Stevens was at the cave mouth, along with Kuun, to check the weather.
Back in the cave, Corso sighed. He was not faring any better than Sonny in regards to old wounds that could be torn open, his track list of injuries was longer than most knew, and he had quite a few mechanical components by now. He wondered if his mechanical components were the reason he was so hard to take over.
He went to get a mug of coffee for him and Sonny. He also needed to talk to Flora. He carefully entered the tent. Sonny was still sound asleep. Corso smiled softly as he opened the holo transmission with Flora.
"How is Sonny doing?" She asked.
"Better now that I closed up the wound, using Gaia." Corso said. Flora nodded.
"I take it, his son gave permission?" She asked. "In any case, will he be alright?"
"He's able to walk on his own, but I don't want him to walk too far. We also have a prisoner; Cobra." Corso informed her. Flora's eyes grew dark.
"Be careful, they can track him to get to Sonny." She said.
"We'll have Sonny's personal ship transport him to Genesis. Meanwhile, I'll take Sonny to The Sanctuary and Callie. I'll make sure he's fully healed before he gets to work again." Corso said. Flora nodded.
"He has to learn this isn't just his fight. I just need permission to do my work." She said.
"Permission granted." Sonny, now awake, said. Flora smiled.
I'll have a team ready to deal with Cobra upon arrival. Stay safe, both of you." She said.
"Also, have everyone attend the war room in eight hours. I have a plan." Sonny said, carefully sitting up.
"Can you tell me right now?" She asked, as Sonny nodded and started telling her the plan.
Cobra was in a trance. This way, he could search for Ta'Nakh. Once they connected, Ta'Nakh transferred all his data on Sonny to Cobra. Cobra's eyes widened for a second. Now they knew who The Guardian was. Ta'Nakh was pleased.
"That was just one wound. He's bound to have more." He said. Cobra was doubtful.
"He won't just let us do that again." He said.
"We need to get close to someone else." Ta'Nakh said thoughtfully. Cobra agreed.
"Sonny managed to disable all the gifts Bleylock made for us. I still don't know how he found out." He said. Ta'Nakh nodded.
"He had a history with the General," He said. Cobra snorted.
"Of course he had." He said. Ta'Nakhs eyes narrowed.
"I will send a servant to find out where Sonny will head next. At the first possible chance, we will take him prisoner." He said. Corba snarled.
"I would have taken him if it wasn't for that Flux." He said. Ta'Nakh looked at him.
"You will get your revenge soon enough."
Stevens returned with Kuun and gave a weather report.
"It's cleared up for now, but we don't know for how long." He said. Corso nodded. He looked at Sonny, who carefully stood up. The pain wasn't gone, but it was a lot less.
"Should you be standing?" Stevens asked.
"You should take it easy." Corso suggested, before Sonny leaned over and stopped him with a kiss.
"Don't worry, I'll take it easy. Take care of Cobra for me and it will be all right." He said.
Flora talked with Otis about the recent development. He sounded worried about Sonny's injuries.
"I still can't wrap my head around this ability of theirs." He said. "And right when we need him." He sighed.
"We should have had more leaders to appoint in an emergency. We once had." Otis admitted. "But Sonny never liked that we tracked people from birth without their consent. He put a stop to it." Flora paled.
"We shouldn't place the burden of future leadership on children." She said, "Or anyone that doesn't want to be a leader. People should decide their lives. We shouldn't decide FOR them." Otis agreed.
"Sonny made the choice for himself, eventually, and he became one of the best leaders we ever had." He said. Flora nodded.
"We just have to place trust in people to think for themselves."
In the war room, everyone was accounted for. Sonny quickly gave them an update on the situation and orders. Soon, only Duke Maddox was on the call.
"I sent my people to assist you, as soon as we learned where you had gone off to. Has there been any contact with them at all?" He asked. Sonny sighed deeply before he replied.
"They're gone, I'm sorry. We should bring someone here to recover their remains. Meanwhile, I can report that the mission here has been accomplished successfully, anything Bleylock left behind is now useless" He said. Duke Maddox sighed deeply.
