They were finally safe.
The arrival at Shiloh city had been a silent one, and on the outskirts of the secure parameters of the city limit, Sonny still put on protective gear to avoid being recognized.
Helena had still not gotten used to the very idea, that her marriage and her choices had now made her a fugitive.
She had been cut off from her family during the flux wars, sent to safety as they put it, with Technoid.
The war could not touch her there.
Turned out, the war found you, and affected you, no matter where you went.
What mattered now, was her family.
She had Sonny by her side now, making them a two strong team.
Shiloh would have both her father and mother around her as she grew up.
And at the same time, Shiloh would not have the same chances as D'Jok had.
She would be raised as a pirate, shielded from the galaxy they knew, not knowing whom her father was seen as to the galaxy outside.
And through her choices, it would become her fate too, being wanted, hunted down.
Shiloh city was the safe haven where she could just be a wife and a mother.
Outside of Shiloh, the galaxy was divided at best, at how they saw Sonny and his men.
And someday, they didn't know when, she feared, someone, a bounty hunter or Technoid themselves, would grow advanced enough to track him and finally have him arrested.
It seemed Corso feared the same scenario.
Knowing that Sonny would now stay in hiding, in a place Corso saw as safe, had seemed a very clear relief to him.
They would stay in the apartment till the house was ready.
Sonny had ordered a covert command post be established there, so he could keep an eye on things.
The house was tailored to their every need.
They also would have a pediatritian whom escaped Technoids grasp and a nurse whom specialized in how to treat prematures like Shiloh, around.
Sonny had greeted them warmly when he met them.
Corso had run the most thorough background check she ever saw, so clearly, the pirates were not taking any chances.
D'Jok had been in deep thoughts since he had come on board, and both Sonny and Helena had noticed how he didn't seem to eat when they had the meal served.
Sonny exchanged a look with Helena, asking if she had any idea what was wrong with their son.
Helena sent a look back, indicating she was as clueless as him.
Sonny nodded silently, finished up, and excused himself.
He had some pirate matters that he needed to attend to.
Helena suspected,he would talk to the two pirates that had been set to guard D'Jok and hear if they had any idea.
It seemed she had been right, as Sonny returned a little while later.
"D'Jok, is something the matter between you and Mei that causes you to look like you just got ripped off?" Sonny asked softly, his eyes fixed on his son.
D'Jok nodded silently.
He felt ashamed of his reaction, how he let the pressure of being captain, and the knowledge of his fathers and mothers issues, had made him act like a spoiled rotten brat.
No wonder Mei was mad at him.
He did focus too much on football, well to be honest, the football was all that really was on his mind.
His team mates had other interests in mind too.
"I think..I may have made a total fool of myself in front of Mei.." he finally admitted.
Sonny nodded.
"I know the feeling son. I was once young like you. It comes with the territory, when girls get involved" he said.
Helena caught Sonnys clue.
"Whatever it was D'Jok, she will get over it. Just give it some time" she said.
D'Jok managed a small smile.
"Thanks mom, and dad. You are the best" he smiled.
Sonny gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"You look like you could do with a little diversion from Mei and your team. So, allow me to set something up" he said as he entered a code to his transmitter.
Moments later, Stevens hologram showed.
"Special assignment for team 2. I will leave my son in your care for a few days. Teach him how we do things around here in the city, you know the drill. Get his mind off of any heavy thoughts, got it?" he asked.
Stevens nodded.
"Got it Sonny, anything else you need us to do?" he asked.
Sonny smiled.
"I think its high time you don't wear the masks around him. He will be here for quite some time. Show him who you are, with no masks" Sonny ordered.
Stevens chuckled.
"With pleasure. We will pick him up in an hour. We actually planned a bon fire, to celebrate little Shiloh. If he wants to be like us, why not have him help out prepare it?" Stevens suggested.
Sonny smiled.
"An excellent idea Stevens. There is no special treatment here,even for my son. Titles mean little, if we want to survive. He needs to understand the feeling and how lucky he is to have a break from it all with his team during the cups. You are in charge then. He will be ready within the hour to be picked up" Sonny adviced.
Stevens nodded.
"I am on my way shortly" he promised.
As Sonny ended the call, he looked at D'Jok.
