Dan waited till he was sure that everyone understood what he had said before continuing:

  "I won't lie, the situation isn't that good. We don't know where we are, we have no idea if land is close by, nor do we know how the natives are going to react to us being here." After making sure that everyone understood the gravity of the situation they were in, he continued, "Fortunately, it's not all gloom and doom, we have the Voyager, she's full of fuel and we have enough nonperishable foods that would last us months if things come to it."

  Dan deliberately didn't mention the sea monster they had just met, he needed to raise morale a bit, and mentioning that monstrosity would do nothing but send everyone into a state of panic. He noticed some of the people catching up to what he was doing and he just nodded to them in appreciation.

  "Another thing we should be careful about is the Classes and skills. It seems that not all Classes are the same, and it's probably the same for the skills. Some are stronger than others and much more useful, as Keith just showed. So, I advise you to consult with each other and see what's the best for you. Making the best decision on your own might not be possible after all."

  After dealing with all that, Dan gave everyone the chance to talk to each other, choosing their classes and skills while he gathered the few he had called before and sent them on their respective tasks. Watching them leave, he again turned to Marcus, the Chief Security Officer, and continued with what he wanted to say before he got interrupted by the system announcement. Unlike back then though, this time there was no hesitation. What they experienced left no room for that.

  "Marcus, as I said, we need protection. We have no idea what's awaiting us and we need to be prepared for whatever comes our way, that's why I think we should... open the armoury."

  Marcus didn't answer straight away, he looked deeply at Dan first, seemingly contemplating things before nodding slowly as he said:

  "Understood, I will look around and see if anyone is good enough with guns to form a small group of guards first."

  Are there weapons on a cruise ship? If you asked anyone that, their answer would be a firm no, it was a known fact. Cruise ships travel through different countries and with each country having different laws concerning weapons, keeping any on board would be a logistic nightmare. So instead of weapons cruise ships had different defensive measures against attacks at sea, from powerful water cannons, to LRAD acoustic weapons. Those and many more protective measures were what kept pirates or other attacking parties at bay.

  When taking truly dangerous routes though, where such measures are deemed to be not enough, the cruise ship might contract armed security personnel to keep them safe. Such personnel would be armed to the teeth and ready for anything.

  As could be seen from what Dan had just told Marcus though, that wasn't always the case. Sometimes, some cruise ships kept an armoury hidden on deck, other than the Captain, Chief Officer and the Chief Security Officer, no one knew about it. That armoury would only be opened in the case of a serious situation, with no other choice in sight. Due to the routes the Voyager took, and how piracy started getting out of hand the last few years, the Voyager's armoury was quite prepared.

  Dan nodded in approval and handed Marcus the key to the vault. The man put the key away and said:

  "I will also have someone always on the ready to man the LRADs. The foghorn's effect on the monster was favourable, using the LRADs would most likely have even better of an effect, or we can even use both."

  "Sounds like a great idea, see what you can do." Dan nodded.

  Watching the man leave to deal with his mission, Dan then turned to Robert as he sighed and said weakly:

  "It's unbelievable..."

  Robert patted him on the shoulder before saying:

  "That it is. It's alright though, we will handle it, we always have." He then continued as he nodded towards the outside of the bridge, "Let's go get some fresh air."

  Dan nodded and followed him outside. He knew that Robert was leading him away from everyone, leading him somewhere where he could discard the strong and determined facade of the Voyager's Captain.

  "I don't know what to do, I'm not even sure if what I'm doing is right. You saw that- that monster. How am I supposed to keep everyone safe from something like that..." Dan said once they were far enough that it would be impossible for anyone to eavesdrop. Robert was the only person there to whom Dan could show weakness. He was there when Dan was sobbing bitterly after finding out that the Voyager was being shelved, patting him on the shoulder while comforting him gently.

  "We just need to do our best," Robert said while looking at the open waters all around them, "Take things easy, one step at a time, take them as they come. You did well by keeping everyone calm and busy, our next step should be understanding our environment. I know it sounds bad, but our best bet would be making contact with some of the natives... Well, secretly of course."

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "That would be risky," Dan answered after taking some time to calm down, "I doubt they are going to react well to us. Just imagine how the nations back home would react to someone in our situation. Doing it secretly would be dangerous too, this old girl isn't quite easy to hide is she?"

  "Well," Robert smiled wearily "As I said, take them as they come. Speaking of which, what did you do with your Class choices and skills?"

  Even though he had just used that as an excuse to get people's minds off the monster and have them focus on something else, he himself hadn't been in a state to deal with his Class choice and what came after. He was unsure if Robert was using the same trick he used on the crew, distracting him from his worries, but he welcomed it with open arms.

  "I did make my Class choice, though I didn't choose any skills or the like," He answered, then proceeded to explain the choices he had and what he chose and why.

