Corso had returned, along with Bennett and Artie, and reported to Sonny about their meeting with Duke Maddox. Sonny was still not well enough to be out of bed, so all the meetings took place in Callies bedroom. Callie, being the host of the pirates for the time being, and a mandated reporter, to report the truthful events of what had happened all those years ago, was also participating in the meeting. Corso handed Sonny the document the Duke had signed, for him to read through.

Sonny seemed to pay particular attention to the details of the wording of the document,making sure there was no hidden traps or wording that would make him and his men struggle any more than they already did. Corso, with his new bounty and wanted poster circulating,had taken a considerable risk on Sonnys behest, by seeing the Duke, and secure this document. Corso had sat down on the chair next to Sonny, awaiting Sonnys next move.

Sonny nodded as he finished reading, and then, he put the document away.

"Good work, with this agreement signed, we at least have some leverage against them, should they choose to break it. I dont think they will though. Callie and I will work together to get the whole story documented, as that is the best way to go about this. That said, we now have to take a look at the other players in this mess. So far, we got three that seem a bit anxious with this. Two of them are on the board of directors. That means they are well aware of the past and the issues. How deeply they are involved, remains to be seen. But Maddox will have to put this agreement he has with us on the table before the board of directors at some point. Some of Bleylocks accomplices, or his supporters, are bound to get nervous over this. So, we are going to be a fly on the wall, to get a look at their reactions, once that is done, we will know whom to investigate further. Some of them may be directly involved, and they clearly want me out of the way. That brings in candidate number 3 to be investigated." Sonny said.

Corso looked at him.

"And would you mind telling us, whom is the third person you plan to get a better look at? Should I be worried, as it sounds like this is someone I might know?" he asked.

Sonny nodded.

"Yes Corso, that would be your doctor friend. We know he injected me with some kind of substance while I was captive, a substance that was removed surgically, having changed form, looking like metal shavings. That in itself would not make any sense, so clearly, the process of whatever he was planning to do, was interrupted too soon for it to take full effect. The problem is solved for now, but it has left me a bit curious as to what he tried to achieve with that move.I got a few ideas, but I do want to know more about his work for Technoid. Your knowledge of him, from the past, will also come in handy. I am not planning to let this man sneak into hiding. If he is trying to find a way to put a tracker on us, wich would not be unlike Technoid, we will have counter measures ready for that" Sonny said,a bit fierce. It made him gasp for breath for a second, having overestimated his bodys capacity to handle angry emotions. Corso was quickly at his side, rubbing his back a bit, to calm him. Corsos gentle stroking on his back helped.

Sonny gave him a grateful look as he managed to calm himself enough to breathe calmly again. This doctor was a threat, not just to him, but to the galaxy at large. Sonny was absolutely certain he had seen him, and it felt as if it was somehow in relation to Bleylock. And he was going to get to the bottom of it.

As the room emptied, Corso remained.

"Sonny, can I speak with you, about what I know of this mans work?I got some concerns about this, since we took those shavings out of your chest. They are trying to put a tracker on you for a reason. They never did that before. And this man is dangerous, I saw some of my closest friends die Sonny, from various forms of poisoning. None of them were sick before they had their implants. I cant prove it, but I got this feeling he was involved in their deaths. And if he continues this kind of work with Technoid.."

Corso let the words hang in the air, letting Sonny draw his own conclusions.

Sonny nodded.

"I get where you are going with this Corso, and I agree. There is a chance he continued this when he joined Technoid. To find out, I need you to tell me everything you know about him, and his ways" Sonny explained calmly.

Corso could only nodd,but in a split second, his inner fears shone through. Corso quickly hid it, but too late. Sonny knew him better than anyone else, and he had clearly caught him. Sonny looked at him with a sad smile. To speak about this would be hard on Corso,so, he had to calm him a bit before they got into it.

"Corso, Come here buddy" he said, beckoning to the bedside.

