Chapter 48: Daring move

The car moved fast in the streets of Genesis. To Tia, it seemed the pirates knew what they were doing and knew how to stay hidden, and certainly not draw attention to themselves. «Mind telling me what it is you hope to accomplish with this missy?» growled Corso. He had hoped that seeming intimidating, would make the girl give up what she had, so that they could let her off somewhere, without having to bring her to see Sonny. Wheter the video technoid had shown was a fake or not, Corso did not want to chance it. Sonny was the most wanted man in the galaxy, and if anyone were to capture him and turn him over to technoid, it would now make them four million standard units richer. A tremendous amount, an amount the pirates themselves concidered to be bloodmoney. If that bounty was ever paid to anyone, it would mean certain death to their leader. A few months ago, the pirates, when searching the databases of Technoid, had stumbled over encrypted files in the system of technoid. Upon decrypting, they had found detailed files on every known pirate residing in shiloh, and what kind of sentence awaited if he was ever captured. Even Corso knew what lay in store for him. He didn't care. He could take that punishment, and a whole lot more for the pirates, his family. What worried him, was Sonny's file. It had taken time to decrypt, what lay in store for Sonny, it was a faith worse than death. Corso knew he would never ever, as long as he could do anything to prevent it, let Sonny fall into enemy hands. What they would do to him.. the bare thought made Corso feel cold chills run up and down his spine. Sonny had taken it easy when he read the file. He had not even seemed nervous. Corso knew that somehow, sonny had known in advance, he knew what would happen if he was captured. Corso shook the bad memories from his head, and stared at Tia. The girl was stubborn, almost like a female version of D'Jok. «I will only tell Sonny, no one else» she said, with her arms crossed. Corso gave up. God help him for stubborn teens. The car stopped. Artie turned around. «Sorry Tia, but you got to wear this hood. We can't let you see where Sonny is, it would endanger him. You understand right?» the pirate smiled sheepishly. Tia understood. The pirates had to protect their leader at all cost. «I understand» she said, and put the hood over her head. Bennet and Artie supported her, in through the backdoor to the pirates lair, Tia had no idea of where she was, only that she was about to meet the one person that could help her free her parents...

Sonny was going through the videofile of the obia moon ambassadours testimony one more time. There was something with the video that made all alarms go off. He wasn't done filtering it yet, but he knew that it was a fake. A technoid compiltation, nothing else. There were several things that indicated that. And why was the obia moon ambassadour and his wife detained? It all smelled rotten to him. Not to mention how the false accusation thrown at him made him feel. It could be proven that he was nowhere near the shaddows archipellago at the time of the explotion, so why would the duke accuse him for it? There were several questions to be answered, and Sonny intended to find those answers. He kept looking at the screen, when tin can interrupted. «Sonny, here's Corso with the girl» the robot informed. Sonny turned the computer off, and turned to greet the visitor. He was wondering why she wanted to see him. Corso had found Mei's message strange, but had gone to see her, and had reported back during the trip, that they brought along a snowkid that wanted to see him because she thought she could help him. Sonny was curious to know what that was. Corso lifted the curtains and entered along with a whitehaired, clearly scared girl. Tia. Sonny could tell that the girl was startled at what she had set out to do, but something also alerted him that she would follow throug. Slowly, he rose from his seat. Standing infront of her, he reached out his hand, as a gesture that he was not a dangerous pirate at all. Tia shakingly took it. « It's a pleasure to meet you Tia» he said, and gently placed his other hand on top of hers, to show her that she was safe.

