Chapter 25: New beginnings
Sonny had followed the news closely. So, Akillian had a new team of footballplayers, a rival to Artegor Nexus Red tigers.
This matter was resolved, and the snowkids would represent Akillian in the galactik football cup. However, it had come to the pirates attention, that professor Clamp, Aarch's friend, was into machines, and possibly, both Aarch and Clamp was in reality, working for technoid. Sonny had decided that they would strike when the snowkids were away, playing a friendly against the wambas. Right now, they hovered over the Aarch academy. Corso and his team went first. They secured the area and set up jammers to hide their presence from the police. When all jammers were activated, Sonny arrived, disguised in a special set of googles and a black hood. Inside, the pirates,imideately, started unscrewing the machines, before long, there were indications something was off.
«That's odd, these don't look like technoid programs» said one of the pirates.
«This doesn't either, except for a few components maybe» said another.
«It doesn't matter, we're taking everything» retorted Corso.
Sonny was looking through the papers on the desk, when an insignia on a paper cought his eyes. The insignia was familiar, he had seen it before. Labnor. Even after all these years, Sonny still remembered that little thing. It could be nothing, but something told Sonny, he needed to know more. Whoever used this insignia, he needed a closer look at. Sonny looked up, then he spoke.
«Don't touch anything else».
«What?» Corso's voice was one of disbelief, had he understood his friend and leader right?
Sonny looked at him, with a determined look in his hazels.
«I said, don't touch anything, I don't want a single bolt to leave this room».
«Oh come on Sonny, we need this stuff, we need to make a living» muttered Corso unhappily. This day, the pirates stood to make a fortune on the equippment, and all of a sudden, Sonny got an attack of guilt for stealing to survive? But before he could think it through, the alarms went of.
«The police? But the jammers are in place, they shouldn't be able to spot us».
Corso could hardly believe what he saw and heard. Sonny didn't need much time to think, he ordered the mission aborted.
«We're out of here».
All the pirates ran out, and jumped out off the cliff and down on the roof of the Black Manta, safe from the police's eyes...
Meanwhile, onboard the snowkids ship, who was returning from the wambas match, with an injured Tia, the defender, Thran looked out the window.
«That's funny, it looks like the police are here» he said curiously.
«Aah» Tia's reaction alone indicated that she was hiding something, but the snowkids did not pay too much attention to that. They all looked at Micro- Ice.
«What are you looking at me for? I haven't done anything» he complained.
«It's true, the police are here» stated Clamp.
When they landed, they found out the truth. Tia, who was the daughter of the Obia moon ambassadours, had ran away from her parents, and now the police were looking for her, after they had recieved a tip from Artegor Nexus on her. Clearly, he was willing to go to great lenghts to get her off the team. Tia was chocked up in tears, as she was forced to leave the team and get sent back to the Obia Moon ambassadours, after telling Aarch that the permission she had shown him, taped on her camera, was one she had made by hiring actors to act as her parents. There was no choise, no matter how hard it was, Tia had to go back to her parents. None of the snowkids or their technical staff, knew they were being watched...
In the distance, Sonny was watching the scene that unfolded through his binoculars.
«They didn't come for us» he stated, wich meant that there had been no dysfunctional jammers. As Sonny sweeped over the crowd, he stoped at an elderly looking man, He could hardly believe his eyes.
«No, it can't be..»
He put the binoculars to his eyes again, but from all he could tell, it was. The insignia was probobly the most telling piece of information. But still, Sonny had a hard time to believe his own eyes this time.
«It can't be him».
«Can't be who Sonny?» Corso looked at him with curiosity painted all over his face.
Sonny didn't reply imideately. He was in thoughts. If Labnor was alive, it could only mean one thing. Bleylock was up to tricks again, and that, was a matter Sonny did not take lightly upon. He needed to know more. Sonny wasn't sure as to how he would act to get that done, bug it needed be done.
«Head home, we will initiate plan b».
«Wich is?»
«A technoid convoy, we will loot that one, before we head back to base».
As silent as they had arrived, the pirates left Akillian, a place of bad memories for Sonny, and headed back to Shiloh. Sonny went to his cabin, to think things through. Memories of the past, overpowered him, Sonny fell to the ground as an immense headache took hold of him. So, he wasn't rid of that one yet, inspite his best efforts. Too bad, but that was how it was... Sonny lay down on the bed, and took the sleeping device, in an effort to win some sleep and rest before he started on the process of making sense of things...
