Duke Maddox had honoured his agreement with the pirates. As soon as he looked into the bank accounts of board members, with ties to Bleylock or the doctor, an eerie pattern started to emerge.
This was no small scale operation. Most of the money transfers were anonymous names, possibly even aliases. Bleylock had made sure to protect his customers well. There was no way he could see a direct link to a particular rival company or anything. But the amount of money poured into Bleylocks aaccount suggested a high price paid. The merchandise was also not listed. Maybe Sonny had an idea of what the goods he sold could be?
Sonny...Duke Maddox sighed. He had studied the video of him confronting the doctor. Sonny was giving clear hints that he knew something, and giving the doctor a chance to explain himself. And the doctor seemed nervous. He had sprung several traps, and all they did was expose Sonny using holograms to evade him, till they reached Bleylocks office. Sonny had kept his distance even then, clearly protected by his men. He knew that the files Sonny had copied from Bleylock also played into their investigation. He really hated having to put Sonny before a court and convict him of these petty thefts, but his board gave him no choice. He started to get the feeling, there were members of his board that actually stood to benefit from Sonny being imprisoned or other ways controlled. He studied Sonnys movements. He moved carefully, and it seemed Corso was closer than normal. His former employee was safe with his new family, the pirates. As soon as he had all the lists he could compile ready, he attached them to an email, the one on the card Corso gave him. He was about to press send, when he decided to show he also had a compassionate side to him. Duke Maddox included a personal get well soon message for Sonny, then, without overthinking, pressed send.
At Callies house, Corso had returned from his errands, and decided to have a shower. When he finished, he went to Callies bedroom, to find Sonny had taken his advice and Callie was massaging his back with firm motions. Corso smiled when he saw that.
"Did he ask you, or did you offer him some loving care?" Corso asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed.
Sonny turned his head ever so slightly.
"She offered Corso, she claims to be weak for pirates in need" he jokingly said.
Corso chuckled.
"Or another victim to the infamous Blackbones charm. Here I was, thinking she could resist more than the girls in Shiloh" he laughed.
Sonny chuckled.
"I cant help it, it just who I am" he said.
Callie smiled as she ended the massage. Sonny closed his eyes as he sat up and rolled his shoulder some.
"Thanks Callie, that did wonders. It feels like muscles again, not pebbles" he said.
Callie smiled.
"Anything to help out you handsome gents. I am curious as to whats on todays agenda" she said.
Sonny smiled.
"Lots of reading. Mostly boring pirate stuff" he said.
Callie sent him a look that made it clear she could not imagine Pirates matters being boring.
Corso nodded.
"I took the liberty to check the communication email you set up for Maddox. For once, he gave a swift response. We got the list of names, and the bank accounts that their pay checks goes out to. Its going to be long hours, sifting through it all" Corso said.
Sonny nodded.
"Only way to expose the rats connected to this operation and Bleylock, is the money trail. After that, the hard work begins, following each trail, tosee if they are alive, or find out where they ended" he said.
Callie was thoughtful as she heard this. Techoid was her networks main sponsor, and as grand and amazing as this story could turn out, she was far from sure she could share it.
"Would it help to put this story on the news, you know, another mandated story, to try to bait the big fish?" she asked.
Sonny seemed to think it over.
"For now,I think we need to wait, until the pirates have more to go on. To take this on is a David versus Goliat scenario. Technoid has far reaching hands, and resources, that is not the case with the pirates, at least not to that magnitude. We go after them with this, it can turn dangerous, not just for us, but for you as well. As the chief of the pirates, it is my job to protect my men, and any allied associates we have, that includes you. I just cant ask you to put your reputation and good name on the line like that" Sonny explained.
Corso nodded agreeingly.
