Dan again found himself in the Skyline, the restaurant closest to the bridge and the suites that were being used by them. He had woken up early like the day before to take his shift at the bridge. At that moment, old William was there taking his place while he went to have some breakfast.

  Fortunately, nothing much happened at night, it was peaceful and creatures were still kept at bay by whatever made the Voyager repellent towards them.

  "Captain." While Dan was still lost in his thoughts, mechanically munching on his food, he heard a voice coming from ahead, and the sound of footsteps getting closer. Lifting his head, he saw Jackie, his bosun, with his own tray. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

  "Good morning," Dan greeted, "It went well. I haven't been having problems with sleep, it's like I returned to those early years when I would black out the moment my head touched the pillow. What about you? How has your sleep been?"

  "Same as you." Jackie at first shrugged playfully, but then he stopped for a few seconds before sighing and saying, "Veronica has been having nightmares, she's waking up at night crying..."

  Dan felt his heart drop when he heard that. The people amongst them he worried the most about were Veronica and Tracy. Both of them were still too young to be going through something like this, it didn't help that they were met by a monster in their first moments in this new world.

  The two girls were Jackie's and Dex's daughters respectively. Veronica was only 10 years old while Tracy was 13. A child as young as they should never have been put in a situation where they would fear for their lives.

  "Don't worry about it captain," Jackie must have seen his expression fall because he hurried to comfort him lightly, "She's a strong girl, something like this won't keep her down for long."

  "Did you see if anyone can help," Dan asked, "And I don't mean Fleta, though asking her might not be that bad, but someone else who might have got a class that deals with mental health? We should play to the powers we have in this world."

  "I've had that in mind. And Annie did say that Mrs Raily might be of help." Annie was Dex's wife, and Dan noticed that she had been taking care of Veronica when Jackie was busy, it helped that the two young girls seemed to be getting along well together. "Gonna try and have her see if she could do anything about that today."

  "That's great to hear," Dan sighed in relief. He was glad that there might be a way to help the poor girl.

  "You know Captain." They then fell into comfortable silence as they dug into their breakfast till Jackie broke it. Dan looked up in mild confusion just to be met by his bosun's serious expression. "Robert told me what had happened. You know, that noble leaving a mark and the islanders having some kind of magical special ops amongst them. I just want to tell you that letting them into the ship wasn't your fault."

  "I-" Dan didn't know what to say. He was caught by surprise. He did expect someone to bring this up, but he didn't expect it to be Jackie, nor did he expect him to be this understanding.

  Jackie and Dex were after all the ones who were the most vocal about not taking risks when following the debris was first brought up, he didn't think that he would be comforted by one of them when his choice seemed to have almost led them to a disaster.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  "You know," Jackie started again, speaking slowly as he looked at his empty plate. "I was so vocal about not taking risks because I have to think about my daughter, this isn't only about me, I have to do my best to keep her safe. But when those natives and islanders were saved, I noticed how many of them were children just as young if not even younger than mine. Some of them were hurt even, as if they got hit.

  "You did the right thing back then. One of those we saved might have been a self-entitled bastard and some others might have been spies sent by a Dynasty from the other side of the ocean, but that doesn't make it any less true that you've done well. Don't let it get to you, Captain."

  His bosun then patted him on the shoulder as he stood up and left. Dan just sat down unsure of what to do as the words of his bosun went through his mind. Many feelings and thoughts were swirling inside, but he wouldn't be lying if he said that the biggest of them was relief.

  With much lighter footsteps, Dan stood up as he went to clean his plates. He didn't know how much he needed someone to tell him just that. It felt like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders.

  As Dan cleaned his plates and was about to leave, he noticed something and found his feet changing directions on their own.

  "Hey everyone," he greeted the only pair of outsiders in the restaurant. Dan watched in mild amusement as Nulara jumped in place while the young man, Dan just realised he didn't know his name, looked at him before his face broke into a carefree smile. "How are you finding it here?"

  "Oh, hey Captain Dan," the young man said, "It's great. Once I left the ship I thought I would never return, who would have thought that I would be back less than a day later! Good luck getting me down now!"

  "Happy to hear," Dan laughed with the young man. He then turned to Nulara, "What about you? How are you feeling?"

  "I'm good," she said quietly, "I slept well. The beds are just as fluffy as I remembered them to be."

  "Glad to hear," Dan nodded as he sat down, he felt that they needed to have a conversation, "Tell me Nulara, what do you want to do now?"

  He already got the young man's answer, he seemed to be carefree about the fact that he might be a fugitive at the moment, wanted by the Empire. Nulara, though, was clearly weighted by the matter. He wanted to speak with her about this because such a thing shouldn't be left for later, and should be dealt with as soon as possible. The fact that the two went out of their way to tell them about the mark, that they put themselves in danger for them was something Dan wasn't going to forget.

  "I don't know," Nulara sighed as she lowered her head. "The Empire has probably gathered a file containing everything about me at this very moment. They probably know me better than I know myself. I don't know how I would survive out there."

  "Why would you want to return there? What do you have out there?" the young man suddenly asked, and he seemed honestly confused. "It seems much better here doesn't it?"

  Even Dan found himself looking at the young man weirdly, he did feel that the young man wasn't like normal people, but he didn't expect it to be to this point. Focusing his attention again on Nulara, he found the young lady giving him a blank look. An uncontrollable chuckle then left her mouth.

  "I do have nothing out there." She shook her head hopelessly, "Seems that I'm going to be in your care for the time being, Captain Dan."

  "Well, in that case, welcome to the Voyager," he said as he shook their hands, "Hope you like your time here!"

  With that episode dealt with, Dan excused himself as he made his way to the bridge. He hoped the day would pass peacefully. They needed one of those after all they had been through the last two.

  The rest of the day went perfectly. No monsters, no ships, no weird happenings. Just a lazy morning which people spent dealing with different things from taking care of the ship to trying and experimenting on their Classes and skills.

  Dan thought he saw William talking to Nulara, holding a necklace while frowning deeply. He wanted to go and say hi but a part of him felt that he maybe shouldn't, William seemed too invested in that conversation for some reason.

  He did meet Old Raily and Marcus at the end of the day though, he wanted to take their thoughts on the guards and if they should see about replacing them if they didn't want to continue in their current position. Old Raily grumbled a bit at first before agreeing to gather the few guards they had and talking to them the next day, and seeing if anyone had a Class that would translate well to being guards. They felt that if someone took a Class like that, they wouldn't mind becoming one.

  And just like that, another day came to an end. Dan wished all days would be like that, peaceful slow days where nothing major happens. Unfortunately, he knew that that would never be the case, danger would find them eventually and they would have to be ready for it.

  Dan knew that to be a fact, he just didn't expect it to be realized so soon. Just a bit past midnight, he was awakened by a blaring alarm sounding through the Voyager.

  Another 3 chapters day XD... God this is gonna kill me one of these days ;-; XD