Tia was amazed. Here, she stood in front of Sonny Blackbones for the second time in her life. He was the same as she remembered. He wasn't dangerous, unless you were Technoid. There was something that made her feel safe in his presence. His hand felt safe, the grip was firm, but gentle, clearly stating that she could pull free at any time, he was not going to stop her. «Not after you know who my parents are» she said in a low voice. Sonny already knew. Corso had informed him of that. But Sonny didn't see a rebellious teen, like the one Corso had growled about, he saw a frightened young girl, who's parents were unjutsly held captive by technoid. And she had come to see him, to ask for help. «I saw their..show» said sonny in a calm voice and turned on the computer again, to show her that he had the videofile, and he was not convinced this was what the obia moon ambassadours actually had said. Tia showed all signs of fear when she saw them. «Technoid is holding them, They've got nothing against you Sonny, you have to help me find them,and help them escape Technoid» said the young midfielder. So, that was what she needed help doing? Sonny quickly calculated the risks in his head. It could be done, that was the least of their worries, but he was not going to put his men in danger, unless he had something back. Perhaps this could help his plan to clear his name of the recent dirty charges? It was worth a try. Sonny pretended to be thinking. «I'll help you in one condition. If freed, your parents must tell the galaxy that I had nothing to do with the explotion on the shaddows planet» Sonny informed the young midfielder. «I'm sure they will, I promise. When do we leave?» asked the young midfielder. This was not part of Sonny's plan. Bringing her would increase the risk factor conciderably. Stadning with his back facing her, Sonny decided to inform her of the next process in the plan. Wich would not include her. «You can't come, it's far too dangerous,Corso will contact you when we've found..», that was as far as he got before Tia delivered the next shocker. «Then my parents won't help you!». Had he heard her right? Did she dare opose the pirates? «WHAT?`» Sonny turned towards her. This time, Tia took a step back, as if she feared what he would do. Then she stood her ground. Clearly, the young midfielder had some ideas of her own. «Either I come, or there is no deal!» she informed the pirate chief. «What about the tournament?» Sonny asked, hoping to make her change her mind. The attempt fell on deaf ears. Tia stood her ground. «Family comes first» she stated stubbornly. Sonny realised what Corso had said was true. From the corner of his eye, he glanced over at his second in command. Corso said nothing, but his facial expression said it all. «Told you so» seemed the most fitting phrase in this. Sonny knew he was cought between a rock and a hard place on this one. And his men made absolutlely no effort to help. It was his call alone. «We leave tonight, Corso,give Tia the things she'll need» Sonny instructed his second in command. «Right Sonny!» said Corso, and followed Tia out. Artie was extatic. «It's great to be against Technoid again» he told Sonny and pretended to be shooting his guns. Sonny was not impressed, or perhaps loosing the battle with the teenage midfielder was getting to him. «Technoid is the most powerful force in the galaxy, after the flux. They are a formiddable enemy Artie, don't forget it» he warned the young pirate, before he headed back to the Black manta, the backway...

In the underground lab, Harris was looking at the other two flux devices that had been made. «General Bleylock, what do you plan to do with these other two flux devices?» he asked carefully. Bleylock stared at the screen, watching the ongoing netherball game in the sphere, but still, he heard harris question. «Harris, do you know who made me like this?» he asked, referring to half his body being the one of a robot. «Sonny Blackbones did this to me, there is only one thing that matters to Sonny Blackbones, it's his son,D'Jok» said Bleylock and smashed his fist into the panel, making sparks fly. «The revenge will be mine, the entire galaxy will soon know of my power» said the raving general. Harris was fearfull, what had he done, starting cooperating with this monster?...

*****************************************'

out in space, the black Manta slid silently through the wast darkness. Corso was watching the maps on the bridge, Sonny had told him to inform him when the prison barge became visible. Corso heard a silent alarm go off. Being a pirate ship, the black Manta was rigged with alarms and sensors to avoid anything that smelled remotely like a technoid prison. Now, the alarm was going off. Corso ground his teeths, he hated this. But Sonny had ordered them to go here, so he had to have a plan up his sleeve. Corso pressed the button for internal calls on the ship. Seconds later, Sonny's image appeared on screen. «Sonny, I've spotted the technoid prison barge. According to the last computer information, we should be there in a few hours». Sonny listened, whilst playing with his bracelet, which he had untied from his wrist. His good luck charm, the one thing that had led him to find D'Jok. Sonny wasn't feeling as easy as he tried to show, he didn't like the thought of what they were about to do one little bit, but it had to be done, it was the only way to clear his name. He turned to Artie. «You heard

