Chapter 24: New beginnings
Duke Maddox was wandering around the area he was allowed to move freely within in his house. Sonny had seen to it that he had a fair extent of freedom, something the duke had given to him at a time Sonny had been seriouly injured. The pirates had been faced with only one option, surrender Sonny to Technoid, so he could get medical attention, or watch him die. It had been a hard decission, but they had surrendered him. The pirates had brought the unconcious Sonny to Duke Maddox office, pleading for him to save him. Duke Maddox had only cast one look at the pirate chief, to understand how serious it was. He had agreed to help Sonny, and accepted the surrender of the pirate chief in his care. Then, he had seen to it that Sonny was brought to his home, as his guest, and taken care of there. Duke Maddox rembered how the pirate chief had soared between life and death for weeks, the worst part had been seeing the pain he was in. The duke's personal physician had treated the pirate chief. Even he had been worried.
«I don't know what caused him to fall ill like this Your Excellency, but if he worsens, there is nothing we can do. Then, we will loose him for sure».
Duke Maddox had worried about that happening. As the weeks passed, Sonny wasn't turnng worse, nor better. He remained unconcious. There had been no need for restraints.
One of Technoid's young scientists took an interrest in his case, and came up with a medication. Duke Maddox had, after testings and advice from both Dame Simbai and The flux society, agreed to give Sonny the medication.
It had worked.
Within days, Sonny was awake, but very weak. He remained Duke Maddox «guest» for weeks, as he slowly rebuilt his strenght. In between, there had been time for Duke Maddox to talk with the pirate chief. Once, they had been on the same side, in the same company. Sonny as an employee, and Duke Maddox as his boss. Then, something happened, that made Sonny have a change of heart. Duke Maddox tried to talk to Sonny, but in vain. That part of his life, the pirate chief was reluctant at best, to talk about. Duke Maddox could see suspicion and mistrust in his hazel eyes.
«Your Excellency?» the pirate named Artie, one of Sonny's most trusted men, called out to him.
«Yes? What do you want?» the duke wanted to know.
«I came to tell you that Sonny's here to see you, I've been told to bring you to a room where you can talk openly, and under four eyes».
«Ok, lead the way!» The old man followed the young pirate.
He was walked to a room wich held a big window, clearly, Sonny still didn't feel relaxed in an other enviroment than the one he lived in.
Duke Maddox remembered how Sonny had escaped him after he agreed to nurse him back to health.
Sonny had acting like he accepted his imprisonment. But like always, The pirates were great actors, if they didn't want you to know what they planned, you had to know them real well to see what they plotted.
Sonny had finished up on old Technoid projects while he was Duke Maddox guest. The pirate chief hated sitting around doing nothing, so Duke Maddox made sure he had access to a lab. Sonny made himself useful, by doing the tests and finishing somekind of metalshampoo for the droids, a harmless project, nothing like Metaflux. Even Technoid's Nickelchrome had grown outdated, and what Sonny came up with, would make the droids shine more intensely. Sonny decided not to make any mention of the little security feature he had added to the mix, no point in letting the Duke know that the product would benefit the pirates as well.
But, in addittion to that, Sonny also created a serum, that would aid him in his escape to be made. As soon as Sonny felt strong enough, he put his plan into motion. He didn't plan to stick around for Duke Maddox next step in the plan to defeat the pirates.
As soon as the duke had fallen asleep, Sonny sprung into action, a tiny syringe was all it took to gain the upper hand. Duke maddox woke, only to see the pirate chief make ready to leave. He tried to sound the alarm, but found himself paralyzed. He couldn't move his arms or legs, nor scream for help.
As Sonny secured the rope, he looked at the Duke.
«Thank you for your help Duke, but now, it's time for me to join my men again. The effect of the syringe will wear off shortly, you might feel dizzy for a little while, otherwise, the substance is harmless».
With those words, the pirate chief swung himself off the balcony and down on the ground, before long, he was swallowed by the darkness.
