"Is everything ready?" Dan asked as he stood next to the tender they were taking.

  "Yeah, everything is good," Dex answered.

  The tender they were taking this time wasn't the same as the one used by Marcus and the others the night before. Though the damage that tender got didn't affect its operation much, Dan thought it would be best to take a completely new one just in case. They also aimed to always keep someone on watch, with orders to shoot if any of those mermaid monsters got close to the boat.

  For the remaining two members joining Marcus and the two guards with him in this operation, Dan decided to go himself, as for the last spot, it went to Fleta. Having a doctor with them just in case would be of great help.

  Turning his head to the expressionless Doctor as his thoughts wandered to that point, Dan had to do his best to keep his lips from rising. Only the thought that he too was wearing the same type of clothing made him control his laughter.

  Fleta had on a white dress with laces on the sleeves and around the neck. Around her shoulders, she also had a brown shawl. Dan had to admit, the clothing did suit her, but seeing her in such an unusual get-up wasn't something he could get used to quickly.

  They were lucky to find some clothes that looked similar to what the people they saved wore. Dan had to thank Mary for that, she reminded them of the theatre and escape room in the Voyager and the possibility that they might have some classical clothes there. Fortunately, they had enough for everyone.

  "Don't give me that look," Fleta said as she rolled her eyes at him. No matter how he tried to hide it, it seems, he wasn't as successful as he thought he was. "You don't look any better in that weird get-up of yours either."

  Dan just shook his head lightheartedly. He wore a whitish kind of slim pants, long boots that reached just below his knee and a dark brown shirt with a leather jacket. Dan was sure that he looked way more absurd than Fleta did. The others also had a similar get-up.

  "Doctor, captain," Marcus's voice brought Dan back to the present as he called for their attention. Seeing them both looking at him, he continued in his usual no-nonsense tone, "Have you handled guns before?"

  While talking, he reached behind his back and pulled out two handguns. Dan wasn't that into guns to know the model. From what he saw, it had a sleek shiny black body and brown handle, with a star on it. Sharing a glance with Fleta Dan answered,

  "I did get the chance to use one before. I was invited by a friend to a shooting range once."

  "Same here," Fleta nodded slowly, "Barely shot a magazine and half."

  "It's alright," Marcus sighed in relief, "You at least have some knowledge about guns. It wouldn't have sat right with me to let you handle them without any prior knowledge. How was your aim by the way?"

  "Horrible," Dan chuckled, he wasn't going to lie about it.

  "Acceptable at around 5 to 10 meters or less, I think." Fleta didn't seem that sure about her capabilities either.

  "Well, just you having handled them before should be good enough," Marcus said, "I'm not giving you these to depend on you in the case of a fight. I'm giving them to you just so you can have something to protect yourselves with in the case of an emergency."

  Marcus then handed the two the handguns and explained a bit more about them. Where the safety was, how many bullets they had, eight, what to target, center mass. He even gave them a refresher about how to shoot.

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  "That will have to do," Marcus said after he was done. "Again, the main points you need to keep in mind are, don't point the gun at anything you don't want to destroy, always check for the safety, and only put your finger on the trigger when you're about to shoot."

  Dan and Fleta nodded seriously, they didn't want to take things lightly just to suffer from a misfire or the like later.

  The handguns handed out, Marcus went away to talk to the guards joining them on the trip. Leaving him to deal with that side of things, Dan looked around and soon noticed his target, Keith.

  "Hey, Keith," He said as he walked to her, "How is the situation so far?"

  "Oh? Hi captain." Keith turned in confusion before answering as she realised what he had said, her eyes glazing as she looked into the air. "There's more orange than in the morning but still no reds. You're safe for the trip."

  "Great, keep me updated in case anything happens," Having Keith's ability was a heaven-sent in situations like these. At least this way, they wouldn't be leaving the Voyager while a real threat was out there.

  That morning, Keith had marked a few villages for them to study and choose from. In the end they chose a village called the Windy Cliffs Village. It was quite far from other villages and towns, so it would take a while for anyone to reach it even if they were found out, giving them enough time to run before reinforcements came. Secondly, despite being a bit isolated, it was still of considerable size and an active hub, so a couple of new faces wouldn't turn any heads there. They wouldn't need to worry about standing out too much.

  "Everyone, be careful," Dex shouted, "Tender dropping!"

  Dan gave the man and the others on the Voyager a last wave as they started their journey. He also noticed Marcus giving the ship one last deep glance.

  Just a few seconds after the tender was dropped from the Voyager, Dan felt a bit lightheaded. He didn't know how to explain it, but he felt as if he lost something. Once his light-headedness faded, a reason soon came to mind: Advantage was gone. He had left the Voyager.

  Dan found it amazing how he didn't notice the skill effect when it was at work, but once he left the Voyager he felt its absence clearly.

  Getting used to his new state, Dan held his walkie-talkie and contacted Keith,

  "We are moving, keep me updated in case anything happens, over."

  "Roger that, will do. Over."

  With Keith keeping an eye on them while they were still within the radius of her skill and the coverage of the walkie-talkie, Dan's heart felt more at ease.

  After they had moved for a few minutes, Keith's voice sounded again,

  "You're about to leave the protection circle around the Voyager. Prepare yourselves, over."

  Marcus had already separated the guards to the sides of the tender, he chose George and Leonard to join them on this trip. Hearing Keith's message, he nodded at Dan and shouted to everyone to be ready. A minute or so later, Keith's voice sounded again, just a bit crackling and not as clear as before, it was obvious that the walkie-talkies were reaching the limit of their range.

  "Captain... the orange... are staying far from the ...nder. It's as if a small circle is also around... Over."

  Due to the distance, her voice wasn't clear and it was kind of hard to make out, but Dan understood the gist of it. There seemed to be a similar circle around the tender that the ocean monsters weren't daring to get close to, same as the Voyager's. Dan guessed that the Voyager's aura must have seeped into them too, that was the only explanation he could think of.

  He then frowned as he remembered what happened to Marcus and the others the night before. If the tender they were on also had this weird effect of monster repelling, why were they attacked by those monstrous mermaids? But then another thing about the attack made itself clear. Aiming to look into it deeper, he walked to Marcus and asked,

  "Marcus, last night while heading to shore, was there anything off? Any attacks by the monsters or the like?"

  "No," Marcus only took a second to answer, "There was nothing similar. The passengers were a bit afraid of being attacked, but it never happened."

  "Yet you were attacked once you were returning..." Dan said as if murmuring to himself.

  "Are you saying that we too had the same kind of protection?" Marcus caught on to what he was leading to, "So what then? It's not permanent as it seems to be for the Voyager? And we shall lose it on the way back?"

  "I think so," Dan nodded slowly, remembering the title they had and how the Voyager had something like it for sure, "The Voyager is most likely the source of this protection. The tenders being on her, almost a part of her, must have this thing too, but they can't keep it, so it eventually runs out. That must be what happened to you last night.”

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