him Artie, it won't be long now» he said. But Artie was more concerned with the sound asleep Tia, lying on the pirates makeshift sofa in their livingroom area. «look at her, she looks exhausted» he said to Sonny. Sonny agreed. He worried for the amount of training the snowkids were subject to. Could Aarch be pushing them too hard, not seeing what he did to these kids, while Rocket was absent? At any rate, at the moment, there was little to nothing that they could do. But for as long as Tia was aboard his ship, she was his responsibillity. His main job was to keep her safe. «She'd be better off in a cabin» Sonny said as he turned around to head for the ships command center. «Watch over her» he ordered Artie. «Ok Sonny» the young pirate replied. He knew that Sonny would not take lightly upon this assignment. Artie knew, that if he wanted to prove to Sonny that he was responsible, he needed to make sure Tia remained safe and sound at all times. And that she got to rest. Even if Sonny didn't rest, it didn't mean that he didn't make sure his men did. Sonny was used to run on a bare minimum of sleep, or whatever sleep he had. No one really knew, but the word aboard the ship was, that Sonny would usually suffer from nightmares when he sleept, wich made him rely on one of the pirates inventions, the sleeping device, to get the necessary sleep. Artie remembered that Corso had once told him and Bennet that when Sonny would step over the limit in the dreamzones, one could actually see a fearful expression on his face, and he was prone to beat wildly around himself, wich made it difficult to calm him down. Every time Sonny would fall asleep from natural causes, this would happen at some point. From time to time, he would wake up on his own, but all pirates, Corso especially was on high alert if Sonny happened to fall asleep while on duty. They would make sure to get him to his cabin as soon as possible then, to let him rest. But tonight Sonny was already preparing for the next stage. So far he had said nothing to anyone as to how they should do this. But soon...

Artie looked at Tia. She clearly needed to rest, but this mission would give none. But she had cornered Sonny, wich was surprising, as most people couldn't. She deserved to be on the mission. Artie started cleaning up and tidy, making the place seem a little better now that they had a female onboard. It wasn't as if the pirates tidied all that much, but Artie felt like making it a little more comfortable for her.

On the commandcenter, Corso looked up as Sonny entered. «I still don't think it was a good idea to bring the girl along» he informed Sonny. Sonny stoped, and looked at him. « I have a plan» he simply said. Corso knew it would be of no use to argue. «You're the boss» he said. Then, a beep went off on the display, both Corso and Sonny looked at it. «It's the secure frequenzy» Corso said. Sonny wasted no time. He punched in a series of codes and numbers, before Clamps face appeared onscreen. «Sonny, am I interrupting?» he asked. Sonny sensed whatever Clamp had to tell was important. His hazel eyes stared at Clamp. «Clamp what is it?» he asked. «I thought you should hear this» his friend said and let a message from Dame Simbai get through. «Sonny, Brim Simbra, the master of the flux society, told me that the explotion on the shaddows planet was a flux device, do you know what that is?» she asked him. «No, but I can guess, thank you for letting me know Dame Simbai, tell Clamp that he was right about the invisible flux» said Sonny. «Be careful» Dame simbai ended the transmission. «hmm, bad news» said Sonny thoughtfully. «What does it mean Sonny?» asked Corso. «It means we now know what's behind netherball, Flux. Bleylock is taking flux from the sphere, only the flux is somehow invisible in the sphere» said Sonny, clearly worried. The severity of the news struck Corso too. «Then he's gtting flux from all of them,Kernor,woo wam boo, Luur, Rocketful players» he said and looked at his friend. Sonny seemed in deep thoughts. This news worried him. «Mixed flux..no one has ever tried before, there is no telling what kind of power that will produce. The sphere was the key from the begining, I should have known, it will lead us straight to Bleylock,once the ambassadour is safe, we'll return to Genesis, we'll find him» said Sonny with determination in his voice. «Right Sonny» said Corso...

