NOVEL NEXT Chapter 71: You Have to Let me Go
On the board of the small cruiser, Rigo was busy controlling the ship to fly away from the burning large cruiser. This was a heated up battle, so many ships were already on fire, and one more wouldn't attract any suspicion.
Although they safely departed from the dangerous situation with the three immortals, they were still in danger inside this battle, so Rigo had to speak up his mind as he suggested:
"Leader, I suggest we jump away from here, as we have a long distance separating us from our fleet."
James wasn't looking at him as he was gazing at the scepter in his hands. He was miraculously saved, but he had tons of questions regarding what happened there.
Like the two beside him, he wasn't sure of what happened except he used strange power to strike three extremely powerful enemies. He didn't believe in fairy tales or legends, however what he just experienced had pushed him over that edge already.
He had to reconsider all the legends that were spread all over the cosmos.
When Rigo spoke, James was pushed away from his doubts as he decisively said:
"I won't let my fleet be alone in this mess, also I need to secure Eli and the others."
His words attracted Dora from her own thoughts, as she was still trying to understand what happened back there.
"Tell me, one second I was attacking the commanding deck, and the next I found myself cuffed to a seat inside the commanding deck with my mother plotting against me. is this what happened or my head got damaged or what?"
James looked with compassion towards her. He knew she still was in shock, and so she wasn't experiencing the full throttle power of the treason her mother did to her.
Ignorance, denial, and doubt, that was what she had right now. For James he read some old books regarding post traumatic effects, signs, and symptoms so he had some clues about what she was experiencing right now and where that would end.
"Listen, this isn't easy but you have to believe in yourself," James said, trying to comfort her.
"You didn't answer my question!" Dora said, gritting her teeth as some tears began to show up in her eyes.
"Sigh, yes that happened, your mother double crossed you for her own benefit. It's harsh I know but you have to know the full truth and face it so you can go on with your life," James seriously said as he knew the best thing to deal with trauma wasn't to avoid it, but to face it directly.
"No, No, No," Dora said with a shaky tone and more tears accumulating in her eyes as they began to flow on her beautiful cheeks. She was unconsciously retreating to the back, however James didn't let her break like this as he took the initiative and moved towards her.
He hugged her, pulling her body softly but firmly towards him and then he closed over her with his arms like a cocoon closing over its own baby butterfly to protect.
"Ah!!!"
Dora suddenly screamed bitterly out of pain, she was feeling like fire was burning inside her heart. All her mind was thinking about was the moment where her own mother spoke about how she killed her father and schemed to kill her.
The time seemed to freeze upon this moment as this dark memory kept replaying in her mind with the words of her own mother echoing inside her head like thunder in gloomy sky.
She didn't feel herself closing over James' back with her arms, as she pressed him hard and her fingers were inserted strongly in his back. James felt some pain, however he knew this was the moment of her confrontation with the bitter truth.
If she didn't let her own feelings flood like this, she might end up screwed for the rest of her life. so, he didn't speak and just stood there motionless for minutes as the only audible sound in the deck was the crying of her.
Rigo glanced over the two as he sighed. In his opinion they should be leaving this place right now. He wasn't cold hearted but he was programmed to be practical. He knew this battle was difficult to escape safely from, besides they were still in another force backyard causing trouble.
If that force came, then things would end up being more complicated than James even thought of. So Rigo wanted to escape from here as fast as he could, however he couldn't disobey the orders of his leader.
They were really on the opposite side of the special zone, where their fleet was still trapped inside. Rigo sent messages stressing them to move at once from there, and they complied as they were close by leaving that zone.
However for the two forces to meet, they had to cross the middle of this battle. What made this nearly impossible to be done without any losses was the presence of over one hundred large cruisers fighting one another in this region alone.
That was only the count of large cruisers, as for the intermediate and smaller ones, the number might be in ten folds at the least. If the space fighters were added to the mix, then total chaos and impossible to cross net was lying there in front of them.
So, Rigo had to come up with the second best plan as he said:
"May I suggest waiting up here for the whole fleet to come up from that zone then we can all jump towards one location?"
James turned his head to look at Rigo as he asked:
"What are you afraid of?"
"The terasoras forces to show up," Rigo instantly replied as he was ready for this question. James thought about it for a moment to find Rigo fears weren't groundless, so he said:
"Fine, select a safe place away from here and give the fleet the orders to jump there as well."
"Will we jump now?" Rigo asked at once as he wanted to leave here as fast he could.
"No, we won't move until all the ships are out of that zone," James denied his idea again.
Rigo sighed, he knew it would be disastrous if another force came towards them, so he began to direct the cruiser to move towards the distant spot opposite to the direction of the terasoras ship and its forces.
After all if they came, he would jump with the ship without waiting for the orders of James. He would listen to his orders but he wouldn't let him be this suicidal.
So, he relayed his orders to the fleet, as if he had to sacrifice them to save James then he wouldn't hesitate in doing so.
At the same time, the brief conversation between the two knocked some sense finally inside Dora. She wasn't that weak girl after all, as she experienced losing a father before and lived a harsh life impersonalizing two identities at the same time.
So, she began to focus away from this dark memory, and her mind began to bury it away, deep away from any reach.
She did exactly what James was afraid of, however she was the master of her own fate not him. so, when she pushed him away and broke free from his embrace, he knew she fell for that trauma, and its effect would haunt her for life.
So he bitterly sighed.
"It's not the time to weep over the past, I need to move and save what's left of my forces," she said when she noticed his full of pity and regret sigh. She then moved towards the navigation unit as she began to connect with her scattered forces here and relay her orders to them.
"Can you send me the coordinates of your safe place?" she suddenly asked.
Rigo looked in a warning gaze towards James, who understood his concerns, so he replied:
"I want to remind you that we found many spies in your men."
These words made Dora's body tremble, as she totally forgot about the treason she had on the hands of her close up friends who she used to consider as sisters and brothers to her.
Her own mother's betrayal was more than enough to make her forget about this smaller treason. However after James reminded her, the eyes began to be full of tears for a moment before she wipe them with her sleeve as she said:
"I know your concerns, and I understand them. however I can't let the forces my father died to build be destroyed like this."
James took a deep breath, it seemed her situation was more complicated than what he thought. After all he was a rogue person, with no one to care about. Only a handful of droids were considered his own circle of relations and he wasn't ready to let them in danger.
So he kind of understood her emotions right now, but he knew he also underestimated her attachment to them. He knew if he asked her to let them go, she wouldn't agree. He also knew if he asked her to move them away from the place they were heading to, then she wouldn't agree too.
There was only one way out of this, and as he figured it Dora also was thinking about it at the same time as she turned to look silently towards him.
The two eyes met for some silent moment before she said with determination:
"You have to let me go."