"What are they?" Dan asked seriously.

  He knew that the man's Class had to do with ocean creatures and phenomena, due to that he was one of the most well-read people on the subject amongst the crew, he probably went through most of the books they had on the matter, and he also seemed to remember them so clearly that it was scary.

  "Monsters, they are also known as locusts of the ocean," Arnold started speaking without hesitation, "They had been known to hit the shores ages ago, but after Ocean Dwellers came and due to their services to the Empire and Alliance, before they got blacklisted, most attacks stopped. Just a few of them would wash up on shore from time to time before getting dealt with easily by the guards.

  "They are known to be bloodthirsty hunters that come after anything that moves. They are also just as fast on land as they are on the water. Their biggest strength is shown through their numbers, it's said that thousands of them could hit the shore at once, they were really like a locust swarm that hit a place and harvested anything that moved, taking it back to their drifting hives."

  "Do you think they are going to be a problem for us?" Dan asked the most important question at the moment, "What is known about their reaction to Cornerstones?"

  "Conflicting accounts," Arnold said as he looked beyond the bow, "Some say that they are like most other creatures and that they wouldn't approach a ship with a Cornerstone. Other accounts say that some of the Harvesters would ignore it, charging into the ship and killing anyone on it."

  At that moment, Dan connected to the camera again as more and more of those Harvesters closed on them. With them closer, Dan noticed how the different variants were moving in different ways, the biggest moved the same way the first two he saw did; like boats with their back half almost underwater and their feet propelling them forwards. While the smallest variants were moving like the ones from Earth, standing on the water. Dan was sure that some magic was involved in that, he doubted something as large as they were could move continuously the way they did.

  Discarding the idea as it wasn't really important for the moment, Dan started going over how to deal with the upcoming problem. He wasn't that optimistic to think that the few Harvesters heading towards them were the only ones they would have to face, he feared that Arnold's brief introduction about them would come true and they would find themselves facing thousands of them. If that were ever to be the case, they needed to be prepared.

  "What's known about their attacks? How do they come after their target?"

  "I know what you mean to ask," Arnold smiled wearily, "And unfortunately, it's right, they have ranged attacks. At least the biggest of them has those. Their forelimbs can shoot some kind of invisible cutting attack. I doubt they would be able to do much damage to the Voyager though. Especially if they can't even get past her protective aura."

  "Good to hear." Dan sighed in relief. A thought then flashed through his mind as he asked, "What about their other characteristics? Do they retreat when they face danger or more resistance than usual?"

  "No?" Arnold answered in a bit of confusion, "There are no accounts like that at all. Even when the Ocean Dwellers came after them, they seemed to have fought to the very end."

  "Okay, thanks a lot." Dan patted the ex-deckhand.

  He discarded the idea that he had, it wasn't that he couldn't see it working or whatnot, but that they first needed to know that they could handle the coming onslaught from the gigantic water striders before they could do anything else.

  With Keith updating the guards and everyone else about what they had found out and what was happening over the speakers, Dan focused more on dealing with things on his side.

  "Voyager," Dan called out to her, "Shrink your aura as far as you can, we will have you use your tentacles to deal with them at first."

  Okay! she sent excitedly.

  Dan had been trying to get her to talk to him using words more and more, to get used to that and improve in it, but she was still more familiar with just sending her emotions and feelings through their link. She did that whenever she got too excited or something really confused her, like what had happened when she saw the single peak for the first time. In those instances, she reverted to her preferred form of communication.

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  "Also," he started, trying to send reassurance and comfort through the link. "Do you think you could use the dark aura for Aura Appendages?"

  Dan knew that the Voyager didn't like using her skill with that aura, but he also knew that if that combination was what got them more fuel, then it would be something she would have to get used to. He just hoped that as they got more levels and she grew stronger, and even Aura Appendages got to tier 3 and higher, she would be able to control the dark aura without as much trouble as the current her was facing.