When she woke up, Tia found herself in a cabin. She had no idea of who it belonged to. To comfort herself, till one of the pirates found time to tell her more, she opened her camcorder, and watched videos of her fahter playing with a ball. After all, with a doughter that now made a famous football star, he had to learn the sport. And it almost broke a vase. Tia laughed at her fahters antics and her mothers response. Then came up a shot on Rocket, from genesis park. In an instant, Tia remembered how Rocket had been the last time she saw him. She couldn't hold the tears back. It hurt immensely, Rocket wasn't Rocket anymore, he was someone else, a stranger. Then she felt a hand to her shoulder. «I didn't mean to scare you, are you all settled in?» asked Artie kindly. «I'm fine Artie, thank you» she responded in a mild tone. But Artie wasn't convinced. «How do you really feel?» he persisted. «I'm on a pirate ship, Rocket has left and my parents are in prison, any more questions?» Tia said before she turned away, to hide her tears. Artie felt as his heart was ripped apart when he heard her crying. He was no good at this. «You're not just with any pirates, you're with Sonny don't worry, Sonny will take care of everything, you'll see» said Artie reassuringly, with full confidence in his captain. «I don't believe that any one person can take care of everything» said Tia, clearly showing her doubts. «Sonny can» Artie said, and made her look at him, before Tin can interrupted them. «Artie, you'd be easy to find, cause you're never where you're supposed to be» the robot yelled angrily. Artie looked at Tia with a sheepish smile and a stupid laugh. «In the kitchen, or I'll tell Sonny to get us a new at the trash» threatened Tin can. Artie got up. «I'll be right there» he told Tin can. «Go on, get the lad out, hurry» yelled tin can and tried to hit Artie. Tia couldn't help laughing at the funny sight...

Tia laid down to try to get some more rest, when she felt a hand touch her shoulder gently. She looked into a pair of hazel eyes. Sonny! «Are you ok Tia?» he asked gently. «I'm fine Sonny, thank you for providing me with a cabin» she said with a smile. Sonny smiled gently. «It's not that much in use, since the occupant is maninly on his feets all the time» Sonny told her. «May I ask who's cabin I am occupying?» asked Tia. Sonny smiled at her. «You're in my cabin Tia, the captains cabin. I figured you'd be better off in here». Sonny looked around, as if he was insecure as to what to say. Then, he sat down next to her. «So, how is practice with the snowkids these days?» he asked, just to get started. «It's hard, Aarch really pushes us hard now that Rocket has gone» said Tia. Sonny could hear the tears in her voice. «I heard Rocket was freed of the charges and was allowed to play again, or did I get something wrong?» he asked. «No, but Rocket doesn't want to come back, he's too busy playing netherball these days. As soon as this is over, that is the next I got to find a solution to» said Tia. Sonny didn't want to debate that. Tia had already proved resourceful, in finding a way to make contact with him. But she needed focus on her parents now, and deal with Rocket later. «How's D'Jok coping in all of this?» he asked with a smile. Tia smiled. «You're proud of him, aren't you Sonny?», the pirate chief smiled. «Very, what gave me away?» he asked. «You beam with fatherly joy whenever his name is mentioned, didn't you know?» she asked. «No, but I do now» said the pirate chief with a smile. «D'Jok is bossy, and he has a huge ego. But still, he's a good guy, deep down. It just doesn't show all the time». Sonny laughed when he heard that. The pirate chief and Tia remained talking till Sonny had to return to commandcenter, when corso called him...

