James knew she was speaking about what was best for her. She wasn't a rogue traveler like him, instead she was a princess of the rebels.

After what happened with her mother, James had to ask before he agreed with her:

"Are you sure your mother won't double cross you again?"

The beautiful face of her changed abruptly for a moment before she could control her disturbed feelings. She took a deep breath as she replied:

"I know it's not guaranteed but this will be my own problem. you have done enough already, and knowing her true intentions towards me will make me more prepared for her next time she betrays me."

James didn't reply at once as he looked deeply in her eyes. This little girl here had her soul tainted by her own mother, which was something very harsh to be honest.

However as she said, this wasn't his fight anymore. From the beginning he aimed towards helping Eli and saving her life. although he got some turns by mistake, he still accomplished his goal at the end.

"So it's a goodbye then," he said finally as he decided to let her go. She didn't reply in words as she moved to tightly hug him for a minute before she moved slightly away and looked deeply in his eyes.

Then she took the initiative to kiss his lips softly as a long kiss was born at this moment. James was taken aback with this move at first, however he lost himself after deeply in her kiss.

After all this was his first kiss ever.

"Well, I hope to see you again, James."

She moved away from his embrace leaving him stunned in his place not knowing what to say or do. She turned before she disappeared outside the deck as she said:

"It was nice to know you too Rigo."

"It seems there is no kiss for me," Rigo said with a regretful tone that made Dora chuckle.

"There is a ship next to us, so I will use the escape pod in the back."

Dora said before she turned to look again towards James. The first time she met him was very different from now, as she was threatening him without even putting him in the eye.

However when she took these few steps towards the back of the ship, her heart felt some pain, like something dear to her was lost, like it was lost forever. that pain was horrible that she even ran to escape from here as fast as she could.

She wanted to return to her old life, the bloody princess of the rebels, hoping that her old life would help her forget the future she just abandoned.

As for James, he stood in his place motionless without knowing what to do or say. He too felt some pain in his heart, however he knew this was due to his affection towards her.

Dora was an arrogant girl for him, a type he never thought of liking before. However when he deeply knew her, he felt how fragile and sweet she was. She wasn't tough or arrogant, she was weak and sensitive.

So she veiled her true self and covered it with her arrogance and toughness, and she did a marvelous job here. without truly knowing her in this crisis, he would never thought he would fall for her.

But he did, and now he was already feeling a regret towards letting her go.

"I know I can't speak about love, but for your information cosmos is very big," Rigo suddenly said, attracting James out of his disturbed emotions.

"I don't know if I will find someone like her in this cosmos," James mattered softly like he was speaking to himself.

"I didn't mean that, despite the fact you will find more. What I meant is your paths will be crossed to each other once more, don't worry about that. It's a short goodbye and not an eternal departure," Rigo calmly said as he authorized for the escaping pod to leave.

James felt faint tremor in the ship, which was caused by the escaping pod. He sighed, as no matter what he was feeling right now he had to live with it, there was no turning back.

His eyesight was attracted to the space outside the cruiser for a few moments before he took a deep breath as he moved to sit beside Rigo while saying:

"How is the situation outside?"

Rigo just glanced at him before returning to focus over controlling the cruiser as he replied:

"It's quite chaotic actually. I believe the terasoras ship will arrive soon, so we need to be ready at any time to leave here."

James pressed on the hologram of the whole scanning device of the cruiser, so a three dimensional map of this piece of space appeared. In fact the situation was more complicated than just being chaotic.

Everywhere there were many ships fighting each other. The numbers of fighting forces were very large to the degree the whole space was about to turn from dark to the different colors of these ships, like a sea of colors.

"It's very difficult to cross the whole battlefield to reach the other side," James muttered as he realized what Rigo suggested before was the right decision indeed.

Even the zone they were at right now was filled with many ships, however most of them were small cruisers like them so there was no big threat on their cruiser so far.

"Do you want me to go back to control a cannon?" Rigo asked.

"No, you control the ship and I will control the cannon," James replied as this was the best decision here. He was somehow expert at using cannons, not flying cruisers as good as Rigo.

James moved from his seat as he headed towards the back of the ship. Rigo knew this was the best decision, so he said:

"I want you to cover the surface of the cruiser, the shield strength there is weakened and the armor already received much damage."

James just waved his hand towards him before he realized he was still holding the scepter so far. He glanced hesitantly towards the scepter, as he would use this moment of being alone to discover what mysteries this scepter held.

He exited the commanding deck heading straight to the heart, passing by some dead bodies of Dora's ex-team.

He didn't know who was innocent and who was an agent, but he was convinced he took the right decision by killing them all. Once he reached the heart, he headed to the steel stairs linking to the surface of the cruiser.

He rapidly climbed towards the top, and once he reached there he headed directly towards a small room that was designed to control the main cannons over the surface of the cruiser.

It was the main defensive room at any small cruiser. This room had many defensive devices to help him in defending the cruiser, like an auto detect system, guiding system, and three hundred and sixty degree visibility and mobility of the room.

He sat on the only seat in this place, as he was sitting inside a solid concrete small dome-like place with many buttons and three handles in it.

He knew that each handle could control a group of cannons, as for these buttons they were to help him use this room's defensive capabilities.

Once he sat there on the seat, the system started to kick on as the concrete dome began to show some life. in moments this dome turned into a huge screen that showed an exact image of what was going outside.

It was an amazing feeling, like he was standing alone in the middle of the space, however he knew this was due to the advanced detection technology coupled with the latest hologramic abilities.

The situation outside was really something different than seeing it on the hologramic screen inside the commanding deck. He felt things were worse than he thought, as everywhere there were small cruisers moving fast and hitting anything that moved.

Rigo was right, the shield over the surface was already weak as it blocked uncountable hits already. As for the armor, James managed to spot many places with damage in it.

If this continued, then this cruiser would be done for. So, he didn't delay as he grabbed the middle handle with one hand, while letting the scepter fall from his other hand which grabbed another handle.

This battle needed a full crew of the cruiser, and they wouldn't be able to completely shield the cruiser from these attacks. James knew he couldn't make that difference, but his mission wasn't to win this war.

All he needed to do was to buy as much time as possible before his fleet exited that zone safely and then they would all jump safely from here.

He didn't hesitate to fully activate all the defensive supporting systems in this room, any help would make a difference here. then he began to press the two handles as he officially joined this ongoing heated up space war.