Sonny stood, back facing him, looking out the window.
Artie looked at Sonny.
«That will be all Artie, go back to your duties!»
Sonny's tone of voice was clearly an order.
Artie left the room.
Then, Sonny turned around to face Duke Maddox.
It was clear the pirate chief had not slept, the dark rings under his eyes were more than usually clear.
«You wanted to see me Blackbones?»
Sonny nodded.
«I need you to tell me all you know about Jake D'Arish, my uncle».
Duke maddox nodded.
«This will take a while Sonny..».
Sonny pulled out a chair, and sat down.
«I'm listening»...
D'Jok could not believe he had agreed to this interwiew. What was it with Calleigh Mystic that made a man completely unable to say no to her? For months, even weeks, she had backed off his case, was it possible that the pirates, meaning his father, had told her to? D'Jok had no idea what she wanted to talk to him about. If it was about the baby, it was okay to do a
quick talk, but if she wanted to talk about Sonny..
D'Jok knew better than to get into that. His father was very private about his personal life. D'Jok knew he shared living quaters with Corso, but that was about it. Sonny was not the one that spoke alot about his past, or present.
Saying anything, without Sonny knowing, would be unwise.
D'Jok could see Calleigh from a long distance. She waved at him.
As he reached the bar, he grabbed a hot cup of coffe, to get warm, Akillian with it's cold, was an inhospitable place to live.
D'Jok still couldn't understand why the pirates had chosen to set up their HQ here rather than Shiloh, but from one point of wiew, he did.
Sonny had started rebuilding his life, something that had been far more than he could ever have hoped for. Akillian was the place where he was robbed of his identity, and forced to make a new one, with the pirates. D'Jok knew Sonny would have prefeered to hang on to his old name, but circumstances had prevented that. Now that he had the chance to turn things around, it was still difficult to do, because Sonny knew he had changed conciderably from the man he used to be. Perhaps not as far as image went, but his values, and the way he saw things. D' Jok had seen the struggles, he wished there was something he could do, but he knew there was not. This battle was one Sonny had to do all alone.
As he sat down, he smiled at Calleigh.
«Thank you for meeting me, D'Jok» she smiled.
«Anytime Calleigh, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?» D'Jok asked with a smile.
Calleigh looked away. D'Jok was shocked. Was his eyes deciving him? Was Calleigh Mystic actually blushing?
«It's kind of difficult to ask this D'Jok, but...»
D'Jok had to smile. This was indeed unusual, especially for Calleigh.
«Ask me what Calleigh?» he smiled.
The reply made him burn his touge on the hot coffe.
«I'd like to ask you for help to set up a date with your charming father».
D'Jok was lost for words. He could imagine his fathers reaction to this request.
«You know, Dad's a busy man, I'm not sure he has time for things like this».
Calleigh looked lost.
«I've only spoken with him once D'Jok, and I felt like we got off on the wrong foot. I would like to correct that impression by asking him out on a dinner and movie date».
D'Jok nodded.
«I'll see what I can do, but no promises».
Calleigh nodded.
Then, they changed subjects over on Mei and the expectant child...
Sonny was in deep thoughts as Duke Maddox told him of his uncle. The more he learned, the more he realised just how Duke Maddox had been decieved and played for a fool. He still thought he had some degree of control left in his company, Sonny realised more and more, this wasn't the case. Further more, his uncle's involvement in what had gone down with the metaflux explotion years earlier, made Sonny realise, even he had been dead wrong on who was to blame for his beloved wife's death. It wasn't Technoid, nor bleylock. It was his own uncle.
It hurt. Sonny now knew why Niobe had sometimes seemed hunted by her own ghosts. Why had she never told him? But, the answer was clear. She was protecting him, just like he had tried to protect her.
The world was truly an unfair place.
