Chapter 26: New allies
Rose looked worried. The Dark rings, surrounding Gorn, kept coming closer. She recalled D'Jok and Corso's reaction when they passed throug the thick, brown belt. Sonny had dressed in an attire that was suitable for men like him on the planet. Rose just hoped he wouldn't be recognized. Bleylock's father still ruled on Gorn, and from what she had heard, He and Sonny wasn't exactly on the friendly side with eachother. If he found out that Sonny was on Gorn, they would be in big trouble. Bleylock's father was known to hold grudges. And Sonny was blamed for Bleylock's death. Rose looked over at him. Sonny seemed to be lost in his own world of thougts. What was going on in his mind, no one knew.
'Sonny!'
The calling of his name, made him return to the world of the living. Sonny looked over at Artie, who had called to him.
' The pressure is starting to build, and as we recall, Corso and D'Jok had to use oxygen to get through a six minute gap. You may have recupperated Sonny, but I hear a slight wheasing sound when you breathe now. Why don't you put an oxygen mask on right now? So that you breathe easier?' said Artie concerned.
Sonny nodded, and took the mouthpiece and placed it over his nose and mouth. Rose could hear how he slowly breathed the oxygen deep into his lungs. Sonny had selected a small team to accompany him and her to Gorn.
As they closed in, all of the pirates put oxygenmasks on. All communication, was now made by handsignals. Rose felt the pressure around her chest, as they entered the thick mud ring. It felt like a giant hand tried to squeeeze all the air out of her. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Sonny sat beside her, and his hazels seemed worried. She signaled that she was fine. The six minutes felt like years. They were nearly endless. But, all of a sudden, it let go. No warning what so ever. The pirates took of their masks.
'How in Shiloh's name did you manage to get through this on your escape?' Artie wondered.
' There's been somekind of protection within the capsule. There was no airtanks, D'Jok and I cheeked' said Sonny.
'I.. can't recall anything' said Rose.
'Some memories, are best left in the past Rose, for your own good' said Sonny.
The trip continued in silence.
Artie followed a map that Corso had made of the area. They landed the ship in the exact same location that Corso and D'Jok had parked, and activated a cloaking device to hide the ship.
As they turned to head towards the farm of Andours and Mariah's, Sonny put on some googles and a mask. He had been here before, and not everyone would be friendly. If they recognized him, it could jeopardize the entire plan. And right now, the very lives of D'Jok and Corso, depended on this plans success. No one could tell how much the thought of loosing either one of them, troubled Sonny. The nightmares kept him awake at night. Would he be able to see things through with his best friend, and would he ever be able to tell his son, how proud he was of him?
'Wich way Artie?' he asked behind the mask.
Artie pointed. Soon, the group of six was headed towards Andour's home. Just like when D'Jok and Corso had gotten here, the group found Andour outside. But this time, Andour made sure to show his guests to the barn before they were introduced. As Rose entered the room, they could see tears in Andours eyes.
'Our choosen one. She's returned' he whispered.
Rose imidiately knew he spoke of her.
'I don't know what I can do to help my people, I just know I have to do something' she said.
'Seeing you, gives me hope, choosen one' said Andour and took her hands.
Then, his gaze looked at the group of men behind her. All of them, clearly pirates, just like the last two that had visited. But one man stayed in the background. A tall man, but there was something familiar about him. Andour knew he had met that man before. He looked closely at the man wearing the mask and googles. He realised who this had to be. The most wanted, and hunted man in the entire galaxy.
'It is an honour to meet you, Sonny Blackbones' he said, and held out his hand.
Sonny took a few steps forth and took Andours hand. But, in doing so, the sleeve on his right arm was pulled up. A nasty scar showed. Andour gasped when he saw it.
'I'Son?' he asked.
Sonny nodded.
'You choose what name you wish to call me by, Master Andour' he said.
'It's been a long time I'Son. We were told you were killed, in Akillian. Something about a bomb of somekind'.
'It's a long, sad story Master. One we don't have time for right now. The galaxy is in danger. The danger General Bleylock ever posed, is nothing in comparison to this' he whispered.
Andour nodded.
'You have come to seek the help of a nation turned into slaves, I'Son. That alone shows the desperation this is causing. But I sense two of our fellow friends are missing today?' he said.