"You best put on some training clothes D'Jok, to prepare these bon fires is heavy duty work. As the leader, I am litterally the only man that does not have to parttake in the preparations. That is, because it will be on the outskirt of Shiloh City, beyond the safe parameter. We have had mishaps before in that region, once, I nearly got abducted off the nebula myself. It made the pirates weary, so I will only arrive when its ready and security is at its highest. For you, it is different. You don't have a constantly circulating wanted poster for your capture circulating. But never forget, as my son, you are still a target for my enemies, a means to an end to put pressure on me. You don't leave Stevens and his group, and wander off by yourself. We don't need to put all of Shiloh on alert while we try to track you down, got it?" he asked.
D'Jok nodded, before he excused himself to go get changed before Stevens came for him.
Corso had checked the work on Sonnys house.
Almost ready to have them move in now, once the new command center was in operation, this would become the pirates new HQ.
Corso had been busy since their arrival, as had Sonny.
At times, their updates went well past midnight before they found the time to get that done.
And yet, Sonny seemed less exhausted than normal.
Having Helena, D'Jok and Shiloh around him, did Sonny good.
Now, there was the ceremony to welcome Shiloh Star to their ranks in progress.
Since it would be outside the safe parameters, Sonny had taken his precautions in preparing a secret passage way for them to arrive.
Corso knew why.
As he checked the route, they had to pass by the docking area, and into one of the more hidden alleyways.
Corso shuddered when he thought of what had happened here years earlier.
As he drove past the bar Sonny had described, Corso clenched his fists.
This was where the attempt to abduct and sell Sonny to Technoid had started.
Sonny would maybe have been able to free himself, if it wasn't for his allergic reactions.
That alone could have killed him.
Corso recalled the gruelling weeks, all traffic to and from Shiloh had been halted as they searched for Sonny.
The abductors had hoped they would let up, so they could smuggle him out then.
They were not that lucky.
Sonny had managed to activate his safety beacon, he couldn't even explain how, leading to him being found.
Corso was in charge of making sure there were secure escape tunnels from Sonnys house, should the need ever rise.
For a less experienced pirate, it would sound ridiculous to even consider that there was any danger inside ~Shiloh city for Sonny, their beloved leader, and his family.
Corso knew, like Sonny, you could never take freedom for granted, especially if you were the leader of the pirates.
So now, he was down in the old escape tunnels, tunnels that predated even Magnus Blade, Sonnys predecessor, to check if they needed be upgraded.
So far, nothing major.
A little bit of corrotion here and there, he would send in a team the following day, to have it fixed.
That was when Corso got back up to the surface.
Son of a.. he had gone up, just at that place where Sonny had been held captive unknowingly, for several weeks.
The building looked deserted and should have been knocked down.
When he thought of how the cellar of it had been used to hold Sonny prisoner, in an area that at times would fill with water..
Corso jumped, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Easy Corso, its just me" Sonny said, removing his hand.
Corso was heaving.
"How many times must I tell you not to do that Sonny? I swear, you almost gave me a heart attack" Corso said.
"You need to pay more attention. It was not like I didn't make a sound" Sonny said.
"Maybe, but you are getting more stealthy that way. I didn't hear you. Think we definately need the tunnels operational if you are gonna start acting like this. I don't want to come back from a raid and find out they finally caught you" he said.
Sonny patted his shoulder.
"For that, Technoid would first need to find this place and gain access. That would not happen, as the alarm would sound on sight of any of their ships. And as an extra safety, I got an agreement negotiated with Duke Maddox. He sees that we might face a new generation of generals from enemy armies. And since his army is robots, they are easy to take out. At least for a human being with our level of skills. What concerns him, is the advanced weapons systems he has heard of. I have done some searches, with Arties help, and what I found is alarming. Duke Maddox cant officially speak of this arrangement, unless he wants to be seen as not in control. But unofficially, he has asked my help, looking at the possible use of extracted flux. Now that he has Bleylocks equipment from his lab, he knows it can be done, and he has no scientists with the know how to create a defence. That was my part of the deal. I will be working on this, in hiding, and see if I can come up with something, something he can use as a shield, against such an attack. It seems, he will try to persuade the authorities on Genesis to go along with a line of protection against such assults, now that they know what can be done with the aid of flux" he said.
Corso nodded, though sceptical.