At Genesis, Aarch was mad when Tia didn't show up for practice. «where's Tia?» he demanded to know. Mei looked guilty as sin. This made Aarch focus on her. «Mei, what do you know about this?» he asked. «I..I'm not sure, but she didn't sleep in her room last night» said Mei carefully. «Simbai, did she come to visit you last night?» Aarch wondered. «No Aarch» the herbalist responded. Aarch had now grown suspicious. «Mei, are you sure you don't know anything?» he questioned the teen. Mei found it best to be truthful. «I think she might have left with Sonny Blackbones and his pirates» Mei told them. This caused Aarch to roar frustratedly. «WHAT?», even D'Jok was surprised to hear this.»Tia's with my father?» he asked his girlfriend. «She left with the pirates in the middle of... oh yeah, I did that once» exclaimed Micro – Ice. Mei felt like defending her friend. «Tia knows that her parents are being held in a technoid prison without charges, it's completely unfair. Sonny's gonna help her» Mei informed D'Jok. But D'jok still wasn't satisfied with that answer. «But, how did she find my dad? This doesn't make any sense» exclaimed a frustrated D'Jok. «I brought her to Sonny» said Mei. «What? But how?» D'Jok wanted to know. How could Mei know how to find his dad, when he didn't know? «D'Jok, I know Corso. He came to me to find out how you were doing, he did it for Sonny» D'Jok was angry when he learned this. «So my dad was spying on me!» he stated angrily. Mei disagreed with him. «He wasn't spying on you, he was protecting you» Mei stated. «Mei, we need Tia for the next match against the Rykers. I understand it's her parents, but..when will she be back?» Aarch asked. «I have no idea coach» Mei said. «Unfortunately, we don't have a replacement for her position» said Aarch. But Artegor, their new assistant coach, had an idea to solve the problem. «What about her?» he said and pointed to Yuki. «she could play for Tia» he suggested. «huh?» said a confused Yuki. «I need Yuki in case Ahito is not strong enough since his illness» said Aarch. « I'm a goalkeeper Sir, not a midfielder. I just can't change positions» Yuki argued. But Artegor disagreed. «Everyone can change, what matters is that you're a footballer. I can teach you how to attack» Artegor offered. «Let's do it» Aarch said, and commanded everyone into the holotrainer...

Aboard the Black Manta, Tia had found her way to the kitchen. Sonny had told her it would be ok for her to move around the ship. He had also informed her where the cameras onboard where. «If you're lost, just ask for directions, we'll help» he said before he left. He didn't know why, but he had grown a soft spot for the teammates of his son's. They were a unique bunch. She found Artie and Tin can in the progress of preparing lunch. «Ok, and now a bit of salt» tin can ordered. Artie carefully added some salt to the mix. Tin can took a spoon, to check the taste. It was soon obvious that the robot was not happy. «Blaæh, disgusting, my censors tell me, no more salt» it exclaimed. «Then your censors need replacement, you just told me to add salt» argued Artie. Then, he noticed Tia. «Hey, do you need anything?» he asked her. «No, no, I just came to see if I could help», Tia looked at what they were cooking. It didn't look like food at all. «Mm, what are you cooking? It smells..uh Blue?» she stated surprised. «Taste it» commanded tin can and took a spoonfull for her. «This human thinks it needs salt, I have the best tastecensors in the galaxy» it said and shoved a spoonfull into Tia's mouth. Tia tasted it. It tasted awful. How could the pirates even survive on this cooking? She wondered. «Um, it's..great. Just like mum's. You might meet her soon» Tia told the droid. He was not impressed, and moody as he was, he took her comment personal. «My cencors tell me, that you hate it» the droid stated. Artie looked at her with a sheepish look. « He's the only cook onboard, we've gotten used to it» he explained Tia. «Well, if you think you could do better, be my guest» said Tin can and left his apren to Tia. Tia felt sorry for the pirates. If this was the kind of food they usually ate, she decided to make them something else, something tasty and nutritious. «Artie, what have we got to make something out of?» she asked. Artie found some of the scarse supplies the pirates had. «This will do fine, I know what to make» exclaimed Tia happy. Artie helped her cut the necessary vegetables and such before Tia turned it into a soup. «Here, taste this» said Tia, and gave Artie a spoonfull. «Yummy, it's delicious, according to my taste» Artie smiled. «So, how many are we cooking for?» she asked. Artie checked the time. «We better get ready. Sonny and Corso always dine together, they're like this inseparable old married couple in some regards» said Artie. Tia had to laugh. «Well, then, let's prepare for lunch then» she smiled...