  I hate it... she sent after a while of silence with a bit of dejection.

  "I know, but-" Dan was about to try and get her to understand why they needed to do that, but he changed his mind at the last second. It didn't feel right for him to force her to do something she didn't like, something that could even hurt her. "Okay, you don't have to do it, just give me control over the dark oppressive aura, I want to try something."

  Dan found himself smiling as he awaited her response. He could feel her hesitation and reluctance to do that, it seemed that she too didn't want him to suffer.

  "It's alright, big girl," he calmed her down as he patted the wall, "You know that it doesn't affect me that much, especially with Advantage and for short amounts of time, I can do it."

  The reason Dan decided to go for trying it himself wasn't only because he felt sorry for the Voyager, the dark oppressive aura was potent, even when not under her control. Plus, he clearly remembered how even though he didn't feel anything passing through the aura he was controlling as clearly as he did with the dark tentacles the Voyager controlled, he was still sure that the stingray was being stripped of something, he wondered if even just the aura itself was also a way to get more fuel somehow. He knew that they had to experiment with it in the future anyway, so why not now?

  As he talked to the Voyager, Robert, Keith and Freddie had been directing things on the bridge and keeping the guards updated. The Harvesters had made it within range of Keith's skill and they finally got confirmation that the water striders were orange.

  "Guards are ready on port," Robert said as he saw Dan look at him, "With the way we are moving now, the bugs should come at us from there."

  "Good, get ready for a confrontation," Dan declared as he slipped into the familiar state he was always in while in control of the dark aura.

  It didn't take long for the first two Harvesters to reach them. Dan held the dark aura as he waited for them to reach the borders of the Voyager's protective aura, he wanted to see how those bugs would react to it. Soon, he got his answer.

  "The protective aura held," he could hear Keith updating everyone on what had happened.

  Getting his confirmation, he released the aura he was controlling at the two bugs that looked as if they had found themselves running headfirst into an acid bath, doing their best to turn around. The aura was faster though.

  As soon as the Harvesters were within the Voyager's range, Dan found it almost impossible to keep the dark aura the Voyager had brought out for him under control, it was as if a starving fierce beast seeing prey. Not seeing a reason to fight against it and push himself to his limits, Dan let it go at them.

  Once more, what had happened with the stingray played in front of him again. The dark aura latched onto them and didn't let go. No matter how the Harvesters struggled and tried to escape, it was futile.

  "How's our situation with the fuel?" he asked as he held back a frown. The aura wasn't yet hard to control, but he could feel its bloodthirsty nature starting to awake.

  "Nothing yet," Freddie said after a quick check.

  "Might be because it's not enough?" Robert said, "The stingray was a red and it only raised the fuel reserve by a bit, we should see after you take down more of them. And would you look at that, more seem to be just here."

  Robert was right, more and more of those bugs found themselves speeding into the Voyager's protected area out of control. Dan didn't bother to fight against the aura as it pounced on them.

  Only after Dan had dealt with the first wave did he notice something. The smaller of the bugs, the ones that were around 1 meter long, weren't trying to stop after entering the range of the Voyager's protective aura, they continued on their path as if they couldn't feel anything. It didn't really matter since the dark aura dealt with them even faster than it did the bigger ones, but it was still interesting.

  After dealing with all those who came at them in the first wave, Dan focused again on the bow's camera and looked into the single peak drifting freely, noticing something that made him pause for a second. A continuous stream of those bugs was leaving the peak, which he guessed should be their hive, and heading straight to the Voyager.

  Dan wasn't worried to see that. He might have been if he hadn't seen how weak they were to the dark aura, but having seen it, he was even looking forward to what was coming. Getting his walkie-talkie, he contacted Marcus as he decided that the idea he had before might just work.

  "Dan here," he spoke as he saw what seemed to be a never-ending stream of water striders heading their way, "Do you think we should go for a grinding session? Over."

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