Corso knew what was coming, even before he sat down. He knew Sonnys behaviour pattern by heart. As he sat down, he felt Sonnys strong arms pull him into an embrace, and he hid his face to Sonnys chest. Any threat, big or small, posed towards Sonny, was almost more than he could handle, and with the recent capture, seeing Sonny fall to the ground with blood pouring from his chest, still haunted him. And with this doctor, if he was going after Sonny, Corso really feared what could happen to his best friend. Corso laid his own arms around Sonny, careful not to disturb the wound, and just held him close. Sonny knew Corso had a moment, and allowed for Corso to hold him this close for as long as he needed to. As he finally let go, after a long while, Sonny looked at him. Corso nodded as a sign he was ready. Sonny smiled

"Now, lets get deeper into this story Corso"

Hours later, Corso carefully tucked Sonny in. He felt drained himself after this talk. He had told Sonny everything. It was a gruelling story of pain,betrayal,of close comrades,and their fates. Sonny had listened attentively as always, but Corso could see, just trying to think of a plan to investigate matters further, was draining Sonnys energy faster than normal. He was still not healed enough to function as a leader. Finally, Sonny had fallen sound asleep after Corso had given him a massage to take the tension out of his neck, and Corso could focus on what needed be physically done about investigate his own past was not on top of his list of doctor had injected Sonny with something foreign to them, and it seemed to him, the doctor whom removed it, would confirm those suspicions. It would be part of the components for a nano technology based Tracker. And that was what made him curious. Technoid had never shown much interest in chasing Sonny down before, if they really wanted to, the pirates were not all that hard to find. If they tried to place a tracker on him, when they held him captive, that suggested that this had a higher purpose. And Corso was set on finding out why.

With Sonny sound asleep, Corso started to dig deeper into Technoids past. He knew from Sonny, that he had been a participant in a program for gifted youngsters,the promising rising stars on the Technoid sky. But from what anyone could see, either all these talents had fled Technoid, as there was no one working there now that seemed to have above average talent. Sonny had been one of the few, and they knew his story. Corso found it peculiar that not one of the other talents, such as Sonny, had stayed. That would have benefited Technoid. But it seemed, somehow, that the talents were drained from the company, to go off into a future unknown. Corso started to get a suspicion that only grew deeper as he read on. The truly talented ones had mysteriously left the company. And it did not seem like it was willingly. This whole thing had a feeling of human trafficking to it. Was Technoid secretly dealing in selling off scientists with talent, to other companies or even planets? It sounded far fetched, but by now, he knew how Technoid operated. And since they tried to put a tracker on Sonny, there had to be a deeper reason why they were coming after him again. It was true, if not for the injury, Sonny would not even have been caught, but to chalk it all up to them trying to keep an eye on him, it just seemed too easy.

There was a deeper motivation here. As Corso knew Sonny would be sleeping for hours now, regaining some strength, he was going to look further into things. Corso started making preparations to make an unexpected house call to Technoids office building and his old nightmare, Doctor Crawen.

To get in was childsplay. Corso had all the maps of the building in his hand held projector, it was hardly the first time he had been in here. The pirates entered Technoids buildings in hiding, fairly regularly. They placed various softwares in their computersystems, to keep an eye on them. Now, Sonny wanted eyes on the board room, before their next meeting. Corso could imagine why. Callie, whom was a friend of theirs, was on their radar, and Sonny wanted to know whom in the board had started getting nervous about the job she had done for them. Someone did not like the truth to be told, and since Sonny tried to protect Callie in all this,he was in need for more information as to whom he needed to look for. It was possible that Sonny had his own suspicions as to why the talented scientists disappeared and why those that knew of the operation, was dealt with accordingly. But suspicions had to be investigated, and that was what he was about to do. It felt a bit strange doing this without Sonny by his side, but for now, Sonny absolutely had to stay hidden, and focus on his own health and recovery. All the rest, Corso and the pirates would handle for now. Corso had immideately set course for the board room. To install the program to all computers in there was easy. Now they were sure to get a handle on things. Then, Corso looked at his projector. He sought Doctor Crawens office. It wasnt easy to find, but finally, after a few missed searches, he succeeded. Corso looked for the best way to get there. As soon as he found it, Corsos face became a mask, devoid of any and all emotion. He needed to get there, and confront this madman. If he was a threat to Sonnys safety, Corso was going to make sure that threat was eliminated.