on Genesis, Mei had a feeling D'jok was mad at her for withholding the information she had on his father. «Are you still mad at me?» she asked. D'Jok looked up from his videogame. «No, I know Sonny wants the best for me, he's just a bit ackward at being a dad though, I guess he hasn't had much practice. I do get the feeling that I'm the only one that wants to win this cup» he said. «Why do you say that?» asked Mei. «Well, with Rocket and Tia gone, soon there will be no one left to play, not to mention having Artegor, breathing down our necks» D'Jok said. Mei took his hand. «We're still a team, you can count on me, I'll never leave you» she assured him. D'Jok looked at her with a smile. «I know Mei» he said, closed the videogame and moved closer to her. «If you did leave me, I could always have Sonny track you down, you see, having a pirate in the family, is handy» he smiled. Mei retalliated. «HEY!», this caused D'Jok to burst into laughter...

******************************************'

Tia and Artie were just done setting the table, when Sonny and Corso came. The four took seats around the kitchentable. «Well, let's see what the robot cooked us up for lunch» said Corso. Tia and Artie exchanged glances, but chose no to say anything. First, they would let the chief and deputy commander taste the food. Sonny went first, as his rank gave him that right. Tia watched as he filled the bowl and took a spoonfull. It seemed he enjoyed the food. The same went for Corso. After a few mouthfulls, Corso made the first comment, to the robot off course. «So, you finally decided to cook for humans eh?» he teased the moody robot. «The girl did, not me. I quit. I want to remind you that I was programmed to repair engines, I'm a great mechanic» it stated. Sonny noticed the reply, and turned to Tia with a smile. «That's possibly the best meal I've ever tasted» he stated. Corso agreed with him. «Mmm, it's really delicious, hey, you can stay for as long as you'd like» Corso offered generously. « You can thank my nanny thought me everything I know» she smiled to them. Tin can was getting fed up with being overlooked. «Can she fix a hybrid thruster while in space? I can!» it stated, before it took the dirty dishes and left. The outburst made the foursome burst into a spontaneous laughter. When it calmed, Sonny spoke to Tia. «Don't mind him, I'll have someone check his censors, he's even more moody than Corso». Corso pretended to be insulted. «Hey, watch it Sonny, I'm nowhere near his league» the pirate stated. Sonny again turned to Tia. «Thank you for a delicious meal Tia, it's really helping the braincells function better» the pirate chief stated. «So, do you have a plan for how to attack the problem?» asked Corso. «I'll let you know in due time» smiled Sonny, but he looked away as he said the words...

The technoid prison barge had come into wiew. Corso didn't like it one bit. All four where gathered in the commandcentre of the ship. What had Sonny planned to do? Corso looked at Sonny. «This won't be an easy nut to crack Sonny» he stated. Sonny seemed to have an idea. « perhaps we won't need a nutcraker» he said. It was obvious Sonny had planned for this eventuality. «Contact the ship!» he ordered. Corso was worried. «But Sonny...», his objection was cut off. «Do it!» Sonny commanded. Corso did as Sonny told him to do, not sure what the pirate chief had planned for. It was strange that Sonny had said nothing of his plan so far, but Corso knew they would find out now. A face appeared onscreen. «You have entered the restricted Zone of technoids prison facillity 851, identify yourselves or prepare for destruction». Sonny's face was the one of a sly pirate, one that had made a plan no one could possibly have thought he'd follow through on. « I'm Sonny Blackbones, the most wanted man in the galaxy. I have come to turn myself in» he said. Tia and Artie were speechless. This was beyond bold, this was crazy. Corso didn't know what to believe. Had Sonny completely lost his mind? «Sonny?» he exclaimed...

Well, has Sonny lost it, or is it a stroke of genious that made him do this? And what purpose does turning himself in serve? All of this and more in the next chapter. Please do rewiew.