"We are in position," Marcus said into the walkie-talkie, "Keep us updated. Over."

  "Noted," Dan's voice sounded back, "Be careful and put your safety first, keep your line open. Over."

  Marcus of course added himself to those going for this experiment, he wouldn't send his people on such a dangerous mission and not be a part of it. Those he took with him were George and Ricky. The ex-soldier was the person who Marcus trusted the most to have his back, other than Old Raily. While Ricky was mainly there to pilot the tender.

  "Okay, George," Marcus said, "You know the drill, we will only shoot a shot or two then await the update from the bridge."

  "Got it," George said as he held his weapon close.

  Marcus nodded at him before turning to Ricky,

  "As soon as you hear anything off from the bridge, lead us back, no hesitation, understood?"

  "Understood," Ricky said seriously. The Magic Enthusiast had already pointed the tender towards the Voyager and was only awaiting the order for them to retreat.

  "Okay." Marcus released a breath as he prepared himself for what was coming. "Let's start."

  "We are starting, over," he sent to the bridge to have them be prepared for whatever might happen next before aiming his gun. "Fire at will."

  At that moment, they weren't in the Swarmers' territory. Not knowing how the creatures might react after being attacked from inside the protective circle, they didn't want to risk it, so they had the Voyager move for the first time in days, leaving the Swarmers' territory. They moved far enough that other creatures started appearing in Keith's skill again.

  That was one of the preparations made for the night. Some of the others included having the hangar ready to lift the tender as fast as possible, and having Dex fix extremely bright lights at the back of the tender, dealing with the problem of light.

  Bang! Bang!

  Two shots rang out in the dark night, both of them hitting the same target, one of those eldritch mermaids they met the first time they went to shore. It was closer to the surface and was one of the few creatures they were able to see clearly, it also wasn't that far from them, only around 20 to 30 meters.

  "It's heading towards you!" Dan's voice came from the walkie-talkie, but by then, Marcus had already seen it turning and beelining towards them.

  "HOLD!" he shouted, mostly aimed at Ricky who was manning the tender.

  "Closing on the protected circle," Dan kept on giving updates, and Marcus kept his AKM trained at the monster.

  "It passed!" Dan's voice came just as the monster's movement halted.

  Marcus watched as it did its best to stop and turn around. Having got their answer, Marcus pulled the trigger again, the shots sounding out in the silent night.

  "It was retreating," Dan's update came timely, "I guess you've dealt with it? Over."

  "It's down," Marcus replied, "And yes, we noticed it retreating, so I dealt with it. Over."

  "Are you going to try again? Or are you returning now to prepare for the second part of the experiment tomorrow? Over."

  "We will continue." One try wasn't enough for Marcus. "Don't worry we will be cautious. Over."

  The rest of the first part of their experiment went perfectly, they tried again and again with many other monsters. Fortunately, they all had the same reactions, they would charge at them when they got attacked at first, but would turn around to retreat once they got within the Voyager's protected circle.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  After dropping the mermaid, Ricky had asked Marcus if they could drag some of the bodies into the tender. Marcus had raised an eyebrow at the request, but the man hurriedly explained that Arnold asked him to do so, saying that it was for his Class. Seeing no problem, the two worked together to pull two of the monsters they took down into the tender. It was that eldritch mermaid thing and a flat almost clear-looking fish, you could almost see through it.

  Everything done, Marcus had them return to the Voyager as he started preparing himself for what they had for tomorrow. What had just happened wasn't that dangerous, they weren't too worried about it. But for the second part of the experiment tomorrow? They had their reservations.

  "Are you sure we need to go with the second part tomorrow?" Dan pulled him aside and asked him when they got back to the Voyager.

  "We need to know the limits of this ability," Marcus said, "And I know the risk, don't worry, we will be prepared for everything."

  Marcus saw his captain open and close his mouth a few times before finally just sighing and patting him,

  "Just be careful. Go rest and be ready for tomorrow."