"I still want you to be careful Sonny. You know as well as I do, safety, of any kind really, for you, is just an illusion. If it was only you, I know you would be able to handle it. But you got a premature baby, a son and a wife to consider as well. You may have found your footing Sonny, but you are also vulnerable now, more than before. I hope that wont cloud your judgement calls" he said.
Sonny smiled.
"No worries. I suspected this area could make your mind wander off, to less than happy times" he said.
Corso nodded, looking at the building.
"It was such a close call Sonny.I remember well how bad your condition was after Magnus brought you back. I have never seen you that weak, and I was worried we found you too late.." Corso said.
Sonny shook his shoulder.
"Lets not focus on what didn't happen Corso. Our focus now, is secure escape paths. Even with how things are now, I would not trust Technoid to honour their word for long. Make sure we don't have any risk of cave ins, and hidden panel doors at the new HQ. It will pass as a normal house for the unknowing. The Blackbones residence, and the home of the little pirate princess we will present at the bonfire tonight" he said.
Corso managed a small smile,happy about Sonnys distraction.
"Sure Sonny, you are the boss".
Helena tried to figure out what kind of outfit to put Shiloh Star in for the bonfire.
She knew it was quite warm here on Shiloh, close to an Akillian summer.
But Shiloh was still a bit underdeveloped, due to being premature,and Helena was not sure how well she regulated her temperature yet.
Her pediatric nurse seemed to get her dillema.
"I take it, your son was fullborn Mrs Blackbones, since you seem so much at a loss here" she said compassionately.
Helena nodded.
"He was born during the Akillian catastrophe. I missed the entire first month of his life, due to bloodloss, and being in a comatose state. They didn't think I would survive it. But somehow, my son brought me back from the brink of death" she said.
The nurse smiled.
"It is hard to imagine how the pirates have built all this, and no one outside their organization knows about it. It must have been an immense operation, no wonder they are Technoids mortal enemy, as the raids for materials to do this, must have been many, and costly for them" she said.
Helena nodded.
"Dont forget what Technoid have done to people all over the galaxy. I used to work for them myself, that is where Sonny and I met, long before he was forced to take that name. Sonny isnt just a pirate, and their leader,he is as much their victim as anyone that ever left them are" she said.
The nurse nodded.
"My brother,he worked for them too. Not sure on what, but he told me,he blew the whistle on them, and before we could find out more, he disappeared, we never heard from him again" she said.
Helena nodded, this was a story she had heard before.
"Talk to Sonny about it. The pirates are experts at getting to the truth of what happened. If he is alive, Sonny will find out where he is held, if not, you will at least know what happened, even if it takes time" she said.
The nurse smiled.
"You truly sound like a pirate already. Must rub off on you, the influence of your husband. Lucky you to have two kids by him. You plan on a third kid?" she asked, checking Shilohs carefully prepared formula.
Helena shook her head.
"No. I took a risk this time. I..I didn't tell Sonny about it. A third pregnancy could be leathal.I don't want him to worry too much. Being the most wanted man in the galaxy is bad enough. I feel as if he barely got away this time. He has to be careful now, so they don't track him" she said.
The nurse nodded.
"I am sorry for asking, but is it safe for him to stay in one place at all? To me, he sounds like a sitting duck like that" she said.
"He is used to it. Sonny is no fool. If this wasn't safe, we would not stay here. This place is as safe as he can get it" she said.
The nurse agreed.
"It strikes me as odd that they would chase him and offer that big a bounty for his capture, if he just committed petty theft. It must be something simmilar to what my brother did that has them chase him. I hope they never get him" she said.
Helena nodded
"For the sake of the galaxy, so do I".
D'Jok was helping stack the wood, and staying in plain sight of the pirates as they worked.
He found it best not to aggravate Stevens, whom his father had put in charge of his security.
Out here, all the pirates wore some kind of protective gear in front of their faces.
D'Jok found that to be a little strange, they were in pirate territory, surely, this would be as safe as it got right?
From the look of things, that maybe wasn't so.
That, or the pirates were more paranoid than he had realised.
Stevens had even made him wear a hood, and some protective breast plating under his clothes.
"But why do I have to wear this? I am hardly at any risk. I am just his son, not the big fish himself" D'Jok objected.