"Sonnys right Callie. A pirates life is not a life for you. Its a hard life, a life on the run, you never stay long enough anywhere to put down roots, and if we use Sonnys case as an example. You never know whom to trust. He has been faced with bounty hunters before, even among our own. Having a price on his head is enough to attract less than trustworthy people to our organization. Before he became our leader, his predecessor saw the same worries. Sonny, being who he is, and coming from Technoid before he joined us, catches that price because they want him back. At least, thats what Maddox wants, I heard him say it. But,we also know, there are others within Technoid,people we dont know the identity of yet, working in a network that is connected to mysterious disappearances over the years. To them, Sonnys a threat, simply because he knows too much. After I questioned the doctor, I learned more about Sonnys case. I need to dig deeper to find the evidence of it, but Sonnys name will be on that list. Not as Sonny Blackbones, but the identity he had before he took that name. The scary thing is, he is listed as a sold off item. That means that his buyers were in the process of getting ready to abduct him, when Sonny snubbed them with a top secret project and became a fugitive. He and his partner managed to prevent a galactik war from breaking out, but at a high price. If you want to know more about that, you need to speak to Sonny. This is his personal tragedy and story. I got my own, not the same,but it has simmilarities" Corso explained.
Callie looked at them.
"I have heard rumours about Technoid in the past, but even as an active reporter, no one would ever come forth and confirm it. Do I understand this right Sonny, that if you talk about all this, you can prove the rumours to be true, and actually sweep the legs under Technoid?" she wondered.
Sonny nodded.
"I would like to try to avoid Duke Maddox getting dragged down with it though. He may be an old grouch, and he barks like a mad dog, but he is not the villain here. His crime is being too trusting. Bleylock, and the likes of his, has had him fooled for years. Id be surprised if Duke Maddox knows just how many has conspired behind his back, making his company anything but reputable. He may have his suspicions, like he did with Bleylock, but he has no hard evidence..at least not yet" Sonny said, creasing his brows in deep thought.
Corso agreed.
"I did suggest he follow the money trail, and have someone explain the nano technology and its workings to him. Hopefully, that will serve as a wake up call" Corso said.
Sonny seemed to be thinking.
"The backside of that is, if the doctor places it in the computersystems, he can hack Technoids network, and take control. For now, the doctor is not the biggest problem. But if any of the others has access to it, they may try to remove evidence, by way of defragmentation. Corso, have Artie and Bennett assemble a team to counter any such measures. The two of us are going to go after Bleylocks financial enablers" Sonny said.
Corso nodded.
"You got a plan ready it sounds. Want to tell me names or cause that we are chasing down?" he asked.
Sonny nodded, his hazels looked deadly serious as he looked at him.
"Bring your fishing tools Corso. We are going for a big catch this time, the hidden money people within the very core of Technoid".
Callie tried to understand the case better. So Sonny had decided to provide her with material, relevant to the mandate and story she was working on for him. Callies desk was filled up with files, and many of them carried small stickers with Sonnys notes, questions and his own conclusions. Callie kept being amazed at the attention to details that he showed. She had, in truth, suspected Duke Maddox of not really being mad at Sonny at all. What she suspected, was an old, worn out man, knowing that things had happened behind his back, had come of the price of loosing his best scientist. When she looked at the list of scientists employed by Technoid back then, she came across a young man, with facial features that was still recognizable today. It seemed Sonny had really not done too much to hide after he fled them. He was mentioned several times under his old name. She learned Sonny was skilled in his field, even as a junior professor, the older professors would sit down with him and pick his brain about complicated math and science. Callie was facinated. And learning about whom the most wanted man in the galaxy had once been, kept her reading for hours.
Corso and Sonny had worked on the money trail, linking the names and bank accounts. It started to dawn on both of them, Bleylock was just the most prominent figure, he was far from the only one that profited of the questionable sales.
Corso noticed how Sonnys fists had clenched as he read up on things. He got it. Many of the names on the list of the missing, were personal friends of his, and Sonny had stated, their mysterious way of leaving was unlike them. They were the people that would have notified their loved ones of such a happening.
