In front of him, there was Rigo, Alex, Eli and Islinda, who were smiling as they watched him enjoy this rare moment of peace.

"Tell me, is there any remaining resistance here?" he asked.

"No, they are all either left or surrendered," Rigo replied.

"What about the economy of this place?" he asked, "I noticed many cruisers docked here, even large cruisers," he added, as he noticed them when he descended to here.

"This is the trade these folks are specialized at," Islinda said, as she was the only one knowing about everything here, "this part of the dark trade is very special with three main types of trade, hijacked cruisers and other type of weapons, war prisoners species traffic, and finally ores."

James and Rigo, both, found it very interesting, while Alex thought this was all boring. As for Eli, she was in her own world. James then asked:

"What about the rulers of this place? how much percentage of everything they gather?"

He knew the rulers here must be living on something like taxes, and most of it would be sent to the Terases race.

"They take thirty percent of each trade, and there are already systems facilitating all this," she said, as she grinned from ear to ear, "the better news is these officials collect these interest and send them once every single year to their superiors, and I know for sure they still didn't send the last year revenue."

"Really?!!" James just exclaimed, before clapping his hand, impressed by this news, "That's simply amazing, Islinda. Rigo," he then looked towards his man, who just nodded, understanding James' obvious desire.

"Islinda, I want you to be the general supervisor on these trades. We need to buy cruisers, and what we are in desperate need to in addition to that would be soldiers," James said, as he was planning how to use this place for his best interest, "I want you to buy soldiers as large as possible first, and then you can buy more cruisers later. Arrange this with Rigo all the time," he added.

"Sure, it's easy for me," she instantly replied.

"What about me?" Alex suddenly said, "I want to be a general," he added, "a great leader in this rebellion move," he raised his chest, proudly, while saying this.

James, Rigo, and Islinda exchanged silent glances without saying a word. They didn't know from where this limited minded person had gotten the idea of them being a rebellion! As for Eli, she remained silent all this time.

they were trying to escape here at any cost, not trying to make a change!

"Ok, go with Rigo," James said, with a helpless tone, "he will arrange your training to be a great general of the rebels," he added, holding back his laughter, as the others did.

Alex went out with Rigo with a big smile on his face, while Islinda muttered softly to James:

"Don't encourage him, he is just a little boy."

"He is the same age as me and you," James replied to her, while watching her move outside his hall, with her alluring slim body, swinging from side to side with each step on the ground. "No one is like me and you, dear," she said, while walking away, out of the hall, following the two up ahead.

"Wait!" he suddenly called out to her, as amidst all this joyful atmosphere, one person remained silent like she was dead! "Take her with you," he said pointing out to Eli whose body shivered when she noticed his gaze and heard his words.

The order was for Islinda, but Eli thought it was for her, so she moved out, like an idiot, towards the outside. As for Islinda, she simply watched her passing by, without even releasing a single glance over to her, before she looked at James and helplessly shook her head.

"See you soon young king," she laughed while sarcastically waving her hand and saluting him before following the disturbed Eli.

James just shook his head, while smiling, helplessly. "Women!" he muttered, helplessly.

This day was very calm, not like the next day, when most of the business owners, if not all of them, from all the planets came to the palace, asking for a meeting with James.

This was inevitable, and so he met them with Islinda, while Rigo was standing on the side, putting to note the merchants who were dealing in arms and in ex-soldiers traffic.

As for Eli, she decided to take a corner, away from everything, as her mind couldn't yet overcome the trauma she felt from Charles crime of murder she and others committed.

Everything went smoothly, as James welcomed them all, and they all sat in the big hall, completely filling it. they chose one merchant, who was an old man, with long hair and hunched back, but his eyes and features were sharp and fierce. James felt like watching an old monster, not such an old man.

"In the name of all merchants, I welcome you, our new ruler, to our humble place," that old man said, in a tone so strong, but not that respective.

"Thanks for the welcome, after all I took here by force, not by diplomacy or support," James replied, simply showing off his might and force in front of everyone, so they wouldn't have any second thoughts.

"That's a sign for your strength, my lord, and we hope we will be always in your support," the old man said, replied in a calm and steady tone. "I came here with my fellow merchants, bearing more questions in mind, hoping you would grace us with your answers upon them," he added.

James knew they were all fearful of their trade, their business, and he just had the right answer to them.

This was a black market zone, so any rules here would be set by the ruler of the place, which in this case would be him. he decided, after thinking so much about it, to show them his intentions in actions, so he declared:

"I know you have doubts, and that's normal, but as long as you follow the old rules, your assets and businesses won't be touched."

Once he declared this, many sighs of relief echoed in the hall, with a wave of whispers that didn't last long, before they all stood up, bowed their heads, and said in single tone:

"We will always be loyal to you."

James knew this was just for show, and in real hard times they wouldn't stand with him, and even might betray him. However, he just saw them in this light as well, he wasn't indebted to them, and if he could get better interests, then he wouldn't hesitate to break this word of his.

"In addition to that, your business will be deducted only ten percent of the interest for this month only," he suddenly added, and everyone had a very cheerful look on his face.

Before entering this meeting, he had a long discussion with Islinda and Rigo, as they all agreed to lower the interests for a month, so they could attract more merchants and more customers to here. that would give them more varieties, and at the same time they wouldn't lose much in return.

They needed to finish their preparations this month, before the arrival of the Terases fleet here. James and Rigo understood how important this place was in the future plans of that ambitious brutal warmongering race, so they knew the next battle wouldn't be a simple one, and a single victory wouldn't put an end to this race's attacks on here.

The solution for this would be to show off a mighty fleet, with very trained soldiers, and an endless number of cruisers and fighters to the first waves of the Terases expeditions. If they managed to pull this off, they would spare themselves the harassment of this growing empire for quite a long time, before the empire would focus all its attention on them.

However by this time, they would be far away from here, already left this great sector.

The merchants didn't stay any further, as they hurried to leave here, with wide smiles over their faces. James just glanced at Rigo, who nodded and then moved to speak with some of the ex-soldiers traffickers he selected before they left here.

When he examined the treasury the other night, he was astonished to see the huge wealth stored inside. No one, not even Islinda, thought this place would yield so much profit, and this was only one year profit.

So, they planned to use most of it to spend on buying ex-soldiers, and many cruisers and fighters to support them, putting the first seed in forming their majestic and soon to be universe renowned fleet.

Rigo went ahead to make a good deal with these merchants, trying to use their good mood to strike a discounted offer from them, and when he came back with a smile on his face, James knew he succeeded in his task.