Dan walked to the bridge with Marcus after sending the Voyager away with Rose and Arnold. She had been feeling pretty bad about what she did, and wouldn't listen to him when he told her that it was alright, that she just needed to tell him before doing such a thing.
Giving her something to do with her new skill was good for getting her mind off what had just happened.
"What are you thinking about?" Marcus asked from next to him.
"Just how hard raising a child is," Dan half-joked. A part of him felt that he had meant what he just said.
"Well, look at the bright side, she's growing fast," Marcus tried to comfort him.
"Thanks..." Dan shook his head at his friend's attempt at humour.
Dan would have loved to return to his room and rest for a bit, but unfortunately, it was almost night and they had to start their journey soon. That was especially so with how their plan for that first part of their journey had them anchor on the open ocean, there were no forbidden zones they could make use of. Hopefully being away from the known routes and Enshrouding Fog would be enough.
"I heard the Voyager gave you quite the scare." Robert's voice awaited them as soon as they got onto the bridge.
"You have no idea." Dan shook his head as he chuckled, "I should have expected it, with how her character seems to be, so curious and experimental, but that didn't happen. Well, as long as she's learning from these small mistakes, it should be alright."
Dan saw Robert smiling as he shook his head but said nothing. He passed him and went deeper into the bridge, nodding to Old Raily, Keith and Freddie who were there.
"So, is everything ready?" He brought the conversation back to the matter at hand.
"Yes," Robert said, "We were only waiting for you to get back with your new skill. We can leave at any moment."
"Good to know." He then turned to Old Raily who was on the bridge too. "All the guards know their shifts and are prepared for whatever might happen?"
"Everything is good on our side," Old Raily affirmed, "We are as prepared as we can be."
"Okay." He nodded as he took a deep breath. "Let's get her going."
As they moved, Dan couldn't help but feel a weird sensation in his heart. This was the first time in days where they were truly leaving the Swarmers' territory. The ocean was big and who knows what was awaiting them out there. It had to be done though, they couldn't just hide and wish for nothing to happen, it wasn't a way to live.
Looking at the orange dots following in an orderly line next to them, Dan had to hold back a weary smile. They weren't leaving that area empty-handed, 94 Swarmers weren't nothing for sure.
Because of the dangers of moving at night, they reworked the bridge's shifts. They included some of the family members who were interested in helping, which was honestly most of them. They became a two-person shift. The guards had their own shifts too, so it wasn't like they were the only ones keeping watch.
"Don't worry, everything will be alright." Robert patted him.
Dan's shift didn't change, he still took the 4 am shift, his partner for that day was William. He knew that the old engineer was working with Francis on their things, they seemed to be considering many projects, not just the Ammunition Reloading Line, and when he wasn't there, he was in his room trying to study Nulara's necklace and even trying his own experiments. Dan knew those weren't going well, but the old man was going at it tirelessly, especially after Dan levelled up through a buildup of experience.
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After dinner, Dan spent some more time on the bridge before eventually returning to his room for rest. Everyone had their shifts, and him being there wouldn't do much even if anything happened, returning to his room for rest so he could be in perfect condition when it was his shift was more important.
Again, Dan had a great sleep, he felt that he didn't even move after he fell asleep, the next thing he knew his alarm was ringing.
Done with his morning routine, Dan left the room, heading to the bridge. He could feel that the Voyager was still moving, so he guessed that they still hadn't made it to their target location for the first night.
"Morning, Robert, Diana," Dan greeted the couple once he made it to the bridge, "How are things, I take it we didn't make it to our target yet?"
The person who decided to join Robert in his shift at the bridge was his wife, Diana.
"No, it's the opposite," Robert replied after they returned his greeting, "I don't know if it's because she's growing or what, but we are way faster than we thought we would be. Seeing that, and after discussing it with Freddie, we decided to push as much as we could and only stop at dawn."
"What about our fuel consumption?" Dan asked as he frowned, he hoped that the speed wasn't achieved through sacrificing fuel.
"Don't worry," Robert calmed him down, "That was the first thing we looked into, and believe it or not, our fuel consumption is lower than it already was after taking the Titles into account."
"Huh..." Dan looked around, he and the Voyager levelling up was having great effects on her.
"William isn't here yet?" he asked as he looked around.
"He came around before going to get some coffee, he should be back soon," Diana said.
"Freddie will be back in a short while too," Robert added as he stood up, "You should choose a location to anchor then."
"Got it." He nodded. "Go rest you two, take care."
Not long after the two left, Dan heard some footsteps getting closer, looking towards the entrance, he was met by the wrinkled face of William who was holding 2 cups of coffee.
"Morning, captain," he greeted as he put the two cups he had down, pushing one of them towards him, "I got you some coffee."
"Thanks." Dan smiled in appreciation. "I needed this."
Dan wasn't that into coffee, but if it was offered to him, he would never say no to it.
"You seem happy today," he said to his chief engineer.
"It's that obvious?" The old man chuckled. "Guess what? I actually got a level up!"
"That's so great to hear." Dan was truly happy for his friend. "So how did it go? What skill are you getting?"
"Already chosen." William smiled. "I've gone with Schema. It's a skill that goes into runes, how they could be used and interact with each other, and it's comprehensive, elementary but comprehensive. This is what I have been looking forward to."
Dan smiled at his friend's happiness, he knew that the old guy had been a bit depressed at not being of much help, that was why he threw himself so hard at the projects that Francis brought him.
"It's that helpful, huh?" he asked as he took a sip from his coffee.
"Yes, you have no idea how helpful it is," William said as he brought his excitement under control, "You have no idea how easy runes are going to make our life and projects, they are like a cheat code."
"It's that useful?"
"It is. You remember the skill I got, Branching Upgrades?" At Dan's nod, he continued. "I told you how using it on the blueprint Francis brought showed me some changes here and there and some runic pathways. Now that I know what those mean, I can see how useful they could be. They aren't even doing much in that blueprint. I could have an automated Ammunition Production Line using them and Francis's skills down the line. The possibilities are basically endless."
"All that was kept behind a skill..." Dan murmured in mild disbelief.
He knew that skills were important, he saw how effective they were for the Voyager and how game-changing some of those skills their people already had. But only after seeing this example with William did he truly understand that the few skills his group had weren't all that was out there, most of them were just at levels 1 or 2 after all. The types of skills that were locked behind the coming level-ups were really something to look forward to.
For the first time since all this started, Dan truly considered how the crew he had would look after a few levels under them. Just reaching the average of the world, level 45, would make them a power that had to be reckoned with.