  "I think you chose well," Robert nodded while scratching his chin, "That bit about being tainted by a being's aura though... Yeah, doesn't sound foreboding at all."

  "Yes, I don't know what all that was about though. Probably has something to do with the freak accident the first window talked about. Not like we could know, so let's just set that aside for now."

  "Then what about your skills? Have you got the chance to take a look at them yet?"

  "Actually, not yet, was just about to," Dan shrugged, "What about you? What class and skills did you get?"

  "I've got a few, still not sure," Robert answered offhandedly, "Let's get yours done first, kinda want to make sure of something."

  Dan looked at his Chief Officer without saying anything. He felt that his good friend had something on his mind but he didn't push. He trusted him enough for something like that. That aside, he turned his attention to the weird notification he got after the monster disappeared.

  You succeeded in protecting your crew from one of the legendary Behemoths of the deep. A feat only made more fascinating by the fact that you did so while still a level one. Your achievement has earned you enough EXP 'experience' to level up. A skill choice is available for you:

  "Error, both level 1 skills for yourself and your ship have not been chosen yet, complete the previous skill selection before continuing with the current one."

  "Huh, so levels are a thing here..." Dan murmured. He had already seen something about that from the system before, but being faced with it was something else. At the same time, his hypothesis that the sea monster was one of those Behemoths mentioned in the Abyssal Captain's class description was proven true, which made him relieved in a sense. He had feared that that huge monstrosity was only a normal sea beast and he wasn't sure how he would have dealt with that. The mere existence of those Behemoths was bad news for them, but at least they were the worst that this world could send their way.

  The window flashed again when he was done reading it,

  Personal skills choice available, you may choose 1 of the following three skills, or skip the current skill choice,

  Calm Mind.

  Scales Armour.

  Whale Lungs.

  "Weird, it says that I can ignore the current skill choice, why though? Do you think that the amount of skills we can have is limited?" Dan wondered aloud.

  "Not knowing how this thing works is a pain," Robert sighed, "So what do you think? Going for one of those three?"

  "Hmm..." Dan read the skills descriptions then said aloud to Robert as he went through his choices again in his mind, "I've got an active skill that makes it so that when I activate it, I become calmer and more rational no matter the situation, lasts for 15 minutes. The second is also an active skill, gives some kind of scale armour, it isn't clear about the durability though. Just mentions stopping some knife and sword slashes. As for the last one, it's called Whale Lungs, it's simple, it says that it just multiplies the time I can hold my breath by 10..."

  Dan didn't say it, but he did kinda find the skills underwhelming. He understood that they were just level one skills, but still.

  "Which one do you feel calls to you the most?" Robert asked.

  "Hmm, not sure," Dan said slowly, "all of them have their uses, but the option to skip them is messing with me. If it turns out that there are limited skill slots after choosing one of these... I don't know how I would react."

  "So what? You're going to skip?" Robert raised an eyebrow.

  "None of the skills sound like a real game changer," Dan said as he caressed the railings. The one skill that he could see himself taking was Calm Mind, it was the kind of skill that would help in situations like the one they had just been in. After all, him being calm might have just been the reason they survived. But again, it seemed that he already had something that calmed him down when the situation called for it, so...

  "I honestly don't think I would regret not choosing any of them. I think I'll take my chances by skipping," he finally said.

  "It's your choice in the end," Robert encouraged him.

  Dan nodded, took a deep breath then focused on skipping the skill selection. A window that said, Are you sure you want to skip this skill selection? appeared, and after he made his desire known, it disappeared and a new window flashed into existence.

  Bonded Ship's skill choice:

  Enshrouding Fog

  Dan frowned, there was only one choice. He didn't know how the system worked, so maybe, unlike him, the Voyager only got one random skill in each skill selection. But he was sure that one of the previous windows mentioned that he had to make the choice. As he thought about that, that same window flashed into existence in front of him.

  How convenient...

  As a Bonded Captain, you and your ship are one, yet at the same time, separate. You will get a skill choice every level, while your ship will get one every three levels. Your ship's skills are upgrades that are going to affect your ship. The choice shall be made by you.

  Dan read that announcement again and just as he thought, there it was, the last sentence. It did say that the choice would be made by him-

  Wait! an idea flashed through his mind, I thought that what it meant by ship skills was skills that would affect the ship, and they might be. I mean, it even mentioned it right there, they are upgrades that change her. But what if, just what if instead of them being just skills that change her, they are called that because they are made by her? It's not that I only get one skill choice here, but this is what the Voyager has already chosen!

  Returning to the skill choice window for the Voyager, he noticed the difference in the wording for both his and the Voyager's skill selections. His had said, skills choice available, and mentioned the ability to skip. While the Voyager's only said, Bonded Ship's skill choice. It wasn't asking him to choose, it was showing him the Voyager's choice!