, it might be our only option at the moment." Dan didn't deny it, he saw no reason to do so.

  "I get it," Marcus finally said after a few seconds of remaining silent, "But I have a request, let me lead the discussion."

  "Okay..." He agreed. Even though he found the request a bit weird, he didn't mind.

  Dan followed the two inside. The guards who were waiting outside joined them and waited at the door under Marcus's order. At that time, it was kind of late already, but still, Dan noticed a few of the islanders standing here and there as if on watch. He and the others headed to one of them and asked about Corgan's location. The man looked at them worriedly for a few seconds before leaving for one of the cabins. Around a minute or so later, the door opened again with Corgan following after the man.

  To Dan's surprise, he noticed how the door right across from the cabin where Corgan was also opened when the old man left his room, the gentle-looking woman getting out of it and standing behind him. Dan saw how Marcus and old Raily shared a look once that happened, something he didn't quite catch going between them.

  "Captain Dan, what is it this late at night?" Corgan said with his usual light smile.

  "We need to talk to you, follow us without any trouble," Marcus said before Dan could answer. Dan almost frowned at the tone of his chief security officer, his voice was the one he kept in reserve for those real trouble makers, the one that made you think that you were in serious trouble. But he held himself back and didn't comment, he just watched from the sidelines. He knew his man, and he trusted him. He trusted that he had a reason for what he was doing and wasn't going to interrupt it, at least not yet.

  "I don't know what this is about, but I'm willing to help." Corgan first gazed at Dan before answering Marcus.

  Corgan then seemed to turn to the woman behind him to say something, but Marcus put his hand on his shoulder and pulled him hard. The old man stumbled and almost fell, but Marcus's grip kept him from falling.

  "I said follow us!" Marcus almost growled.

  Dan found himself shocked at his officer's words and actions. He froze for a second unsure of what was happening, and before he could drag himself from his shock, he heard shouting from next to him, it was Old Raily,

  "Stay away! Stay away! Hands where I can see them!"

  While that was happening, Dan noticed how Marcus was still dragging Corgan away forcefully. His face had an expression he had never seen before, a wild angry mask.

  Just as Dan was about to start shouting for them to stop whatever the heck they were doing, a flash from the side of his eye caught his attention. Turning around hurriedly, he noticed the gentle-faced woman standing there with a cold expression on her face and a bright blue glow on her hands. The islander who went and called Corgan was also half crouched with the illusionary form of a spear in his hands.

  "Simlith, stop!" A voice suddenly shouted. Dan looked towards the source just to see Corgan free from Marcus's grasp and the latter back to his usual expression and with his AKM aimed at the woman,

  "Old man," Old Raily finally said, "I think we need to have a conversation after all."