In the flux society headquaters, Brim Balarius and the other members of the society, was working on establishing what Clamps real identity was. Saliva traces helped them find out all they needed to know. Clamp had mysteriously appeared at the same time as professor Yarrit Labnor and professor I'Son had vanished. I'Son's new identity, as Sonny Blackbones, the leader of the pirates, was known to the flux society, and now, professor Clamp, was identified as Yarrit Labnor, who had worked in conjunction with I'Son on a topsecret project for Technoid. Since no trace of flux had been found in their laboratries, the flux society had no reason to intervine. But however, the fact that both these names resurfaced now, led the flux society's leader, Brim Simbra to get worried. It had been a few years since he last saw Sonny, when he had helped Sonny get rid of the seed of shiloh, wich had manifested in his body. Brim Simbra knew Sonny Blackbones was strong, and he had also seen the memories that Sonny struggled with, the memories that made him hate technoid, the company he blamed for the death of his wife and child. There was a lot of fury in him, but Sonny knew how to harness his rage. If he had proved unable to do so, Brim Simbra would have intervined, and helped him when he had the chance. Instead, Brim Simbra had ensured the pirates imideate release after the removal of the seed of shiloh from Sonny's body. Now, his name once again came up, like a ghost from the past. Had they been wrong back then. Brim Simbra didn't know, but the flux society decided that the fact that they resurfaced, and at the same time, the Akillian flux, the breath of Akillian surfaced again, after having been lost for so many years, was not a good sign...
Baldwin was talking to Bleylock about the samples that Clamp had delivered so far. Giving him his memories back, had been the stuff of genious. Bleylock had realised that Clamp alone, didn't know the procedure to manufacture the had been I'Son's doing. And I'Son, who was now Sonny Blackbones, was sure to prove uncooperative. There was only one way to get the metaflux retrieved by now, and that was to make the two of them meet. Bleylock knew, that after the snowkids did the Rykers game, they would be versing the pirates on their home turf. If Sonny knew, he'd try to make a meeting with Clamp there. Bleylock had a sneaky plan to destroy Calleigh Mystic's current robotcams, and have them replaced with technoids state of the art cams, cams that on order, would turn to droids and arrest Sonny when he surfaced, and bring him to Bleylock. Bleylock had plans to extract the snowkids recently discovered flux, a flux that all the samples Clamp had provided so far, was stronger than it should be. Bleylock had time, he just needed to stage things in the right order. Besides, out of profession, Sonny too was a scientist, he knew that certain events followed certain chains. And Duke Maddox knew nothing of this. Bleylock grinned, soon, the ultimate victory would be his..
In space, on their way to intercept a technoid convoy, Corso was told Sonny wanted to see him. He imideatly put down work, and headed to the commandcenter to see what he wanted. Sonny appeared to be in deep thoughts as he stood up on the platform in the middle of the room.
«You asked for me Sonny?»
Sonny didn't turn. He knew Corso was behind him.
«Yes, I want us to change course for the Shiloh archipellago».
Corso was shocked. Ever since their visit to Aarch academy, Sonny had been out of his usual behaviour. Even if he didn't tell, Corso knew something had happened, something no one except for Sonny himself knew about. Corso knew the snowkids was visiting Shiloh, but still, it struck him as odd that Sonny would abort an important mission to intercept this convoy.
«But you know, we have to intercept a technoid convoy in a few hours and..»
«It doesn't matter, I have to see the match that will be taking place there».
Sonny stoped for a few seconds, as if to give Corso the time to execute his orders. When Corso failed in doing so, Sonny got annoyed.
«That's an order».
Corso knew he was defeated. No one, without a real good reason, went against Sonny's orders onboard. He sighed.
«As you wish Sonny».
The pirate convoy turned around and headed back to Shiloh...
Also out in space, the snowkids shuttle, had come to the end of the line.
«This is it, our directions only take us this far» said Clamp and looked over at Aarch.
« A game against the pirates is always kept secret Clamp. When you're defying Technoid, it's better to be prudent»
«So, now what?»
Aarch looked out the window
«We wait, and something tells me we won't have to wait long».
Outside, they could see a small pirate ship coming into wiew. The snowkids jumped when they felt the ship shake, as the pirates hooked up with their ship.
«What was that?» Thran wanted to know.
«It's nothing, just a pirateship boarding us» said Aarch in a laidback voice.
A hatch in the celing opened, and in jumped two pirates. Both fairly young, but nice chaps.
«Welcome friends, I am captain Bennet. My young friend Artie and I will be your guides on your last part of the trip into the Shiloh archipellago. The ride might get a little bumpy, but above all, stay in your seats and enjoy the wiew».
