Venturing into Berk's dark side was strictly inadvisable at best, suicide at worst. Reason: the Dragons are heavily active even in the dark of a night. ESPECIALLY, in the dark of the night. They can see you even in the pitch black darkness. Being extremely territorial and ever so wary of their rear, the Dragon Fleet had assigned their own task force of patrol consists of the fleet of the fiercest of dragons. They know the darkside is also a window of chance for enemies to approach and they will attack anyone venturing too close. And yet, Stoick the Vast was about to do something worse than just venturing too close.
"Prepare to make landfall!" Stoick ordered. The announcement was relayed to around half the military fleet of the entire flotilla Stoick brought along.
"You really are going to do this Stoick?" Spitelout gulped.
"We can't turn back now. They're close. Somewhere in this dark side of Heaven in Hell. I can almost smell them." And just then, something burst out from the surface of the planet. A red projectile barely missing a dreadnought. "See? They know we're coming, and they respond in force. They know we're near to… whatever they're guarding."
"Their lair."
"Precisely."
Down below, on the surface of Berk, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Terrors were either swarming the sky or rushing on the ground, slithering around other larger dragons, Nightmares, Nadders, Zipplebacks, the gigantic Swarmers, the lot.
Dozens upon dozens of full adult Gronckle burst out from the ground. They looked upward to the sky above and stomped all their legs to the ground, nailing it. They opened their mouths and began sucking things up, preparing for a projectile. When it is done, they aimed upwards and almost simultaneously fired their red fiery projectiles to the human fleet high above.
On the space, the barrage of large heavy projectiles began to forcibly break the fleet's formation apart. One frigate got hit right in the center while a cruiser crashed into another trying to dodge the shot.
"EVASIVE MANEUVER!" Snotlout yelled.
"And have the bombardment cannons went ahead to bomb blast that rock. And ready the dropships and pods. We got some dragons to slay."
In a short order, Stoick is in his power suit and yelled. "COME ON YOU YELLOW MONKEYS! YOU WANNA LIVE FOREVER? LET'S DINE IN HELL!"
"HOO-HA!" The soldiers in power suits all yelled rocking their large rifles and start going into the drop pods. The infantry went into the Dropship. Inside the ship, the squad leader gives some pep talk to a battalion of his War Pigs before the fall. "We're part of the first wave! Which means when the rock is blasted we got the first chance to do some more damage. You get in there and you shoot down anything that standing on more than two legs and flying around spouting fireballs! DO YOU GET ME!"
"WE GET YOU SIR!" The soldiers answered in uniform.
The Dreadnoughts aimed a series of large cannons to the surface of the Planet. "GAUSS MAC (Magnetic Accelerated Cannon) fully charged. Fire." The Gauss Cannons, brimming with electricity unleash their payload of molten plasma shock rounds to the surface of Berk.
Down below, the attack rained upon the Dragons. Thousands and tens of thousands of Terrors were destroyed with each shot. A shot went through a Gronckle just as it fired. The blast disorients its aim, and its internal explosion erupted, engulfing other nearby dragons, killing hundreds more. Despite the obvious astronomical level of casualties, some Dragons still managed to survive and still can fire back. Several Nightmares and Nadders seem pissed enough to start flying upward towards the fleet. Several Swarmers had began engaging its thrusters and moving out of the Berk's atmosphere.
One by one, the Dropships set off from the starships while the Drop Pods were shot down to the planet amidst the crossfire of destructive artillery barrage exchange from the surface below and from their own fleet above.
Mid-fall, the Dragon Fleet who were on atmospheric exit meet up with the falling dropships who were on atmospheric entry. Some ignore them, some decided to attack them. A Nightmare just crashed into the dropship, tearing open a rupture, instantly frying everyone inside in their seat during the atmospheric entry. A Nadder was destroyed along with a drop pod that collided with it. A dropship was crushed on a Swarmer's kinetic barrier as it ignorantly ascended out of the atmosphere.
The Nightmare had just caught a drop pod and intent on crushing it in its claws when a barrage of Armor Piercing rounds instantly riddling the Dragon's claw with bullets, obliterating it. The nightmare was unfortunate enough to go after a drop pod… with Stoick inside. The Commander tore open his now useless Drop Pod and hop on to the Nightmare. The Nightmare roared rebelliously but Stoick used his chain saw blade and cut a hole on its chest area before shoving both of his guns into it and fired an entire magazine. A series explosion occurred as the nightmare was torn inside out and finally went offline. Using the now derelict Dragon cruiser as a shield for atmospheric entry, Stoick hold on tightly.
In space above, Spitelout had just entered the fray with his custom war freighter along with his squadron of starfighters when the Dragon Fleet starts flying out of the planet. "Here they come. This is Squadron Leader Wraith 1, Offensive maneuver! I repeat Offensive maneuver! Fire and engage!"
The Swarmers unleashed their shuriken swarm and the battlefield were soon filled with whizzing and slithering razor sharp drones, limiting enemy Starship's maneuverability. While other Dragons, unhindered, crashed into the incoming starfighters, who also began unleashing their own payload. Hordes of Terrors, thrust vectoring like a maniac without fear of blackout or anything an organic pilot would suffer, stopped right in front of a startled starfighter pilot and fired its dragon breath, point blank.
