Chapter 15: Farewell Shiloh

It was time to go. The week had passed so fast. D'Jok woke up a lot earlier than usual. Sonny was still sleeping, and snored like a bear. D'Jok smiled. Snoring was usually a sign that one didn't sleep at all, or that the sleep wasn't deep. D'Jok smiled as he shook his head. «You fooled me once Dad, it's not gonna happen a second time». D'Jok saw as Sonny pulled the covers higher, still pretending to be asleep. «Dad!», This time, he got the desired reaction. Sonny sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Or, at least, that was what he pretended to do. «good morning D'Jok, feel rested?» he asked. D'Jok had to smile. Sonny could have been an actor if he wanted to, as he had no problems playing as if things were real. «Yeah, just thinking..», Sonny smiled. «You know, thinking produces headaches, especially before breakfast, come on, let's go get something to eat, before you get that far». «Only if you're sharing the meal, no running off to work untill you've eaten». Sonny looked at his son. He took so much pride in the boy, and he admired the fact that D'Jok would follow his dreams, and ambitions. «I've taken the day off D'Jok, it's the final day here, and I had planned to spend it with my son» he stated. D'Jok smiled. Nothing in the world, not even winning the galactik football cup could compare to the precious time he spent with his father, that time was far more valuable than anything else. D'Jok watched as Sonny got out of bed. «Feeling a bit older Dad?» he teased. Sonny grabbed the pillow. Before D'Jok was aware of what went on, Sonny launched it at him. «Hey, what was that for?» said D'Jok. Sonny smiled a devious smile. «That was a wake up call, piratestyle» he stated. Laughing, father and son got ready, and headed to the kitchen. Sonny quickly found what he needed in the cabinets, and started on the breakfast. A little while later, as they were eating, Corso came in. «' Morning», Sonny didn't say anything, just handed his deputy commander a cup of coffe. «Get some caffeine in your system before you growl Corso» he teased. Corso looked at him. «I'll get you back on that one Sonny». D'Jok watched as the two friends teased eachother back and forth. As soon as they were done eating, D'Jok was kind of sad. It was the last day in how long he would spend with his father. He had no way to know when they would meet next. Sonny seemed to catch on to it. «D'Jok, want to go play some football?». D'Jok looked up. Had he heard right? Did his father just ask if they were gonna go play football? Then he remembered. Sonny had once been a footballer, someone had told him during the party in Sonny's honor. D'Jok looked at his father. Sonny seemed to catch on to what he was thinking. «Surprised?» he asked as he emptied his milkglas. Corso sniggered. «I thought you knew of that part D'Jok» he said. «No, I didn't. Sure Dad, let's go». D'Jok wasn't sure what to expect. Sonny brought him to Clamps hotel. All the other snowkids were also there. As were the pirates themselves. Sonny pressed a button that was trapped to the sleeve of his jacket. All of a sudden, Sonny's clothing changed, the red jacket, the boots, the black pants were replaced by the pirates uniform. Sonny wore number 3 on his uniform. «You're playing defense?» D'Jok knew this could be interresting. There was bound to be father and son duels over the ball. «Corso, you'll be the coach of the pirates» said Sonny, before he placed the pirates headgear on. Stevens walked up to him. «Here Sonny, you'll be the captain today» he said, and stapped the red band around Sonny's right arm. Well, this was interresting, there was sure to be captain to captain duels now. The teams made ready, and set foot in a holotrainer that clamp had built for the pirates. «Ok teams, I want to see fair play, no cheats» commented Corso. «That means everybody» said Aarch, and then the game was on. There was instant pressure on the snowkids goal. D'Jok was getting in position when he got a pass from micro- Ice, he avoided Rose, the only female pirate on the team. He didn't know much about her, and Sonny had not said much either, other than there was reasons for her being who she was, and what she did. D'Jok had learned not to pry. He attended a launch at the pirates goal and Hawkins, the pirates goalie, but was stopped like by an invisible wall. A pirate named Aaron and Sonny had what appeared to be a glowing lightgreenish light around them. «You have flux?» the snowkids screethed. Sonny nodded. «You get cought of guard too easily, stay focused» he said, as he snatched the ball from a confused D'Jok, and kicked it across the pitch to Stevens, who scored at a stunned Ahito. The bare shock made the snowkids struggle to gain control again. But as D'Jok learned to read the play, he realised that the pirates defense was down. Sonny played well, but he had the least playtime, D'Jok suspected he could easily dribble the ball past him. Sonny smiled when he saw his son launch at him. It was perhaps just a friendly game, but nevertheless, a game, and the pirates decided to show that they wouldn't necessarily stay underdogs in the league for all eternity. He defended the goal. D'Jok was looking for a way around Sonny, but it proved difficult. Sonny had obviously played professional football before, and knew how to block. D'Jok passed the ball to Micro- Ice when he realised that he couldn't get through. Micro- Ice acted quickly, and it was 1- 1 on the board. «Halftime break» announced Clamp, and the holowiewer was shut down. Sonny grabbed a bottle of water. «Wow, if the snowkids ever need a defense player, we should hire Sonny» suggested an enthusiastic Thran. Sonny just smiled. «Not bad for an old man» joked Clamp. Aarch placed a hand to Sonny's shoulder. «That was some impressive defenseplaying Sonny, were did you learn to do that?». Sonny emptied his waterbottle, before he replied. «Technoid's universty team. I played on my sparetime, it was a way to get in contact with the girls» he smiled sheepishly. « well, does it work?» asked Aarch. «I ended up married, so I would guess yes» the pirate chief stated with a smile. Rocket approached them. «Mr. BlackBones? Sir?». Sonny smiled at Aarch's nephew. «No need to be formal Rocket, just call me Sonny». «Ok, Sonny. That flux thing you used...». Sonny nodded. «You wonder why we don't use it in the competition?». «Well, yes». Sonny looked thoughtfull. «As you know Rocket, all kinds of flux can be traced, it's the one thing that gives our planet a personality, and a soul. And all of the fluxes has an unique signature. Well, all except for the Metaflux». Rocket rubbed his chin. «i don't get how you managed to create a flux that was synthetic, and yet, undetectable» he said. Clamp joined. «Well, call it an accident» he said. «But, this flux of the pirates, is it manmade or the real deal?». Sonny had anticipated this question. «It's the real deal Rocket, and it's called the seed of Shiloh. It is just a myth in many ways, as the pirates don't use it». Aarch broke in. «But why not Sonny? It would be a huge advantage for the pirates to use flux, even the odds a bit». Sonny looked around, there were more snowkids that used the halftime break to cure the shock of learning that the pirates infact had flux. «We also become vulnerable. Like I said, flux is tracable,and the seed of shiloh is a very potent and strong flux, possibly the strongest one in the galaxy, imagine how fast 'technoid could track us if we used it? We'd be sitting ducks». After a short discussion, they finished the match. It ended in a draw. As they excited the holotrainer, Sonny told them, they needed prepare for the trip back home, they would be escorted out by the pirates, as was usual proceedure. «Even though we have immunity now, we still hold on to our old habits» he smiled to them all. But he said nothing of the task he had put young Artie into conducting. Bennet was responsible for phase two of the little surprise of the pirates. But now, he followed his son back to help him pack...