  Nodding at him, he turned around and left. He knew what Dan was afraid of, after all what they were aiming to do might put the whole Voyager at risk, not just the few of them. From what they went through that day though, the chance of that was quite small.

  Due to their experimentations, they even delayed leaving towards the Sticky Reefs, that mission needed them to be fully ready after all.

  The night passed peacefully, and so did the next morning. Marcus did feel that some of the people who knew about what was going to happen were a bit stressed, but nothing else was off.

  "Okay, we are a few hundred meters away from their territory," Keith said, bringing the Voyager to a stop, "Everything is ready for a speedy retreat on our side."

  "Good, we will start." After waiting for the Swarmers' concentration to get the lowest it ever did, they finally were starting the second part of their experiment.

  This second part of the plan involved them trying to attack the Swarmers and seeing how they would react, if they would push into the Voyager's protective circle or if it would keep them at bay.

  They were doing this because the Swarmers were one of the few creatures which ignored a ship's Cornerstone, and pushing creatures like that to test the Voyager's protective circle almost felt like something that must be done. If the Voyager was still able to keep them at bay even after being their main target, that would be great.

  They also chose midday as the time for their operation because the concentration of the creatures was the lowest at around that time.

  This time, the team only included Marcus and Ricky, he gave the man the choice not to join, but he didn't take it, he was adamant on joining. George wanted to join too but Marcus refused him this time. There was no reason to risk more lives for nothing.

  "We are in position," Marcus said through the walkie-talkie, "Be prepared. Over."

  "Everything is good here, be careful, over," Dan replied.

  This time things were going to be different from the night before. The Swarmers were too dangerous for them to mess things up, so they weren't taking any chances at all.

  "Ricky, you know what to do," he told the previous deckhand, getting only a grunt as a response.

  Marcus lined his rifle as he took a deep breath and calmed his nerves. That day was the first time he laid eyes on the creatures known as Swarmers. The first thing that came to mind as he saw them was how the name Swarmers was truly fitting. It took a while to realise what they were looking at, for him to separate one of the creatures from the whole, they were just that concentrated.

  The creatures themselves looked like elongated piranhas, they were red at the top, the only part he could see, and from what he saw, they were around 2 to 3 meters in length. Their swimming speed seemed to be astonishing, they never stopped and even though there were so many of them stacked together, no collisions happened at all.

  It wasn't easy to target one of them due to their speed and how messy things were, but Marcus eventually managed it. Putting his finger on the trigger, he started pulling slowly as he tracked it, once he felt all the slack disappear he prepared himself mentally as he pulled it all the way through.

  Bang!

  Marcus could feel the tender start moving below him as soon as the shot sounded. Marcus steadied himself as he looked ahead, his heart skipping a beat at the sight.

  "They are after you!" Dan's voice came through, seemingly calm but you could feel the panic under it, "A whole swarm seems to be coming for you! Push it, push it!"

  Marcus didn't have the time to answer, the sight was just that shocking. Hundreds, possibly thousands of Swarmers were after them, all he could see was a flood of red churning the ocean while chasing them.

  "They have crossed into the circle," Marcus finally heard the words he had been looking forward to hearing, the next part made his heart drop even more though, "THEY AREN'T STOPPING! THEY ARE STILL AFTER YOU! THEY HAVE TURNED RED!"

  He almost lifted his AKM and started firing once he heard that, but he held himself, he wasn't going to give them more reasons to come after them. Marcus could only clench and unclench his fist as he watched the red tide come closer and closer.

  Just as they reached almost the halfway point of the protective circle around the Voyager, Marcus noticed the swarm slowing down; he almost thought that his eyes were playing tricks on him, but the words from the walkie-talkie made his thundering heart calm down,

  "They stopped! They aren't retreating though, they are just circling the Voyager."

  Marcus released a breath as he calmed his beating heart, he tried to comb his hair, but his hands were shaking. That was one of the very few times he felt that he really was going to die.