"Good, let's do it," Dora said, as she started relaying orders secretly to her soldiers, at the same time Rigo organized his droid army to work hand in hand with Dora's men.

In addition to what he agreed with Dora upon, he added one mission to all of them, or a warning.

"Be wary of Dora's men, don't fully trust them."

He wasn't mistrusting Dora, as he knew even if she had her own agenda, she wouldn't touch James and his droids. She wasn't like her mother. What he feared was the traitor to be already inside her soldiers, or even controlling them.

If this possibility was true, then any plan they would approve would be revealed to the enemy. Any place they would go, they would be faced with a well prepared enemy trap; making their mission nearly impossible.

During the time Rigo and Dora were busy in their own preparations, James and Eli finally managed to find the cell where Alex and Islinda were imprisoned.

The journey to find the cell seemed long and boring, especially when no one of the two talked. James' mind was busy thinking of the upcoming events, how to best the traps of his enemies, and the odds of his success and Dora and Rigo's success.

As for Eli, she was thinking about the past events, reflecting on how she had changed; met a man and doomed him to death with cold blood. She wasn't like this, this wasn't her nature; and thus she was shocked and got shaken from the inside.

They took roughly two hours to reach there, but once there, they forgot all the tension in the past couple of hours, as Eli hurried towards the cell to check on the two inside.

They were fine, perfectly resting on each side of the cell, silently looking towards Eli without any interest, like they were used to being watched.

"Oh, isn't she…?" Ales noticed Eli, as he recognized her, even standing from his own bed to point at her. He recognized her face, and where he saw her before, but couldn't recall her name.

"She is Eli," Islinda replied, with no interest, as she looked away, "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I…" Eli was about to speak when James appeared in the sight of the two inside. His face, his appearance, made their faces change, turning upside down, like they just saw their strongest enemy, their nemesis.

"Oh, why are you eyeing me like this?" James faked ignorance, as he simply asked.

"You damn…" Alex was the first to jump at James, to be stopped by the bars of the prison, holding his hand a few inches away from James' face. The anger inside Alex was nothing compared to what was already steaming inside Islinda, but the latter was experienced, very experienced, in striking deals.

"Alex, calm down for a bit," Islinda directed her words to Alex, who turned to look at her with disbelief. Islinda knew if she wanted to have a nice negotiation, then she either had a strength or something badly wanted by James, or else she would be like a feather, had no weight and flew everywhere under the effect of any wind.

"Just calm down, let's listen to what he wants," she said, as her eyes were fixed over James, who was surprised with this sudden change in her attitude. James didn't come here to negotiate without having his own offers and leverage ready for her, and this was what she failed to anticipate.

James then watched Alex moving back, inside the cell, without making any noise anymore. It seemed during their stay here, Islinda managed to tame him, which made her quite resourceful than James' expectations.

"What do you want?" Islinda asked, directly, without even blinking. Her tone seemed playful, like she was having a fun game here. James just glanced at her, while Eli's smile told a lot about how gravely mistaken Islinda was!

"Well," James didn't mind her tone, "I came to tell you a mix of good and bad news."

"and you want to ask us which one we want to hear first, right?" Islinda said in her regular playing tone. "No," James shook his head, "I will ask first, whom of you wants to hear his news first?"

James' words astonished Islinda, as she didn't expect him to really have any news regarding them both. She started to take him seriously. Her face was strained with her real feelings, eagerness and anger.

James noticed her sudden change, knowing that she was just faking it a while ago. He didn't mind it, in fact he wasn't putting the two in his expectations at all. He just felt he had some debt to collect, some benefit he could use in the future perhaps, but surely not now.

"You can start up with me," Alex hurriedly said, as he wanted to know what James had for him.

Actually James had little information about him. per the talks and the ruckus he did before he was detained, James knew he was one of the people living in the protective isolating layer of that trade zone he destroyed before.

Knowing that, he simply asked Rigo to scan for anything related to this area, any news regarding them. according to Rigo, there were some pieces of information, which couldn't be considered a big thing back then, however now he was intending to use it as a part of his big plan.

"Fine, we have discovered that the layer you lived at, the zone that covered that terases trading zone, had a back door. Just minutes before the whole destruction of it, a movement was noticed there, and that might mean there are some people alive," James said, expressing all the news he got.

It wasn't much, but the eyes of Alex started to build up tears, as he shakily said:

"Dad and Mom are ok, I'm sure of it. they are survivors, they will fight and will struggle, they are alive."

He then looked to James, as he expressed his thanks without even saying a word, just a nod, a single nod, before he returned to his bed.

Islinda wasn't a fool, it was easy to fabricate such a story, provided the listener was so desperate to hear it, and it could be impossible to prove it right now, either true or false.

However, despite her doubts, she didn't open up her mouth, looked in silence towards James, who looked back at her.

"Don't you want to hear your pieces of news?" he asked.

"Sure, bring it on. He heard good news, so I guess the bad ones are left for me," she said, in a tone that wasn't sad or anxious at all.

"Fine," James said, "we managed to locate your star system," he simply said. her eyes fixed deeply over him, showing no reaction at all.

"What system?" she asked, testing him.

"Your empire star system," he replied, instantly without any second thoughts.

Her mind worked, fast as it could, and in less than a moment she had gained a possible explanation to all of that.

"So you heard me saying the name of my empire, and now you are here to use it against me?"

Her tone wasn't harsh or high, but her despise was obviously felt. James, on the other hand, didn't feel offended, this was quite predictable from such an esteemed member of a royal family of a bid empire. He just smiled while saying:

"It's not that at all, for instance, your empire is so mighty, mighty enough to rule the whole grand star system on its own, with no rival at all." He looked at her stupefied, shocked face, "Am I correct, your highness?" his question was so thunderously raging inside her mind, like a shocking tsunami wave came abruptly, out of nowhere, and cleaned everything around her, and she included.

"You are talking for real, not bluffing!!!" she muttered, with absolute disbelief.

James didn't reply except with a nod, mimicking Alex's reply to him. He had shown her a token of what he knew, and now she had to show him a token of her readiness to do what he wanted.

She overcame her shock in a marveling way, a way deserving of a real queen. She knew James just exposed this info, as a tiny piece of the iceberg, without any hesitation or fear for loss, so he had more valuable info in his grasp.

Info trade was once called the most tedious trade in the world. info couldn't be assessed fairly, or measured by anything. Its value was subjected, always, to the people involved in it, and the impact of this value on the universe, which meant everything was negotiable and had no rules at all.

Any single piece of info might worth nothing at some point of life, but at other points, in special circumstances, like the one she found herself at, these small pieces of information might be priceless, worth even more than her entire wealth, or life itself.

"What do you want?" this time, she asked seriously, without any playing or joking or doubting. she was willing to hear and ready to negotiate, putting many scenarios in front of her eyes; however James' response literally paralyzed her mind, exceeding her expectations, as he simply muttered:

"I just want you."