At the same time as the young pirates captain had spoken to them, his mate had checked out the ship. As the pirates walked into the cabin to guide them on their way, Micro- Ice jumped on his feets, full of energy.
«Wow, they rock the house don't they?»
Soon after, Artie, the youngest of the pirates joined their group.
«What do you say to some galactik football cards?» he said and handed them some.
«Wow, check it out, that's us» said Ahito amazed.
«Where did you get these? I didn't know they had come out yet» said a stunned Thran.
«They haven't come out yet, we stole them from the fac..»
«ARTIE!»
Bennet had come back in, after setting the course on wich they were to follow now. He looked at Artie, no one could tell if he was mad, since he wore sunglasses all the time.
« Our friends don't need to know about our affairs» he said in a calmer tone, to avoid scaring their guests. Artie laughed a stupid smile.
«Speaking of impressive, you guys got one heck of a team, 76 percent arial cover in the midfield» said Artie admiringly.
«More like 77 percent if you include the most recent tests and..hey, how did you know that?» said a baffled Thran who had thought this information was unavailable to others than the leauge officials.
«ARTIE!» This time, clearly Bennet was more annoyed.
The shuttle shot speed and headed forwards. Soon after, they landed in Shiloh.
«Wow, this place is colossal» said Micro- Ice as he looked outside.
The Shiloh Nebula was gigantic, a huge howled out spacerock, where both pirates and merchants were gathered. One really had to stick together in this place, as it was easy to get lost.
Bennet smiled as they landed.
«Here we are friends, the site of the match».
The pirates got ready to lead their guests to the hotel...
Aboard the Black Manta, Corso came to inform Sonny of the snowkids arrival.
«They're here Sonny».
«Good».
«Do you need our help?»
«No, it's a personal matter».
Soon after, Sonny readied himself for the meeting with his old aquintance and friend...
Artie and Bennet had led the snowkids and their staff to the hotel where they were to live during their stay.
Mei complained how all the hotels reminded her of the Rykers game.
«That's possible» said Artie with a smile.
«But it's not.. how can I put this?, It's not them who we borrowed it from».
«Artie!» Bennet looked like he had enough of being his comrades chaperone.
The snowkids got installed in their rooms, and under a heated argument, Micro- Ice stomped off after Mei once again blew him off. Micro- Ice took it out on D'Jok, who tried to calm things to the best of his abillites.
He walked with Thran who joined Clamp, who wanted to look for things in the market. Thran too wanted to look for cool new objects and was extatic. None of them knew that someone watched them from the shaddows..
Sonny kept a safe distance as of far, but never let Clamp out of sight. The more he saw, the more convinced he was that he was right. Clamp, the snowkids assistant coach, and his old partner, Yarrit Labnor, was one and the same. Now, he needed to look for an occasion to confront him, and learn more of why this all of a sudden was happening. All these years that had passed, and no sign of him, anywhere. It wasn't as if Sonny hadn't looked, he had tried to find out. But to the world, it seemed Yarrit labnor had died in the disaster too. Now, he knew it wasn't true. Sonny followed Clamp as he passed by Hawk, an old merchant's stand. Hawk was also a pirate. Clamp did not pull any attention to himself as he walked past his stand, where Hawk was using a blowtorch to fix something. Sonny was a little more unfortunate. As he passed, he came to prodding Hawks bench.
«Hey, you mind watching where you're going?» said Hawk in an irritated tone.
Then he looked up, and saw who it was.
«Well I'll be..»
Sonny cut him off, placing a glovecovered finger over his lips, telling him to keep quiet. Then he continued following Clamp.
Clamp had gone into the back of a ship, to look at the goods. This was his chance. Sonny walked in behind him.
«It's been a long time hasn't it labnor? Or should I say, Clamp?» he said.
Clamp turned in shock. There, right behind him, unmasking himself, was the infamous leader of the pirates in person, Sonny Blackbones. But that was not the name that came out of Clamps mouth.
«I'Son?»...
Easier to write this chapter, as I now got parameters in place and a bigger personaregister to use. Also it's familiar ground to all known Galactik football fans. You may know the story, but this is the one seen from the pirates and Sonny's side, so it's bound to bring details not yet known. Thank you for all kind condolances in regards to the death of worldchampion swimmer Alexander Dale Oen, who passed away suddenly due to cardiac arrest last week, only 26 years old. He will be laid to rest on friday 11th of may, only about a week before he would have turned 27. The funeral will be shown on tv at 12.00 am, local time. Do keep rewiewing the story, your opinions is greatly vaulued and appreciated. If I miss something vital in dialogues, do send me pm's about it. And thank you for reading.