Stevens looked at him.
"You are made the wear these things, simply because you are his son. They might not be able to touch Sonny directly, the defence lines around him are too tight, but you are in a shark tank out here. Get it into your head kiddo, Shiloh City is within a protective parameter, anyone tries to breach it, we will know in a matter of seconds. But we are outside that parameter now, and if you ask your father, I am sure he will tell you, it is far from safe out here, even for him" Stevens said.
"So why have the bonfire out here then? Wouldnt it be safer to do it inside the city?" D'Jok asked.
Stevens looked at him.
It was clear, D'Jok had not been told about the two special guests being brought here for this occassion.
His girlfriend and bestfriend were on their way with Artie as they spoke.
Sonnys attempt to cheer his son up, and give him a chance to fix things with Mei.
They were lucky she had said yes to come, it had taken most of Corsos patience to achieve that.
"Shiloh city is built inside a mountain, to get all the smoke this bonfire will produce out of there, would take hours, and cause a risk for the ones living there, in edition to exposing the location of our best kept secret. That would be exactly what Technoid would be waiting for, and it would allow them to snare the net around Sonny, and force him into a situation where he would be forced to surrender to them. None of us want that, especially not now when he is finally getting to a stage of his life where we see him lower his shoulders more and relax. Your mothers arrival, and little Shiloh, has helped Sonny prioritize differently than before. He had had some incredible anger aimed at Technoid for years, over matters he thought them responsible for, your demise and your mothers, since we could not find a trace of you for years, fuelled that anger, and it was unavoidable they would eventually connect the dots and realise they dealt with an ex employee with the rage of a volcano in full eruption. Once they realised whom they were really dealing with, they started hunting him down. We too thought ourselves safe here, even where we are now, till we realised, there is people here, merchants, and non pirates that posed a greater risk to Sonnys safety than we had thought. Usually, they went after our then leader, Magnus Blade, and not Sonny. But once they realised whom he was behind his new name, they hunted him harder than Magnus. We always knew Sonny had something on then, that made him a danger. They had him cornered a few times, but he always escaped at the last minute.
That was, till the merchants spotted him and decided to cash in" Stevens said.
D'Jok was in shock.
He had no idea about this.
"What happened?" D'Jok asked.
Stevens looked at him.
"We don't know how they did it, but they somehow managed to drug him with something. Sonny felt himself safe and had gone off alone, and that left him vulnerable. They were four to one. Once they had managed to subdue him, they took him to one of the old buildings that served as a hotel, and hid him in there for six gruelling weeks. Fortunately, we realised something had happened to him rather fast, as he was not possible to reach or locate. Magnus locked the lair on the outside down and no ship could go in or out for those six weeks, while we searched for Sonny. When he was finally found, he was barely holding on, due to an allergic reaction. Corso used his knowledge of herbal medicine to care for him. Sonny was then assigned Corso as his personal bodyguard, to prevent this from ever happening again. Its a job Corso is deadly serious about, and he and Sonny are like brothers because of it. With Corso making the judgement calls, Sonny is safe. Corso is a legendary ex military man, from a famous platoon wiped out during the flux wars. He is the sole survivor. And as a former soldier, Sonny is his commander, and his solely most important mission, a mission that you, your sister and mother just became a part of. Rather than ask questions, make yourself useful, so my job is easier. I answer directly to Corso if anything happens to you, and I really don't want to make him mad, no one that knows Corso want that, got it?" Stevens asked.
D'Jok nodded.
Stevens smiled behind his mask.
"Then lets finish this up shall we?"..
Finally, Little Shiloh was properly dressed for the evening.
Sonny had brought a special outfit that would adjust so she would not be too warm, nor too cold during the bonfire.
With that taken care of, it was time for Helena to get ready.
She was looking through the wardrobe she had.
Nothing really fancy, as the wife of a pirate, you didn't really need to dress up all that much, if it was ever needed, it would be as part of an undercover operation, and that was something she was not trained for.
Sonny gave a soft knock on the door before he entered the room.