Duke Maddox had told him of his uncles desires towards young Niobe. How he had wanted to have her as his wife. And how furious he had gotten when she fell in love with him. There was no problem seeing why he had been selected for project Nemesis. His uncle had decided to eliminate him. And if not for the healing abillities they had found that the flux of the pirates, the seed of Shiloh, had, Project Nemesis could well have been Sonny's untimely death.
Now, it came down to limit the damages. Sonny saw a chance to make up for his mistake of dropping the sphere with the metaflux, years ago, causing Akillian to shift axsis, and have eternal winter.
The solution to the problem was quite simple, he just had to do a few calculations, to make sure it wouldn't cause a bigger mess, to correct it.
Now, his hazels, pierced the Duke.
«Your Excellency, do you realise just how bad things are looking for you?»
Duke Maddox looked down.
«Yes, the control I thought I had of Technoid, it's just an illusion, isn't it?»
«Mhm» Sonny nodded.
Duke Maddox sat down on a chair, heavily. He put his hands before his face.
«My lifeswork, my family heritage, all gone, in the hands of routhless villains, trying to destroy it».
Sonny felt sorry for his former enemy. No one should have to go though this much. It would give the old Duke no reason to fight to win his company back.
«Your Excellency, with all due respect. It may seem all is lost, but think of this as a second chance. Your boardmembers are locked up. The pirates are hunting down anyone associated with Technoid, for questioning. No doubt, there is a major court hearing because of this. What I suggest, is we put you back in charge of Technoid, but under SecTech surveilance for a prolonged time, just to make sure things run smoothly».
Duke Maddox looked at him.
«Why would you want to do that Sonny? Haven't Technoid caused you enough harm?»
Sonny smiled.
«Technoid is still just a name of a company, Your Excellency. A name couldn't hurt me or my men. It's the people behind the name that needs be neutralized».
«You don't think I'm the one responsible for all of this?»
«If you were, Your Excellency, you would have seen to it that I either had been captured and imprisoned years before, possibly even killed me. None of that ever happened, maybe I should ask you why?»
Duke maddox smiled a faint smile.
«I thought Corso would have told you what I said, after we rescure you from Bleylock's imprisonment in the Genesis reservoirs?»
Sonny smiled.
«Life without enemies isn't very exciting, huh?»
Duke Maddox smiled. He needed tell the pirate chief no more.
Sonny shivered as his thoughts were thrown back at those days. He had been trapped inside a bubble, under water, for days.
Bleylock had seen to it that he had air, and could breathe, he hadn't planned to kill him too soon. But the water surrounding the bubble, had been freezing cold. Sonny had realized that fighting to get out, was feutile. He was trapped untill help arrived. And at that time, he wasn't even sure if he would get help. It was never very wise to go against your second in command's advice either. He had done all of that, to save his son.
Now, he would go to even greather lenghts, to save his granddoughter.
A plan was starting to form in his head.
Then, a hard knock on the door.
Sonny looked up, it was Corso.
«Sonny, you're needed».
«Where?» the words sounded a bit harder than he had planned for.
«Mei, she is in the hospital, the baby is on the way!»
Sonny turned to Duke maddox.
«I'll be back, right now, I have to be somewhere else now».
«Go, Sonny, and I hope the best for your grandchild».
Then, Sonny and Corso sprinted off...
D'Jok was terrified. It was not helping that his mother in law was yelling his ears off. Mei was screaming in pain. To D'Jok, this was like being trapped in a hell he could not escape.
This wasn't at all what he had imagined.
He was nearly treading a hole in the floor, walking back and forth. He had no one to talk to about this. Never had D'Jok felt so alone.
Then, the doors was slammed open.
«Dad!» D'Jok ran over to hug his father.
Sonny returned the hug.
«Where is she?» he asked.
«In the ward, my mother in law threw me out».
«We're having none of that» said Sonny and grabbed his son by the arm, and made his way towards the ward.
«Sir, you can't go in there, it's family only» one of the staff tried to tell them.
But he picked the wrong day to stop Sonny Blackbones.
