Dora stood silent in front of the request coming to her from down below. She was yet hesitant, but suddenly, another message came in, from down below too, but this time it was from the last person she could imagine he would send her.

"Listen to me Dora, for the old times' sake I just want to leave in peace. But, and I swear to follow my words to the letter, if you tried anything, I won't hesitate to attack you, crush everything you have till the last ounce of hope. Let's leave friends with good memories than enemies with death and destruction."

Dora's body shivered when she read James' message. She felt the determination in his words, the desire for the two to be friends, not enemies, but not the fear from being so.

She suddenly recalled the moments when they were together, fighting with each other. The moments when he leaned over her, with his body fixated in the space, just to save her. She recalled everything he did to her, and in return she recalled the nothing she did back to him.

She didn't even hug him, or give him a sweet deep passionate kiss on the lips like the way he deserved, like a hero should have from the girl he saved.

Rather than this, she was, just now, thinking about how to attack him, and successfully kill him and steal everything he had.

She sighed, and for the first time for her entire life, she started to think she wasn't that different from her own mother.

"Clear the path and open the hatch," she said before pausing for a brief moment, as her own desire tried to take the best of her, "and let them leave in peace," she added, before sighing in relief while leaning on her seat, alone, in this huge and almost empty place of the commanding deck.

James saw the door being opened after a warning loud siren in the deck. The opening of this door meant the connection between here and the outer space, so another sealing compartment appeared to separate them from the rest of the deck.

'Sigh,' James helplessly sighed, 'I thought she might ask to come with me,' he shook his head, in disappointment. Though she was now the queen of the rebels, the incident of that traitor along the way was a clear indicator of how lonely there she was.

James knew her rule would be tested, frequently, and living here in a stranger sector would make things much harder for her. There would be no home to return to, no settlement to live at, except if snatched by war, and lastly she would always be threatened by others' ambitions, others who would see her unworthy of such title.

However he had nothing in hand to do regarding this, as she had all the right to determine her fate, even if this led to her death.

"Sigh," he sighed, loudly, this time, "Let's go," he ordered.

Rigo just glanced briefly at him. He knew his leader's mind very well, and knew what he was thinking. So, out of his responsibilities, he sent a brief message to Dora, who read in many times before deleting it.

'My leader is sad to see you go. I have left a tracking set inside the system of your cruiser, if one day you want to join us, just activate it and you will be able to get there.'

Dora went silent for a while, as her eyes watched the small fleet leaving her line of sight, heading to the middle of nowhere.

"Idiot!"

She muttered to herself, lamenting her own pathetic mind and childish desires for leaving the one man who truly felt like the one. She glanced at the huge commanding deck in silence, before she sighed, stressfully, while muttering:

"I hope you find this worth your sacrifice."

James sat there inside his cruiser, the small one that he initially stole when he left his planet, and his mind was full of many ideas and thoughts, until he was disturbed by Islinda:

"It's a shame to leave such a beauty behind."

James left his head slowly, as he knew this little princess was just trying to tease him.

"Yes, that large cruiser was one of a kind," James simply replied, without showing any emotion on his face. His reply made Islinda chuckle, as she realized she was caught by him, again.

"So, any clue about where we are heading?"

Alex asked the most important question, which was one of the rarest moments when he was right. The discussion of their destination started just after they left the large cruiser, as Rigo and Islinda were arguing about their next destination.

The funny thing was, they both didn't know all the details regarding this region of space, except from some old time data Rigo managed to copy from the main system of Dora's cruiser.

Rigo suggested landing on an abandoned planet, like he once did with his elite squad, and bid their time there. Islinda refused this, as that would lengthen the time needed for her to return home. She selected the most occupied and important planet in this star system, the heart of an existing empire, the Wod Empire.

"Enlighten me again, princess, why do you want us to go there?" Rigo asked, in a sarcastic tone.

"For refugees, of course," she instantly replied, without even blinking.

"Refugee? Really? Or you want to backstab us and try to cut a deal on our heads?" Rigo rudely said, accusing her directly.

"H-How dare you!" she darted out after a momentary pause.

"Stop the two of you from this childish quarrel," James finally had to step in, "we need to select a planet, not too important and not too empty," he added.

"What for?" Islinda asked.

"To snatch the control on that planet for our own selves," James finally expressed his thoughts, "we need to lay low, but not this low Rigo, as we need people to command, army to build, and most importantly, a network on news so we can learn how to crack through the intersector barrier, and also be alarmed before the arrival of the Terases."

His words were logic, and the two of them didn't find anything to argue with. James just returned his back, calmed down his mind, and closed his eyes, enjoying some rare moment of peace, while his two advisors were now arguing again, but he totally neglected them.

He slept, amidst this noise, for hours before they awakened him, in a way that meant they already reached a conclusion.

"Yawn, what is the planet you chose?" he asked, in a sleepy face, tone, and even semi-closing eyes.

"It's this planet, Olef planet," Islinda hurriedly said.

"It's a planet with a local weak government rule, it also lies outside the jurisdiction of the Wod empire, so we can be safe there," Rigo said, trying to state the important facts.

"It's also surrounded by ten planets, ruled by separate governments, and all are outside the reach of the Wod empire," Islinda added.

James rubbed his eyes, while his mind was processing these info. It was so good to be true, so he knew there was a catch here.

"Just tell me what is wrong here?"

"It's related to the place they are situated in," Islinda said, as she looked at Rigo who added, "these ten planets are located on the main, proclaimed, route of the black merchants."

"Black merchants?" James muttered as his eyes widened. The way he left his planet was by dealing with one of those black merchants. They were vicious, violent, and lived by no code of honor.

"Isn't that the black market?" he asked, trying to confirm his guess.

"Well, it's just rumors we found," Islinda said, trying to evade answering that question, "It's rumored one of these planets is one of the main places of the black market," Rigo said, before Islinda hurried to add, "but we chose a planet away from this rumored black market centre."

"But they are all under the control of this black market, at least from the shadows," James said, moving from his seat, as he tried to wake himself up by slapping his face and rubbing it.

"We think it's unl…" Islinda was trying to convince him, as she and Rigo saw this planet very suitable to their future goals, but he stopped her by raising his hand, while saying:

"You misunderstood me," he then walked to the centre of the deck, where a hologram of this star system was there. He saw the eleven planets they just talked about. Without the need of their guidance, he spotted the planet that worked as their hidden ruler, it was located exactly in the middle of the system.

"What do you mean, supreme leader?" Rigo felt he was really unable to read James' mind, and so was Islinda, so both of them looked silently at him, waiting for his next words.