"Honey, this time, we will be outside the safe parameters of the city. Corso insisted we all all wear some protective armour under our clothes, as we have no assurance this is just gonna be pirates present. We do business with some merchants, so Corso is making sure all is as safe as it gets to be. We will be at the bonfire, but it will also be safe. Stevens has made D'Jok put his on, Shiloh has hers embedded in the clothes she is wearing. All that remains, are you and I. And I still have some concerns regarding your bruisings. Are you ok with wearing an armour honey?" Sonny asked softly as he gently touched her arm.
Helena nodded.
"If you think its necessary honey, then yes, I will. I don't want anything bad to happen, its been enough for a while now" she said.
Sonny kissed her at the neck.
"Its just a safety measure honey, I promise its not usually like this, only when we are forced to leave our parameters safe zone. I wont tighten it too much, that might hurt, just let me know what feels comfortable ok?" he asked.
Helena nodded, as she stood in her bra and underwear, her bruises visible to her husband whom looked her over.
"He really went for maximum pain that bastard, I am sorry you had to go through that" Sonny said.
Helena sighed.
"Lets focus on what matters Honey, we are all here, he is try that armour on, I never wore anything like that" she said.
Sonny nodded.
"I hope it wont become a habit for us. I never quite know where I got Technoid, they say one thing one day, to change their mind five minutes later. It best to keep some distance to them for the moment. Let things calm down a bit before we get back to business on their territory" Sonny said as he carefully pulled the armour onto her torso and tightened it.
Helena noticed Sonny hand her a special made sweater, and a pair of pants to go with.
It was classic, could go for a track suit, but simmilar to a pirates uniform.
"That is the galla uniform of a pirate Honey. I will be wearing a simmilar attire, to not draw too much attention. This one is made so that a press on the arm, activates an invisibility shield. Physically you are still there, but the enemy cant see you when its activated" Sonny explained.
Helena smirked.
"Same technology your pirates use to escape the pitch in galactik football undetected?" she asked with a smile.
Sonny nodded with a smile.
"Yes, and its proven to work" Sonny said as she put on the rest of the outfit.
Helena looked at herself in the mirror.
This outfit made her feel sexy, and young, and Sonnys admiring look in her direction where he was getting ready, taking of his regular red doublet and black pants, to replace it with a simmilar pair of pants to her own, made her feel quite well.
As soon as Sonny was part done, Corso arrived.
"The guests are about to arrive in half an hour Sonny. Do you need some help with the armour?" Corso offered.
Sonny gave a nod, and Corso immediately took the armour and strapped it around his torso.
Sonny tested that he could move unhindered, before he took his top on.
Corso instinctively saluted once he looked at his friend.
Sonny smiled.
"At ease Corso. This is just for ceremonial purposes" he said.
Corso nodded.
"Still, it was used for a different purpose not too long ago Sonny. I am glad you decided on not wearing it all the time, but it still reminds me of the time before you were in charge" he said.
He felt Sonnys hand on his shoulder.
"That is history now Corso, as so many other things. Let it go. We got more happy things to attend to. Is D'Jok still with Stevens?" Sonny asked, as he tightened the boots.
Corso nodded.
"And still clueless to your little surprise for him, I told Stevens, he and his group are peeling potatoes for a month if they blabbered"
Helena chuckled at that.
"Dont be so hard on them Corso, they are still young men, they need some fun now and then" she reminded him.
Corso couldn't help but smile.
"As long as they don't forget who they are, and why they are wanted" he said.
Sonny lifted Shiloh carefully off the bed and held her to his chest.
"Tell everyone to get ready, we are headed off now".
They were a large group gathered at what looked like a small family size sofa, covered in blankets and something that looked like fur.
D'Jok was waiting in the front, alongside Stevens and his group.
As soon as his father arrived, he would have to take seat next to him and his mother, as the Blackbones was the family of the pirates uncrowned king.
And little Shiloh was to be presented before her loyal family and subjects.
At first, D'Jok thought he heard wrong, then, on second thought, he was sure he heard right.
That never ending blabber, was Micro Ices voice.
And as he looked up, he saw Micro Ice and Mei, guided to him, by Bennett and Artie.
D'Joks eyes teared up as he saw them.
This had to be Sonnys idea.
To bring the two closest teammates of his, to him, so he could relax with them.
All of a sudden, D'Jok had a feeling things wasn't so gloomy as he might have thought.
He hugged them both.
"Welcome to Shiloh Mei, Micro Ice. Finally, I feel like I am not so alone anymore".