"At least they won't have died in vain." He said. "I should have known."
"Abraxians are master manipulators. I didn't know about it, either." Sonny said. Duke Maddox nodded.
"I will send a team to recover their bodies." He said. They chatted a little more, before Corso signaled they were ready to leave. Sonny ended the connection and packed away the gear.
"Ready to leave?" Corso asked. Sonny nodded, but as he got up, he stopped, and looked around. Corso remained silent. Kuun joined them. He nodded to Corso.
"Sonny, we need to tell you something."Corso said in a soft voice.
"I've been here before." Kuun managed. Corso patted his shoulder. "This cave connects to the cities…" He started, but was interrupted when Sonny raised his hand. Kuun could see a storm of emotions in the other man's eyes.
"Come on, I'll show you where it happened." He said. The three men slowly walked to the spot where Kuun last saw Helena alive. Sonny kneeled down. Corso could see Sonny's hand touch the stone where Helena's head must have rested as she gave their son his first and last meal. No matter how happy Sonny was with him and Callie, the ghosts of the past would also follow him. There was guilt, for having caused the glaciation, and there was a deep deep love. Sonny kept kneeling for several minutes, before signaling it was time to go. Corso placed an arm around him.
"I'll protect him like I'll protect you and everyone in our family." He whispered.
Solaris and her team of Paladins helped The Abraxians complete their mission, and the invaders were now out of commission on both Stellar Unix and Abraxor. Bertrand prepared to assist on Obscuratis, while Solaris and the paladins would head to Hectonia.
Since Hectonia was on the other side of the galaxy from Stellar Unix, it meant Solaris had to be away from her husband and children for a long while.
She was checking up on coordinates when she received a call from Hawk, giving them the Intel they needed..
"Pass it on to the rest. This might just turn the tide."
It was time for Sonny's team to bring Cobra to Genesis. Corso wished he'd stay away, but Sonny was stubborn as always. He just kept a close eye on the shadow inside the bubble.
He helped Sonny do the last preparation work, before they headed to the cargo hold. D'Jok stood next to Micro Ice and Kuun, his face stern.
Kuun would return to Genesis, and would work with the Chissian military until Corso returned from the Sanctuary.
D'Jok wanted to fight, as did Micro Ice, but Sonny told them no. He had another plan.
Corso was tense as Sonny approached the tank to talk to Cobra. The two of them managed to make a salve to cover his wound.
Cobra hissed inside his bubble as he looked at the Pirates leader and Guardian. Sonny's hands were glowing with his Flux, and Corso's too. Cobra had to laugh.
"So, I'm finally face to face with the Zealion Guardian. Even easier than last time." He said. Sonny remained calm.
"It won't be easy. The Zaelion Galaxy is unified and we will throw you all out. That said, I have a proposal." Sonny said. Cobra's eyes narrowed.
"Big words from a human. The Warlord won't agree to it, whatever it is." Cobra hissed. "It will fail." He snarled.
"I think I've heard enough." Sonny replied, turning around and leaving. He would head back to Genesis.
They watched the ship take off, before Sonny smiled.
"I want to conduct one final test, to clear you of any attachment to the Warlord" He said to Corso and reached for the belt of his uniform. Corso saw him take out a small vial.
"Your cybernetics may explain why a full takeover was impossible. Let's test something." Sonny said, pulling up Corso's sleeve and applying some of the liquid on his arm. Nothing happened
"Why would that hurt an Andro Zygnan?" Corso asked. "It's just water." Sonny smiled.
"Correct. It's pure water from the ice mines. Purity is like poison to them. This is probably why they were surprised I wanted to settle this with an honest sports match." He looked at D'Jok and Micro Ice. "You two better start training for the match of a lifetime."
Sonny will go for a peaceful resolution, true to his nature.
It will most definitely be a very special finale to this story.
A finale that might sound unusual, but it actually historically fits.
Much thanks to Paranoidgirl for her beta-ing and advice to make the story better.
Just three more chapters now, and the story is done.
Happy reading!