Sonny removed his mask. His hazels looked very shiny as he looked at Andour.
'Corso, my right hand man, and D'Jok, my precious son, have both fallen victims to Hami Maddox scheemes. D'Jok was attacked with a form of flux unknown to me, while playing a football match, he's reccuperated a little, but has now remained unconcious for a full week. Corso..he saved my life, Hami fried his brain. A trap intended for me, but Corso sat on a stool, without knowing what it was meant for, and ended up in a critical state. We concidered both of them too weak to pass through the planets defense lines' said Sonny.
Rose heard him chooked a sob. Andour nodded, and placed his hands to Sonny's shoulders.
'Once, before anyone knew of our lives here, you were the first to bare witness of what was going on here. It changed your wiew on certain people. Especially your wiew on the Bleylock family, who have ruled here for far too long. You made sure to pass the information you recieved on to others who were in position to do something about it. It's not your fault that they chose to do nothing. And when Bleylock found out what you had done, he took it out on you. You were made to suffer for what you did. Now, you've come to ask our help, to save your best friend and your son. We will help you. You once saved the last hope we had, that our world would one day be free. Come my friends. We can't stay here. There are still guards who patrol these grounds. If you're found I'Son, they will not hessitate to kill you. We will make sure you get to rest, and at nightfall, we'll lead you to the ones that can help' Andour said.
Sonny nodded, but everyone could tell it lifted a ton of stones of his shoulders.
'Thank you Master' he smiled...
Sinedd was looking at the two fellows over in the left hand corner of his bar. Not beeing a known agent of the pirates, made it easier for him to operate in the shaddows. Mei was in the backroom with Micro- Ice and Sunja. Sinedd sent a small signal , telling them to turn on the surveilancescreen for the bar.
'Check the two fellows in the left' he said.
'Looks like bounty hunters' said Mei.
'Think they could be on to us?' asked Sunja.
Micro- Ice looked at them, for a long time. Then he made sure a discreete surveilance photo was taken.
'Scramble this in a message,and send it to the black manta. Have Thran analyze it. These could be Keyons friends' he said.
'Shouldn't we follow them afterwards? If they're working for Hami, they could lead us to his hideout' said Sunja excited.
So far, all of the missions she had taken part in, was boring. Now, she wanted action.
Sinedd was worried when he heard that.
'take over here!' he said to one of his staffmembers, before he headed to the back.
'Sunja, I love you littlesis, but remember what happened soon after you met me? When all the three of you were abducted?' he said.
Sunja looked down. She did not like it when her brother yelled at her.
' Yeah, and?' she asked.
'This guy, Hami. He is more dangerours than all of that and a few other things combined. We don't know if D'Jok will survive what he did to him, or Corso for that matter. We have to show caution' Sinedd said.
Mei agreed.
'But, it would be cool if we were the ones to tell Sonny where he could find Hami' she said.
Micro- Ice looked up, and at the same time started a call on his screen.
'I might have an idea' he said.
'Just make sure it's an idea that will fly, Micro- Ice' said Sinedd.
By now, the team was used to Micro- Ice getting ideas, but not neccisarrily following through on them.
'Relax sinedd, I'm sure Clamp has some gadgets we can use' said Micro- Ice.
Clamp listened to the young man as he lay down the situation.
'I'll help you in one condition' he said.
'Ok, what is that?' Micro- Ice wanted to know.
'You only locate Hami, don't do anything untill Sonny's back. I love you kids too much to have you go after this monster and get yourselves killed' he said.
' I think you're more worried what Sonny would do, if he found out that you had been helping us with this, and something bad happened' said Mei.
Clamp sighed.
'\Sonny's reaction is the least of my concerns' he said.
He then proceeded to tell the former snowkids how to use a small, buglike, fly to track the men.
'And be carefull' he said, before he ended the transmission.
Micro- Ice carefully activated the fly.
'How are we gonna place it?' he asked.
'Leave that to me!' said Sunja, and before enyone could stop her, she was serving the two men beers.
'I ought to..' Sinedd said, clenching fists.
'Well, looks like she's turning on the charm' said Mei and pointed to the screen.
'She's become a real beauty since you met her the first time' said Micro- Ice.