D'Jok felt sad the week was already over. Tia had made sure they had lots of memories. The pirates had helped her make copies of videos taped, pictures taken. It had become several copies of a special photobook, a joined Pirates and Snowkids time. D'Jok looked at the pictures. All the snowkids had made a special chapter on all of the pirates, starting with young Artie, wich was followed by plenty of pictures and a decscription of each snowkid on how they saw the pirate, and pictures from various memorable moments. The pirates had also made a book, on the snowkids and their staff. Corso really had been put through the meatgrinder in the book. He was said to be a grouch but with a heart of gold. The chapter on the pirates individual players on the team, was also a hillarious event. They had laughed when they put it together. Then, there was the video and the football match of today,when they saw the seed of Shiloh. But the biggest chapter inn the book, was the one on Sonny BlackBones. All the snowkids has somekind of perception on who he was. During their week here, they all had gotten to meet the pirate chief, talk to him, and get to know him. It seemed Sonny had gotten his own little fanclub with the snowkids. D'Jok packed slowly. Sonny didn't say anything, he could understand how his son felt, more than anyone could imagine. «D'Jok, this is not farewell you know» he said to lighten things a little. «I know, it's just..», «Just what D'Jok?» smiled the pirate chief. «I've had so much fun here, it's been like living in somekind of a bubble» said D'Jok and then looked up. Sonny didn't look like he liked the expression living in a bubble too much. «Sorry, bad choise of words» smiled D'Jok sheepishly. Sonny threw his head back and laughed. «I understand what you mean D'Jok, but in a more litteral term, I would not reccommend it, it gets old very fast, there is limited space and no way out» he joked. D'Jok knew though, that there were some serious elements in it. «Listen D'Jok, we'll meet again soon, and in Akillian» he promised. But he did not tell D'Jok his buisness there. It would be something he didn't look forward to doing, but he had to. He owed her that much respect. Sonny helped D'Jok pack, and then, D'Jok threw one last look at the cabin he had shared with his father this week. They had bonded as father and son, laughed, disagreed, argued... Sonny had learned some parental skills he didn't have, D'Jok had, by being around the crew, learned more of his father, who he was now, and who he used to be. Towards the end, even Corso had gotten along with him, something Sonny had thought would not happen. «It's gonna be strange sharing room with Micro- Ice again» he stated. «Well, he sleeps at night, it's a bit harder for me to do so» stated Sonny. «But you allways pull through, don't you?» teased D'Jok. The old standard comment of Sonny's, had been made known to the snowkid. When he thought of it, it fitted his father perfectly. One last look, and they closed the door, to go join the snowkids...

