Chapter 76: Dora's Desperate State of Mind

Rigo looked at James silently before he began to contact Dora. He knew something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what it was. All he knew was that staying here would compromise his leader's life, and so they had to leave, to leave fast.

After few moments of waiting, Rigo managed to contact Dora as he looked towards James while saying:

"She requests to speak with you."

James took a deep breath to let his anxiety chill out for a bit before nodding to Rigo. In front of the two, a hologramic screen appeared with the face of Dora in front of them.

"You seem in a hurry, what's wrong? Tell me." she said once she spotted James.

"There is no time to explain, will you come with me or not?" James spoke in the same seriousness as before but with perfect control over his anxiety this time.

"I'm on my way, give me three minutes and my ship will be there. have you arrived yet?" she said.

"Three minutes, hmm… try to make it shorter then," James said as he looked towards Rigo, "Have you sent her the coordinates of our location?"

"Yes," Rigo simply replied.

"Good, I will wait for three minutes, if you don't arrive then I will leave here," James said.

"What, are you going to hang out like last time?" she said with faint anger in her tone.

"Time is tight, and I have things to do and so do you. Let's not just waste time here and let's chat when we will be on the ship," James said before waving his hands to her, "bye, see you in minutes."

He then gestured to Rigo who closed the connection.

"How long?" James asked while rubbing his face with the palms of his hands.

"Our team will arrive here in two minutes, and her fleet will be here in three," Rigo replied.

"Fleet?!" James sat straight at once as he looked strangely towards Rigo who felt he said something wrong.

"Y-Yes, she is bringing twenty cruisers with her," Rigo hesitantly replied.

"Damn! What does she think of this? A field trip? A space camp? Damn! Call her again, fast!"

"Ok, ok, give me moments," Rigo hurriedly said as he connected to Dora's cruiser. Before he connected the two together, he sent a brief warning to Dora with these simple words:

'He knows and he is upset.'

'Thanks,' Dora sent briefly to Rigo before the latter said:

"She is all yours."

Dora appeared the moment after in front of James, who was burning with anger. Once he saw her he exploded:

"What the hell are you doing? Didn't I tell you only one ship?"

"Oh, these ships are just protecting me," Dora faked innocence.

"C'mon, how will you move away and leave them? do you want me to believe that?!" James pointed out to her as he yelled.

He was nervous, anxious, and worried. He just wanted to leave here and resume his life safely in any other place, so he was impatient and angry.

Dora understood part of his reasons, and she admitted to herself that she tried to trick him and save as much of her loyal followers as possible, however he discovered that.

He was angry, and she was trying to think of anything she could say or use to convince him in taking everyone with them.

"Do you know I only have a means to save one ship, only one ship? That's why I asked for your largest cruiser here so it can fit all my fleet."

James' words were sudden, honest, and direct which made Dora understand many things here. He wasn't cold hearted, he was practical and limited by his own means.

So, if he could save one cruiser only, then she wouldn't need to be this fixed over saving all the fleet in this standard way. She could follow his steps and crowd all her crew inside this one large cruiser and escape all together.

"Fine, I will make modifications now," Dora said.

"Don't waste time please, we are already tight on the schedule here," James insisted further on the time issue.

"Don't worry, I will be here in time."

She then closed the connection and started to relay her orders. She was standing out there, in the heart of the commanding deck of her large cruiser and her mind was full of many totally distorted things.

Just a couple of hours ago she was feeling she had the upper hand over anyone else, she was confident, but right now she knew she was overconfident.

She was careless, careless to the degree that she couldn't even detect spies in her own personal crew. Even her best friends were all traitors, what a great success for her, that was what she thought of while watching the dark endless space outside the cruiser.

This wasn't even hers to begin with, but with what happened and the absence of her mother, she received the ruling scepter to lead all the rebels and became her queen.

A queen in the middle of a storm that was about to hurricane everyone here. she knew she wasn't in her best shape, and the circumstances she received the flag of the rebels weren't ideal at all.

Besides she didn't dream of getting the ruling role of the rebels to begin with. She always thought her destiny would be by following the footsteps of her father.

To be a phoenix guardian again. to lead and conquer all the foes, the Immortal included.

But now she was devastated from inside, severely hurt and deeply wounded by her mother's betrayal, not just towards her but it also extended to her late father.

Her mother was the one who schemed to kill her father, and kill her. What a glorious mother she had, and that was really helping as she was now hesitant about what to do.

So she decided to escape thinking of these pains and run towards the rebel side and try to survive there.

She was alone, a cold hearted person in the eyes of others who was really desperate to not be alone right now, with a heart full of fiery turmoils.

She wasn't aware of what was happening and what she should do except for one single fact, she needed to escape here safely. She needed to save as many souls as possible.

Terases race was a well known race in old eras, famous for their brutality and aggressiveness. She knew she wouldn't stand a chance to live here if she stayed, and with James' offer she was able to see the faint dying ray of hope from the end of the world.

She was ready to take this risk, but she didn't want to be saved alone as she decided to bring everyone else with her.

James asked for one ship, and she brought dozens with her. She had to abandon many other ships as she moved their crew inside the small fleet she had.

She did so to avoid the unnecessary eyes of others, especially those imperial forces. When James told her about the shocking truth, she wasn't sad instead she was more confident in her ability to save all.

As she moved the crews of many ships into the existing dozens here, she ordered for everyone to move into the large cruiser she was boarding right now.

The Bombardment cruiser was truly the largest cruiser in the rebel fleet without any rival. She was the pride of the rebel fleet, the ship that leaders of rebels used to use for centuries so far.

She planned to make this ship be enough to carry everyone. Theoretically speaking that was easy, as the Bombardment cruiser could accommodate the total number of rebels here.

The issue was in the other ships. Cruising the space with a single ship was madness, even if it was this large and mighty Bombardment cruiser. She needed to bring many fighters, some small and intermediate cruisers.

How many could she bring to not leave anyone behind? That was a tricky question regarding there is a severely tight time limit here. she lacked advisors, as right now she was only trusting the only person in the world who wouldn't betray her.

It's herself!

"Relay my orders, only one third of our fleet will enter the Bombardment cruiser, and make everyone board these cruisers until further notice."

She said without even turning to look towards the one who received her orders.

"What about the large cruisers?" that person asked.

"Ditch them all," Dora replied after a momentary pause.

She was still imprisoned to that moment of time when she opened her eyes and saw her mother standing in front of her and was ready to kill her with her hands.

She wasn't yet stable, and her self control was hanging by a thread and was about to crush at any moment.

In fact without the sudden appearance of James she would have collapsed a long time ago.

Without James she wouldn't be here, alive today.

She suddenly realized she didn't know who he was or where he came from.

He was a nobody, a nobody that did to her more than anybody else.

What an irony!