Doctor Nicholas Crawen, a middle aged man with white hair and cola bottom glasses, decided to call it a day. Since Blackbones was freed by his men, he had checked to see if the components he had injected him with, had materialized into what they were programmed to become, a tracker. Either the process took time because the pirates had figured him out and fought this, or the process was incomplete because it was interrupted. The only thing they could be sure of, was that Blackbones was still alive, if not, his men would have come for them by now. He knew of the pirates visit to Maddox. And he knew of the agreement that had been made. That would help for nothing, as Maddox had no idea what kind of agreements others had made for Blackbones. Frankly, it was surprising he had not looked into the loss of the best scientists in the past, if he had, he would have found things he didnt like. Things that ridding the company of those that knew of it, had been part of the process. And even here, Blackbones was part of the problem, not the solution. They should have moved on dealing with him first, not let Bleylock keep him as his pet. Or rather, toy. They all knew of Bleylocks habits, Blackbones was sure to have had a rough time with him. And Blackbones was still needed. Their contract in regards to him was still not fulfilled. And the contractors started to get impatient. They had to locate him somehow, before the trial, and get him ready for delivery. They needed to find him while he was still in a weakened state, and take things from there.

He decided to search the system again, there was no way his inventions could have failed like that.

Corso had to really hold himself back from letting out a snarl when he saw his old enemy. This man was responsible for many deaths, and horror, and now, it seemed he had his eyes set on Sonny too. That was not going to last if he had his say in the matter.

Corso silently, in hiding of his cloaking device, managed to place several different hologram projectors around the room. That would allow for him to safely interact with this creep, find out what his deal was. As soon as it was all set, Corso activated the first projector.

"Long time, no see Doc, as if any time would be long enough" he managed.

The doctor looked up from what he was working on, startled to find someone in the room with him. A ghost from the past no less. Corso looked mockingly at him.

"You look surprised. Maybe you thought you eliminated all of us?Too bad for you, I survived. And I plan to make sure that what you did to my fellow comrades, and to technoid employees no doubt, and to captured pirates, is going to stop right now" Corso said.

Doctor Crawen had grabbed his vapour laser, and fired at Corso. The shot went straight through him. The Doctor ground his teeth. A hologram. What else to expect from a pirate?

"You got a lot of nerve, coming into my laboratory like that. I can guess as to your reason for being here. Your leader, Sonny Blackbones,took a turn for the worse, and you came to see if you could find something to help him?" he asked, trying to make out where the real Corso was hiding.

The hologram he had seen, disappeared.

"Nicely guessed, but not the truth. Sonny is doing just fine. We got our own trusted doctors to help us. Sonny has already received medical treatment. I am here to ask you what the nano technology infused metal we plucked from his chest was meant for. And since we got an agreement with Maddox, we know you are operating on your own. So how about you telling me what you want from Sonny" Corso said, as he turned on Hologram number two.

Doctor Crawen laughed, since when had his laugh ever sounded so..evil?

"Maddox is a fool, he has no idea what kind of operations is really going on within Technoid. Its been a long time since he ever cared to investigate either. Bleylock and Harris did a great job at keeping him running in circles. The only reason he is suspicious now, is that your friend Blackbones sent you with a little message to him. He has been very interesting in backlogged data from back in the day since your visit. And that is surely why he gave Blackbones the deal not to serve time. But no matter, we will find him, and you, and then, we can progress with the project before he is delivered to the contractors that paid for his training" Doctor Crawen said.

Corso laughed.

"We will see about that. We found the thing you tried to create, and removed it. Sonny will be fine, and you wont find him unless he himself wants to be found. Thats how this works. And Sonny has no plans to be found until he has recovered properly, and most likely, not even then. But since you brought it up, Whom are these contractors that paid for his training as you put it, and what do they want with him. Dont bother to try to sound the alarm Doctor, I made sure to disable it. Its only you and me here. And you are going to tell me all you know about any contracts on Sonny, and what risks are involved. Then, I might go easy on you, if not, you know how we chissians deal with the likes of you".

Hours had passed, before Corso finally made it back to Callies home. Sonny had gone worried for him too. Corso had not mentioned anything about paying a visit tonight, and Sonny hoped he had not gotten himself caught. Bennett had been tasked with tracking Corso, when worry started to affect Sonny badly enough to make his heart monitor go off. Despite all being fine, they had continued using the heart monitor, as a safety measure while Sonny grew stronger.