'You just stay away from her' said Sinedd, before he too turned his attention to the screen...
'Here ya go, you look thirsty. On the house' said Sunja as she placed the pints in front of two of them.
The third looked at her.
'This is a party of three miss, get me a beer too!' he demanded.
'Now, there's no need to be rude. I only have two arms, these beerjugs are heavy, and it would only make you have to wait longer if I broke the jugs, wouldn't it?' she smiled.
But the third man made cold chills run down her spine. The man they were looking for, Hami, he was here, in her brothers bar, meeting with these two men. As she reached the counter, to fill the third jug, she used her microphone.
'Stay alert, Hami is here'.
'WHAT? In my bar?' thundered Sinedd.
'Act like you just did, when you approach him with his beer' said Mei.
A part of her was excited to know that Hami was crawling out of hiding, just like Sonny had predicted, but another part of her was scared. At some point, this guy had been a real slimebucket towards her, when she turned down all his moves on her. Sunja had to be carefull, If Hami decided to hit on her, she'd be in trouble.
'Here you go sir, have a pleasant evening' smiled Sunja as she put down the beerjug infront of Hami.
'Thank you. On the house, right?' he asked.
'Off course' Sunja smiled.
Then, she tried to look cheerfull as she left for the counter, as she continued to fight her desire to run for her life..
It was dark outside. Sonny snapped out of sleep as if he had heard a gunshot. There was someone here. All of his instincts kicked in. His body, hardened by years of training, and being on constant alert, woke all the others from their sleep.
'We got company' he said.
Andour had shown him the way, to hide under the cellar.
The pirates quickly made their way down there, and concealed their tracks.
They could hear Andour's voice get closer.
'What are you looking for? We are just poor farmers. We don't have weaponry' he said.
'We shall see' said a voice.
A hatch was opened.
Sonny and his team backed even further away.
'We're trapped' said Rose.
Sonny looked for a way out, before it was too late. The steps on top came closer. They couldn't be outed now. Not now.
Sonny felt how the sweat rolled down his back as he tried to come up with an escape.
But, all of a sudden, the steps stoped.
'We're wasting our time. There is nothing here' said a voice.
'Ok, you get off easy, this time. But, we'll come back' said a voice.
Sounds of viechles starting, and a short while later, Andour put his head down to them.
'Are you all ok?' he asked.
Sonny nodded, and they made their way out.
'We have to leave, towards the mountains. The guard was right, they'll be back in the morning, to burn the farm down' he said.
'What about the people's livelyhood?' asked Sonny.
'Things have progressed badly since you left I'Son. There is no such thing as mercy here anymore. We've been lucky so far. But, it's time to move on' he said.
The pirates helped them get ready, six extra pairs of arms made things happen quicker. Soon, they were ready to leave.
Andour led them through difficult terrain, wich took most of the night, The men helped so that the women could rest. Rose could see how Mariah kept trying to hide the tears. She understood the pain. They had worked so hard to get to where they were, and now, they were about to loose it all. As daylight broke, they looked in the direction of the house. They skies glowed red, and a thin line of thick smoke could be seen. Andour pulled Mariah close. They both knew what it meant. Andour looked at Sonny.
'The final bond that tied me to this planet, is now gone. We got nothing left. When you leave, we are coming with, to start a new life elsewhere' he said.
Sonny nodded. He owed them that much.
A few hours later, they reached an intricate net of tunells. Andour drove into it. He knew where they were going.
They saw a system of caves. It looked like small houses. Mariah was greeted and helped unpacking her things.
'Rose, I'Son, come with me' said Andour.
He led them to a cave that seemed concealed in the system.
'Alina!' he called.
Out came a gingerhaired woman. Not young, not old. But as Rose looked to Sonny, she knew that he had seen her before.
'Her name was given to her after she recieved her calling' explained Andour.
Alina hugged Sonny.
'Thank you for my life, I'Son' she said.
Sonny nodded. It seemed he had realised something.
'Alina, I brought someone that needs your help, to learn to master her gifts' he said.
He then stepped aside, so that she could see Rose.
Alina's eyes filled with tears.
'Thank you I'Son' she said.
Like out of the skies, Rose realised who the woman named Alina was.
'Mom?...
Things are progressing. Next chapter will be very exciting. What do you guys think of this?