Chapter 88: Binding Charles under James

The wire was owned by Rigo, who was a follower to James, which meant the final controller of all this was James. Charles bet on his manipulative and excellent negotiation abilities to free himself in the future, a risky bet that he gambled everything upon.

However he had to gain James' trust now and he had to make sure he gained it for a longer period of time before he managed to obtain some of this treasure for himself.

This was one of the rarest and most strict ways to obtain slaves, and that was just the right thing he was seeking for a long time already; the wire he wanted, desperately wanted!

"Finished now? let's go and save your precious hostages from the hands of those terases," Charles said after the process ended and the whole wire disappeared from the sight of James.

James just glanced at him before he nodded his head expressing his approval. Charles walked out of this room with his head high, while Rigo approached James as he muttered:

"I don't trust him."

"Even with the wire?"

"The wire is just a safety measure, but this person is very sneaky, I don't think he told us the whole truth."

James sighed as he glanced at Charles back silently acknowledging the bitter truth while muttering:

"I even doubt what he said is the truth."

James was as suspicious of Charles as much as Rigo did, however he had to investigate the possibility of the terases race invading this place. the idea itself was threatening regardless if it was true or false; overshadowing anything else right now in front of his mind!

James hoped it turned out to be a fabrication out of Charles' imagination, however the confidence of the latter made him think this was part of the truth. and that put him under great pressure and made him face a dilemma; what should he do if this was proven to be right?

Just as James was thinking about this point, Charles came out from the room. Dora knew this room from before, and she noticed the disappearance of James amidst the chaos followed by Rigo.

Just as she was about to seek for the two, she met a familiar face who made her stun.

"Charles?!!" she muttered with disbelief before she ran to hug him. James glanced silently towards this situation and said nothing. The words Charles claimed before were now ringing loudly in his mind.

The hug extended for a long minute where James was feeling a bit awkward, but he never left his place. He was still eyeing Charles as a possible threat, and so he wasn't ready to let him go off his sight right now.

"Tell me, how did you get here?" Dora asked after she separated herself from him. she knew everything that happened in the rescue process, and she knew the role Charles played back then. James' words were still fresh in her mind at this moment, as he well described Charles' reaction towards the plot she fell for.

So, she was looking at him with gratitude, a gratitude Charles knew its reason very well, and that made him more calm and confident.

"This is something we need to discuss when we are on the move," James finally interfered in a rude way that was obviously intentional. Dora was surprised by this, and then her mind began to link the dots here.

The three of them came out of the secret room, which meant there was something going on between them. regarding the current boiling situation, the thing that was going on between the three of them must be critical.

"Ok, where are we heading then?" Dora decided to put aside her curiosity for now. James heaved a silent sigh of relief inside himself, as he was worried Dora would insist on knowing everything at this moment.

Time wasn't in his favor, and if the claims Charles said were true, then a lot of work was waiting ahead of them, with many dangers on every corner.

James then glanced to Charles who looked at Rigo while saying:

"We need to go to the prison at once, they will start moving from there."

Dora moved a couple of steps to walk beside James while whispering: "Who are they?"

"They are our enemy," James replied softly and briefly as they were still inside the crowd.

Rigo led them towards the exit, while he gave his instructions to the other droids here to keep the situation under check. He also ordered the droids at the armory site and the goods' dock to move towards the prison.

He wasn't that sure of Charles' intel, but it was better to be careful though.

Once they exited the deck, they started to speed up their march towards the prison.

"Can you tell me now what is this all about?" Dora couldn't hold herself anymore as she asked again.

"Charles said we have been infiltrated by terases agents."

Dora's face started to change towards pallor before it turned in red. She looked towards Charles, saying while gritting her teeth:

"Are you sure of this?"

"Yes, I came with people of yours who spoke about their collaboration with the newly emerging terases empire," Charles said, revealing part of his secrets.

Dora was angry, but James and Rigo were suspicious. Why was Charles so generous to explain all this to her? Charles was specific as he pointed out towards the traitors as part of her people.

That topic was a sensitive one to her, James knew that, and so Rigo. Using this thing at this moment wasn't wise, and couldn't be explained as a brother's worry over his sister.

This awkward situation kept going as Dora was silenced after this short talk with Charles. Her anger was boiling up, however the other two's suspicion was building up.

The only one moving with calmness and even his smile would appear from time to time was Charles.

The distance between here and the prison would take roughly an hour walk, but with their hastening steps they managed to cover it in less than forty minutes.

During this period, Rigo kept receiving data about the real updates of the situation inside the commanding deck and about Eli.

Eli managed to get into the armory, which was fully open during the fire accident for fear of the fire getting near it. it was Rigo's idea to do so, as they might need to move the most explosive ammo if needed.

And now, he was regretting this decision of his. Amidst the chaos he forgot to send someone to close the armory, so Eli didn't find any difficulty entering it and getting herself a couple of guns and one intermediate movable cannon.

This news was bad for everyone when they heard it, as this meant Eli wasn't just trying to rescue the other two, she was quite dangerous herself.

Intersecting her without any prior preparations would be a suicide. If they let her reach the prison, then she would manage to free those two.

"There's a question in my mind, how did you know about the plan of the terases traitors?" Dora suddenly turned to Charles and asked him this question.

"I just told you, I overheard them," Charles briefly replied.

"That's not an answer, I want to know how you knew they would start their rebellion from the prison?" Dora stressed further on him. she was angry at first, but now after she somehow calmed down, she started to think rationally.

There were some weird gaps in Charles' story, and so she began to ask about them. James and Rigo knew these gaps from the beginning, however the wire gave them much confidence in controlling Charles.

Any moment of betrayal, he would end up dead.

The only possible explanation the three had in mind was Charles was actually part of this, however Charles calmly explained:

"I planned to cause trouble and enter the commanding deck among chaos to warn you. During this I monitored everyone, and noticed the movements of those traitors.

They were heading straight towards the prison, and that had only one explanation, right? They wouldn't go there to surrender themselves, and there is no one imprisoned there except for the two you sent there from before."

Ames and Rigo exchanged silent glances, as they knew this was fake.

Charles was somehow careless, and that was normal as they already reached the prison.

The prison was a special unit inside the cruiser, where it had special design for it. there were no corridors, and most of the walls were redesigned inside to form a big maze.

The front of this prison had two small semi-circular pillars, each had unique defensive abilities.

Without bypassing these two pillars, no one could step a foot inside the prison. Despite all this tight security, no one of the four felt any confidence in their ability to defend this entrance.

As Eli had an intermediate cannon.

The distance from the armory to the prison wasn't long for Eli, but moving carrying two guns and one big cannon delayed her. Just as she was getting closer to the entrance of the prison, she noticed the distant shadows of the four who just arrived.

The situation got much complicated at this moment, as she didn't hesitate to stop moving, hold the two handles of the cannon and start using it. She directed the cannon opening towards those distant four as she didn't wait to figure out who they were and then pressed on the handles to release the lethal shot to them.