«I am family to the young lady inside, and this young man, who happens to be my son, is a father to be. I've been asked by the expectant mother, to be present at this childs birth, because, she trusts no one, but me, to help out, if there is complications».
«Mr. Blackbones, we have qualified doctors..»
«Wich know nothing about fluxpoisoning and the effects that could have on a baby» Sonny bit him off.
«Dad, fluxpoisoning?» D'Jok was scared.
Sonny looked at him.
«Yes son. The seed of Shiloh protected me from this, the breath of Akillian protects you. But an newborn, an infant, has virtually no protection at all»
D'Jok realised the seriousness.
They ran towards the ward.
When they got there, Sonny slammed the door open. Mei's mother, looked more than angry.
«Don't push her like that. The sweat makes her look like a mess».
«Mother, get out. I don't want you here».
«Well Mei. That husband of yours is not here, so you're stuck with me».
«You can take a break, Dad and I are here» said D'Jok, and ran over to Mei's side.
Mei's mother stared at Sonny, it was a glare meant to intimidate and make him back off. Sonny ignored her, gently, he sat down, next to Mei.
«I'm here Mei, we'll get you through this, I promise, all will be fine».
«Sonny, help me» Mei piped in pain.
Sonny nodded. He looked around.
«Someone, please remove her mother from the room, she is stressing her».
«This is outrageous Blackbones, I...» the doctors pushed her out of the room.
«Thank you Sir, she was driving us all mental in here».
Sonny nodded, with a grin.
«She's a bit of a mouthfull, I'll admit that. But harmless as a kitten».
The words had the desired effect. Mei laughed, wich made it easier for her, to go through the pains.
Even D'Jok was proving better at holding up than expected. For the next hours, they worked as a team.
Sonny had posted Corso to make sure the dragon wasn't going to try to come back in, and stress poor Mei even more.
Soon, with Mei still in pains from labour, Sonny could see the baby's head.
«Just a little more Mei, we're almost there» he said in an encouraging tone.
«How come you know how to do these things Dad?» D'Jok asked.
Sonny laughed, shaking his head.
«Your timing is the worst ever D'Jok. Focus on Mei, I'll tell you of this later, but stay focused on your job, that's an order!»
D'Jok was about to object, but the look in his fathers eyes told him not to push it.
Better safe than sorry, D'Jok thought, and encouraged Mei to keep pushing.
«She's coming Mei, one more push» Sonny encouraged.
With a roar, coming from an unknown place inside, Mei screamed, and pushed the baby into the world of the living.
Sonny quickly cut the umbillical cord, like Mei had asked him.
«Why isn't she crying?» D'Jok was panicing.
Sonny took the baby, a doctor handed him a tool to clean out the mouth.
Sonny quickly took care of things. She screamed. D'Jok pulled a reliefed breath along with Mei. But Sonny was still tense.
«Come on precious, I need to see your eyes» he begged.
Mei held D'Jok's hand. She could see Sonny pull a syringe from the inside of his pocket.
«What is that?» she demanded to know.
«The antidote» Sonny said.
«Antidote for what?»
«Fluxpoisoning».
«But Sonny, newborns don't have flux» Mei objected. She had read up on these types of things.
«Most babies don't, but this baby does. And without the antidote, it will kill her, within hours» Sonny knew he sounded brutal, but if he was to make the parents understand the seriousness of matters, he had to be. He carefully injected the baby with the substance.
«Mr. Blackbones, are you sure this is wise?» the doctors asked him.
Sonny nodded. Then, the baby opened her eyes, they were crystalblue, like Mei's. Sonny held his breath, as he stared into the innocent eyes of his grandchild. He looked for any sign something was wrong.
«When will we know for sure she's ok Sonny?» Mei asked.
Sonny gently put the baby on her breast.
«The next five hours will determine Mei, that's all I can say for sure. Now, let's just hope and pray, she'll make it»...
do follow the next exciting chapter. Will the little baby survive, or was Sonny too late? The cliffhanger will be continued shortly.