"He is back" Bennett reported as he turned his computer and showed the red dot that was Corso in the house.

Corso entered the room as if nothing had happened. Sonny sent him a cross look, and Artie and Bennett knew when to leave the room along with Callie. It seemed Corso had acted on his own, and now he had to explain himself to Sonny.

Corso sat down, next to the bed, defiant to his best friends crossed look. He saw no reason for Sonny to be angry at him. What he did, he did to protect him, and his fellow pirates.

"Dont you get started on me Sonny. You now have access to see everything that goes on in the board room of Technoid. Dont thank me, it needed be done. If You want to thank me for something, you will want to thank me for this" Corso said and placed a folder on his bed. Sonny looked at him.

"I didnt tell you to go in without back up Corso. You are the acting leader in my absence. Bennett is not ready to take over if something was to happen to you. And at the moment, I am still not ready to get back in. I am mad at you, for disregarding your personal safety, but I see you brought something of importance, so I am going to let this slide..this time. Just mind this conversation next time you decide to do something simmilar and happen to act as leader, because next time,I wont go this easy on you" Sonny said, milder than he had planned.

Corso nodded. He still held his arms crossed, but when Sonny took a closer look at him, he noticed tiny drops of sweat on Corsos forehead. Corso also seemed to compose himself hard, too hard as Sonny found it. And it looked like he tried to suppress a shaking.

"Corso, are you ok?" Sonny asked.

Corso tried to shrug it off as if it was nothing, but Sonny was having none of that. He placed his hand on Corsos forehead. No wonder he was sweating. He was way too hot to the touch.

"Corso, you are burning up. What in the galaxy happened to you?" Sonny demanded to know, removing his hand with a concerned look on his face.

Corso shook him off.

"Got into a fight with Doctor Crawen. He got to me, said there is someone else than Technoid with a contract on you, a long standing thing, and they are better than Technoid. They will come for you. He..had a knife. Found the real me..not my hologram projectors, grazed me at the abdomen...may have been poisoned..." Corso managed, before he got up,and staggered away from the bed.

Sonny was about to push himself up off the bed, when he saw Corso stumbled and fell unconscious to the floor. That made Sonny react. Despite his own weakness, he got up and hurried over to him, with the heart rate monitor beeping.

"Corso! Are you ok? Answer me!" he demanded.

Sonnys pulse was racing at what he saw. The heart monitor went off too as he got up, but he didnt much care for himself.

As he crouched down beside the unconscious body of Corso, Bennett and Artie stormed in followed by Callie. Bennett didnt hesitate.

"Artie, Help Sonny back to bed, he should not stress too much yet, I will tend to Corso" he said as he started pulling Corsos coat off him. He could see the red stain on his tank top, indicating Corso was bleeding. Sonny let Artie support him and gave an order to treat Corso right this instant.

"Do a toxscreen too Bennett, right away. Corso said he had been cut by a knife, one that possibly was poisoned. He made it back here, but now, he needs help" Sonny said as Artie helped him lay down again.

Sonny could only watch as Bennett lifted Corso and placed him next to him on the bed. Artie was already contacting the doctor.

Bennett pulled out a device that measured Corsos body temperature. As it signalled ready, he looked worried.

"He has a fever Sonny, and its high. I will need to intubate him to try to bring it down. If this is poisoning, I hope Corso is strong enough to pull through" he said.

Sonny could only nodd, as he took a wash cloth and started to place cold cloths onto Corsos body to cool him down.

The doctor had arrived as fast as he could safely do so. Now, he concluded his examination of Corso.

"Well doc, how bad is it?" Sonny asked.

The doctor let out a sigh as he packed away his gear.

"I am not going to lie gentlemen. Your friends state is serious. Normally, I would have preferred to have him in an intensive care unit in the hospital, but with his wanted status, I know this is an option that you cant make use of. I have given him something that I hope will neutralize the effect of the poison until he can get an antidote" he explained.

Sonny looked at his friend, laying next to him, still sweating.

"You are withholding something Doctor. Could this poison kill him?" Sonny asked.

The doctor nodded.

"Unfortunately so. It is already in a rapid stage of advance. Far beyond anything I have ever seen. I fear, if he doesnt get an antidote soon, your friend will slip into a coma, and die".