Chapter 27: Looking for Dora

James just glanced at Rigo as he didn't know such a thing. He then said:

"Let's go, I will handle the ship and you handle the navigation."

"Affirmative."

James then started the engine of this cruiser as it started to fly slowly towards the sky.

Once they broke free from the gravity of this planet, James then added more speed towards the ship depending upon the double injection fusion system of the engine. After a few minutes, they began to get near the place of the zone.

"Why don't you just use the hyperjump to reach there faster?" Rigo asked with confusion.

James was controlling the direction of the cruiser using small wheel that he gripped by both hands as he replied:

"If you use hyperjump then we will attract unnecessary attention, I know that the ships usually reach there at normal travel speed."

"That would take longer for ships to reach this distant place," Rigo said.

James didn't comment as he started to look at his destination. The special zone of the Terasoras space ship looked like a big cloud of gas and rocks that got hanged between a force field established from at least ten large cruisers.

The scene looked majestic from far, but James was concerned about scanning for Dora's ship. Although she boarded a normal rebel ship, there were no rebels here except for a few.

"It seems we came to the party early," Rigo said with a laugh as there were no strange cruisers or uninvited rebel fleets out there.

"Keep scanning the area for any rebel cruiser, we need to get in contact with that princess before everything gets messy."

"Affirmative."

James then continued to scan all the area around this heavily fortified zone looking for Dora's ship. This was a tedious job as the place was crowded with cruisers from nearly everywhere in the galaxy.

"Why are there so many cruisers coming here to this zone?" Rigo asked casually as he was searching for the princess' cruiser.

"I don't know the specifics of this place, but I smell the presence of the black market here," James answered.

"Black dealers? That means this zone is an outlaw fort," Rigo said with some interest.

"Indeed, but this is just my hypothesis," James said.

"I hope you are wrong," Rigo said with dejected tone that attracted James attention, who asked:

"Why do you say that? Do you know any info about black market?"

Black market was a secret society that James heard a lot about, but he didn't get any reliable info anywhere even in those old records. Although many of the rogue space adventurers looked like black dealers, they didn't openly acknowledge that.

So he was interested in knowing more about this invisible part of the universe, especially when he was about to venture himself deeply into their business.

"Know any info? I know a lot of info about them, actually they and I have a long history and a deep personal vendetta," Rigo said with strange hatred that James even felt in his words. James looked in question towards Rigo, who added:

"My dear beloved empire was destroyed under their dirty hands and nasty tricks."

James didn't believe Rigo's claims as he said with doubt:

"That's impossible, the Rojedia Empire was one of the strongest in its time, how can some outlaws break it down?"

Rigo kept looking with a melancholic looks towards the far distant zone as he muttered:

"You are making the same mistake we did back then."

"What mistake?" James asked.

"Underestimating them," Rigo then looked towards James as it added seriously, "You mustn't underestimate the power of the black dealers, or else you will lose your life without knowing how."

James didn't take the words of Rigo to the heart; after all he felt the shock of losing the Rojedia Empire must have left a deep wound inside it. James kept scanning the area in silence as well as Rigo, who continued to have a dejected look.

The trade zone of the Terasoras space ship had really hot traffic all the time. During the next hour of their observation, they spotted over ten thousands cruisers entering and exiting the zone.

Although this number was really huge, they moved smoothly to and fro the zone, and that was due to the unique entrance system of this zone.

To enter there, you will first be allowed to enter the outer gaseous sphere without any restraints where you will be scanned by advanced technology, if you didn't have the entrance code then you would be shot immediately.

The gaseous sphere was very huge, as it could accommodate hundreds of thousands of these small cruisers.

The trick here was related to the technology used for the scanning process, which James understood perfectly from Eli. There was no technology whatsoever, but some strange space monsters that were found and raised in this spot of the universe.

That was why the Terasoras space ship selected this place to be its base of activities, and that was the reason why it didn't even move for centuries.

These monsters, or foggy ghosts like Eli called them, had the ability to distinguish between the merchants who came to do business here and those trouble makers who came to cause riots.

The trick to enter wasn't about giving them a code, but to have clear control over your emotions and bury your intentions deeply inside you. James had no ability to do so, but he had the best counter to this, which was his droids.

Although they had a shred of a soul, they could perfectly control their emotions. As for James, he would use the trick Eli had taught to him before… he would take a sleeping drug to lose consciousness until the cruiser passed from that gaseous sphere.

"I can't find this silly princess anywhere, and according to Immortal's words, the rebels and the empire fleet would arrive soon here. We need to either advance or withdraw so we don't get into the crossfire between the two fleets by mistake," Rigo said after the passage of another half an hour.

James was feeling the same way, but he didn't want to withdraw as he was sure the Terasoras space ship wouldn't stand by silently towards this conflict at its doorstep. The area would be locked down and he and his small fleet would lose the chance to enter again.

Advancing towards the zone wasn't a good solution in itself, as the time taken to enter and exit the zone would make him waste a huge time, which would put many variables like the withdrawal of the rebels, or the occurrence of any accident to Dora's ship.

James didn't know how to choose, while Rigo interrupted his indecisive thoughts by saying:

"I detect tiny ripples that are caused by the usage of the hyperjump technology. There are two big fleets approaching here at rapid speed, they will need 10 minutes to reach here. What are your orders, supreme leader?"

"They are finally coming," James muttered to himself before looking towards Rigo as he ordered, "Make the fleet move and enter the gaseous sphere after us. Don't make them pass through it fast, I need them to station themselves there."

Rigo watched James leaving the chair as he went towards a corner where he took out a small metallic box while asking:

"What are you doing, sir?"

"I will inject myself with a sleeping drug, here take this shot, it's the antidote of that sleeping drug. Use it on me once we pass safely from that gaseous sphere. Let one cruiser outside to monitor the situation, and make them look for that silly princess cruiser if possible."

James then laid flat on the ground as he raised his sleeves and was ready to use the shot. He noticed the strange looks of Rigo, so he ordered with haste:

"Do what I just ordered now, there is no time for you to daydream like this."

He then injected the microfiber automatic syringe into his arm while the drug was injected directly into his veins. In matter of moments, he lost his consciousness and entered a state of deep sleep. Rigo just watched all of this silently then he muttered:

"Crazy, we have got ourselves a crazy supreme leader!"