The money talked, and it seemed, different directors were in contact with different kind of buyers. Sonny recalled all these scientists had specialiced in fields that would suit the need of the buyers. Perhaps some kind of mind control had been used?
Corso lifted up a new file and began to read, when he put it down. Sonny looked up, noticing Corso was pale.
"Are you ok Corso? You look like you just saw a ghost" Sonny said, putting down the computer he was working on.
Corso nodded, his hands visibly shaking.
"I was just caught of guard Sonny. I wasnt prepared for this to be among them. Not prepared to see this at all" he wispered.
Sonny looked at him.
"Please explain Corso" he asked.
Corso had to close his natural eye for a moment, trying to center himself again. Sonny came to notice the file under Corsos hand. He nodded, not surprised at all why that file had shook Corso.
"You found Bleylock and Doctor Crawens file on me, didnt you?" he asked carefully.
Corso swallowed.
"If I had known this sooner, Id make sure you never leave the ship alone ever again. You must really have lady luck on your side. If you just had waited a day longer, you would have been the next kidnap victim" he managed.
Sonny pulled him into an embrace.
"Corso, that is not how the story went. Im here, with you, the pirates, safe and sound. These are ghosts of a past that is long since gone" he tried.
Corso laid his hands on his shoulders.
"Sonny, Bleylock had already made the sale on you. He had put a note in there, on how to subdue you, to have you packed and ready for delivery. It scares me to think how easy it would have been for him to do that" Corso admitted.
Sonny looked at him.
"You got a name for the buyer too?" he asked.
Corso nodded.
"He sold you for a staggering 25 million standard units Sonny. Seems your buyer wanted to handle the last part of your training himself" Corso said.
Sonny decided to push ever so slightly.
"Who did he sell me to Corso?" Sonny asked silently.
Corso swallowed.
"One of the most cold hearted buyers he could find. I know your past with him Sonny, thats why I suspect he had an underlying motive for the sale. This way, you never would have escaped his grasp. He sold you to the Abraxian Military Sonny, and you were to be trained as his fathers personal flux specialist".
Anyone surprised at this. Not me either. I hope people have view points on the story to share. I try to use ideas from other cartoon shows I have watched. The nano technology was originally an idea I picked up from X men, but in an advanced civilisation like the Zaelion Galaxy, an enhanced version of it would be quite a common thing. As for the story behind Technoid, it has already been dropped several hints about that in season one in the show. Artie was a bit careful in his description, making me think he is not the one that knows the most, or maybe he didnt feel like telling Micro Ice everything. It is actually that conversation between Micro Ice and Artie that has created the backdrop for the issue this story aims to explain. As for Sonnys role, it is kind of obvious that he knows a lot more about Technoids inner workings back then,and now than he is telling. He did keep his project with the metaflux a secret from his own men too, it didnt seem Corso and Bennett, or even Artie realised just how serious it all was until Clamp told them, after Sonny had traded himself in for DJoks safety and was held imprisoned by Bleylock. And Duke Maddox may not have said the words like that, but its clear to me, if he had his way when the pirates were immune, he would have hired Sonny again,and from the sound of it, had Sonny trained to take Bleylocks place. For a lot of people to live in misery or outright die at Technoids hand, it opened up some doors to play with. None of the scientists that Technoid has seems to be up to Sonnys level, and I thought, surely, Sonny wasnt the only genius around, there had to be others, besides Clamp. So where did they go. And Bleylock is the perfect culprit for a grand scheme, along with some of the members of Technoids board. And with a Doctor that uses nano technology in an advanced stage to try to manipulate things to his benefit, you got the perfect setting for this story. Also, the teqnique I described Corso using to have Sonnys heart start beating again, is something i have seen in a movie. I cant say for sure if it works in reality, but in this story it does. Hope the story is giving you fun while reading, as I am very happy with this one, one of my better ones. Not sure how long it will be. But still more chapters to come. Happy reading.