The snowkids looked out the windows of their shuttle. All the pirateships participated in their escort some way, even the mighty black manta. When they reached orbit and were about to leave, the videomessage button blinked. Thran turned it on. It was Sonny and the crew of Black Manta. They asked the snowkids to play up a videofile they had added. They activated it. The pirates had made their own compilation of the week. It humoured the snowkids to watch it, it even contained things they had not seen. Like Grumpy Corso, spilling his coffe, or Sonny falling asleep in front of the controls of the commandcenter of his ship. The moments just kept on flowing. «How did they manage to capture all of this?» asked Tia amazed. «It's a pirates's secret Tia, they will never tell, not even me, and I am a pirate's son» said D'Jok. He had gotten a small box, from the crew of Black manta, just before he left. He was not allowed to open it, unitill after he had left. It contained pictures of the times he was alone with the crew. But for D'Jok, even more importantly, familypictures, a small envelope with his name on, suggested Sonny had made sure D'Jok would also have pictures of his family in the sanctuary. He looked at them, and smiled. «Who is that D'Jok?» asked micro- ice and pointed to the picture of D'Jok along with his entire family. D'Jok saw no reason to lie. «my famiily, on my fathers side». «They're all alive?» Clamp was shocked. D'jok nodded. «They live in a safe place, I found them with Dad's help». The next picture was one they all gasped of when they saw. «D'Jok.. that's..» Clamp struggled to find the words. D'Jok nodded. « It was granddad that made it». The picture depicted Niobe, Sonny and D'Jok. «The picture that could never be taken..» sighed Mei, and clenched his hand. «Yet, there it is» stated Tia. D'jok couldn't answer, there was a thick lump in his throat. The next picture, was one he decided to frame. It showed him and Sonny, taken in the familyhome in the Sanctuary. The pride and joy Sonny took in his son, beamed out of the picture. Then, they were broken off, by a new message. «all of you, in your photobooks, there is a personal greeting to you. But this greeting is also something else, it's a hidden map» said Sonny. The snowkids all checked, and the ryhme in the end, differed in all books. «A map to where?», asked micro- ice. «Oh come on micro- Ice, you know better than that» laughed Artie. D'Jok quickly put two and two together. «I got it»he said. Everyone looked at him. «Dad, this is the first time you've ever done right?» he asked. «Confirmed son» laughed Sonny. D'jok told what he had discovered. «the ryhmes are all a part of the map. If we always work together, we will always find our way back to shiloh» he said. «BRAVO!» the pirates cheered. «We've reached the point where we part. The snowkids and staff has found friends here in shiloh that wants the best for you all. We will meet again. Till then, see ya», then, the transmission ended. As D'jok looked out the window, he saw three small pirateships that «waved» with the wings, before they were ingulved by the darkness again.

D'Jok turned to the snowkids. «The shiloh pirates, they're the best friends you could ever get» he smiled. All the snowkids agreed. Then, they set course for Akillian orbit...

END

sad as it is, the vacation on shiloh has now come to an end. To me, my stories are my babies in this fandom, and it is hard to let them fly off and live their own lives. I hope the followers has had as much fun as I had reading, as I had writing it. The pirates rock the galaxy and beyond for all eternity. Do please give me one final rewiew on this.