Chapter 128: The Expedition Starts

Rigo muttered, while looking at his third lieutenant, Fom, as he said, "you will lead a brigade of our cruisers, go inside there, and start scanning the place. act as if you were a tourist, and send me all the data you collect."

"Affirmative," Fom, who was used to speak less, act more, replied, while standing from his place, heading towards outside, to do his mission.

"What about other kingdoms?" Rigo asked, trying to assert if there was another trap here or there.

"They are all like what we anticipated," Gom said, "I think we should start with them until we finish drawing the map here," he said, expressing his own thoughts and ideas.

"Good idea indeed," Rigo said, "let's then change course, head straight for the farest kingdom from here, we will start with it," he said.

As others left, his mind was busy thinking about his leader, and his personal affairs. He didn't like Luna, but he knew she would be much useful to him, so he just hoped Islinda would succeed in seizing him before Luna, and be his leader's first woman.

That made him recall two other women lost amidst all this, Eli, the first girl James met, and rescued. The lonely thought that his leader would choose her as his first lady, but after James got himself busy, and Eli had her own doubts towards him, the gap started to appear, getting bigger and bigger until the two never met, never spoke together for such a long time.

The second girl he thought of was Dora, that fiery little princess of the rebels. Things might get quite intense at first between the two, but he thought for a long time James would fall for her, especially she was a beauty for her own, and leading a huge army.

However, what happened at the end made the relation between the two quite impossible, might be in the distant future, not now. However, with the forces of James getting bigger and bigger with each passing day, Rigo was now doubting that might even happen.

He didn't know where or what Dora was doing right now, but he was sure she wouldn't have it so easy and successful like his leader. Leading a bunch of rebels, away from their main aim, would be dangerous, as they would shift their gazes towards her, and set her as their goal for resistance, despite not doing anything at all.

He sighed, helplessly sighed, as he knew he had no saying in all this. He was happy for Islinda, despite the rough start between the two, he was now sure she was the best mate for his leader, especially when she was already a queen, with a huge empire to rule and inherit waiting for her back home.

He knew the fight for her heritage wouldn't be quite easy, especially her uncle of hers wouldn't sit silent and wait for her return just like that. He would start changing those in powers loyal to her, with those who would be loyal to him.

That would make the whole empire in turmoil, threatening a civil war, but at the end, Island had all the right to act and claim for her throne, and he was now supporting her claims, and was ready to fight for it.

James' territory would escalate to new heights, if he managed to conquer these five kingdoms as planned. The newly discovered true face of the first kingdom they visited made the dream of becoming an empire nearer, as they only needed to double this amount of planets, and they would have an empire.

He was also concerned about the other forces in this grand sector, that terases race, known for its greed, and violence. He was sure that once they grew up to be an empire, the doors of hell would be opened upon them, but he wasn't afraid, or had a second thought about that.

He knew this was the destiny of any empire, to be in constant struggle with other huge and mighty forces in the grand sector. If the empire couldn't defend herself amidst all this, it shouldn't be called one.

He sighed, and rested his tired head over his seat, thinking back to the glorious days of their empire, which got destroyed at the hands of many enemies, mainly under the culprit of the terases race.

The previous days were still lively, shining in his thoughts, and he was sure James would make these days return. He was eager, missing the days of fight he once had, the sounds of great battles, the bitter taste of defeats, and the sweetest taste ever of victories.

He still had a personal vendetta against the terases race, a vengeance he once swore to see it through, returning the debt twice to them. however, right now, he wasn't sure he would do that, or have the chance to do it.

James intended to go away from here, trying to help Islinda to return home. He didn't refuse that, but he wanted to do that after completely controlling the whole grand sect, not leaving and running like cowards, not like that.

That was the main reason he proposed to James many times to start invading other territories, as he was sure when he succeeded in doing so, and he was pretty sure about his ability to conquer these miserable kingdoms, James would change his vision of here.

Not a place to run from, but a place to build a mighty base at.

So, winning here was inevitable to his plans, just like any other upcoming battles he would rage, he should and must win them all, without a single loss, no matter what.

He had to make James taste what it meant to be supreme, leading on a huge number of planets, controlling vast stretches of space, having endless armies, and having no one to stand against.

The journey to the next kingdom didn't take more than one day, where he first sent out his scouting cruisers, to scan the area, before he decided to go there and start the invasion as planned.

The kingdom selected had about twenty five planets, with a mere army of two large cruisers, and thousands of smaller ones. Rigo gave his orders to attack small cruisers, snatch them, and bring them back after killing everyone on board.

The process went smoother than they expected, and after one day of this, they retreated with their precious cargo, around one hundred small cruisers in hand with the logo of that kingdom on them.

He didn't waste anymore time, as he went ahead to the next kingdom, repeated the same process, and this time he snatched the cruisers using the cruisers he snatched.

After gathering over two hundred cruisers, he issued the order to retreat, as his main goal wasn't to annihilate the whole kingdom's army, but to instigate their wrath to their neighbors.

When he went to the third kingdom, he didn't stop there, as after deploying a mix of the two snatched cruisers, he went to the next one, the fourth kingdom, and deployed the rest.

The plan went smoother than expected, with the lack of the last kingdom, which made him frown the more intel he received from his man there.

That kingdom didn't have a small army, it had a very huge army, counting up to fifty large cruisers, with tens of thousands of small cruisers.

However, this mighty army was already spread over a large stretch of area in the space, linked together by these wrap holes. Rigo thought about the best strategy to snatch them, but he couldn't

If he entered there, he must enter a head on battle, not just merely snatch and run, as this would alert this sleeping beast, and he wouldn't be able to stand against it if he did that.

So, he took the whole three days to consider his next move. Knowing the risks on stake, and the great benefits if he gained these large planets, he decided to go through with the plan he saw was suitable.

"Let's just finish with this first, and let the other kingdoms fight between each other."

Rigo said to his main aides, as the news of the four kingdoms amassing their armies on the outer borders with each other had already reached him. despite deciding that, he didn't give the order yet, until the fight already started, and continued for one day between the four kingdoms.

"It's now safe to move, give the order to start."

He said, as his army started to be separated into smaller lesions, each headed straight towards one of these wrap holes.

Despite the huge numbers of them, he already had a detailed map of these holes. The hole system was made based on the presence of alpha holes, and beta holes.

Alpha holes were the keys, without them no beta holes would be functioning. Rigo aimed to control these alpha holes, cutting the route for the widely distributed forces of this kingdom to amass together.