A long pitched tone sounded from Spitelout's VI as it locked on. Without further ado the Turian gave everything his ship got, taking down a group of Terrors with one salvo. "Take that you sons of bitches!"
Down below, despite the casualties, hundreds of Dropships and pods finally landed on the lush planet in the dark night. The Dropship doors opened and from inside scores upon scores of human soldiers poured out. While the Drop Pods also unload their packages of heavy hitters: Dragon Slayers and Tanks.
The soldiers marched on before stopping at the sight before them. Two Gronckles burst out of the ground, gather up things and then shot projectiles to the sky, claiming God knows how many ships in its path.
"Nuke'em!"
Four marines pulled out their M920 Cain bazookas, took aim and fired just as the Gronckles finished charging up. The Nuclear projectile hit them full and the Gronckles exploded in a brilliant conflagration, taking out surrounding terrors to dust. Once the explosion settles, the Squad leader yelled. "Follow me!"
The infantry followed. But the squad leader was too eager; a Terrible Terror suddenly sprang out from the shadow and impaled the squad leader with its forward arm.
"FIRE! FIRE!" The infantry began to open fire en masse while the squad leader was screaming in pain, still dangling on the dragon's claw. The Terror roared and start gathering energy and fired a small but dense fireball (AN: Kinda like Toothless's fire in the movie). The marines managed to blocked the shot with their shield and continue to fire. The Terror's kinetic barrier is also holding, but it's getting weaker and weaker. The Terror, tired of its victim's scream, transform its arm into a Gatling gun and fired, ripping the man to pieces. At the same time, its kinetic barrier shattered and the Marines were quick to riddle it with holes.
As the Starfighter dragon fell offline, one of the marines shouted and pointed to the sky: a massive dragon descended. The Swarmer.
The other pointed to the front and thousands upon thousands of Terrors suddenly appeared out of warp jump and came upon them like flood. Following closely behind from the sky and ground, Nightmares, Nadders, Zipplebacks had just warped in near the Swarmers and a few new fresh Gronckles also burst out.
The Infantry, even backed by the Dragon Slayers and Tanks can't help to be unnerved by the overwhelming sight. Suddenly a large fireball descended and hit the Swarmer squarely on its head. The Swarmer screeched as flames start erupting from its throat and down to its chest. Finally, the whole dragon crashed to the ground, with earth shattering force, squeezing the thousands of Terrors and even a few of other frigate and cruiser class dragons to oblivion. Jumping out of the flaming head of the destroyed Dragon Carrier, was Stoick.
His first words being: "I need a reload!"
The Infantry cheered. But their cheer was cut short as from the sky another Dragon fleet, larger than the previous descend and rushed towards them.
Stoick snorted angrily and ready himself. The Infantry and other Dragon slayers rally towards him.
"Come and get us ye devils!" And with that, they opened fire.
Chapter 4: Choosing a side
"Hey, you know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies. Is there another book, or a sequel? Maybe a Night Fury pamphlet?" Just as soon as Hiccup finished, a blue ion laser beam struck his rifle and destroy it down to the last molecule, leaving only the handle.
"Focus, Hiccup! You're not even trying!" Gobber yelled from the office high above. Today's training was dealing with an infant Deadly Nadder. That being said, the Infant was the size of an old school fighter jet (AN: Think F22 Raptors), but already they're as heavily armed as the adult ones. A blue, smooth dragon, almost as smooth as the Night Fury was floating with the aid of its VTOL booster's positioned on its wings and legs, nimbly floating about the arenas, which, for this week's training, are designed to look like maze of a jungle. "Today it's all about attack! Nadders are quick and light on their feet. And when I say light, in urban combat they almost never touch the ground. Your job is to be quicker and lighter!"
Camicazy growled angrily as the Dragon continues to fly around as if dancing in the air not giving her even a moment's chance to close in and cut it apart. The Dragon noticed her, and swivel around, revealing a pair of what looked like an Alien equivalent to Gatling gun with six barrels, one Gatling gun for each wing.
Cursing something in her native tongue, the Protoss blinked away just as the Nadder unleashed a volley of large caliber pulse ammo, obliterating the area.
It turned around again and saw Fish Leg stumble over the corner. It roared and the scales on its fin stood up, and the dragon's rear section bent forward, like a bee ready to sting. Only instead of stabbing the target, Nadder's tail unleashed a whole onslaught of homing missiles.
Panicking, Fishleg run while shielding himself around the barrage of missiles. "I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" He screamed, half angry, half scared to death.
Ignoring the complaints about his teaching methods, Gobber continued his teaching over the safe distance of the office (curse him, everyone thought). "Look for its blind spot! Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it and strike!"
The twins had just turned around the wrong corner and came face to face with the Nadder, right beneath it. The thing is, the Nadder seem to ignore them. That's when they realized this is the blindspot that Gobber was talking about. The Dragon can't see what's right in front of it.
The two duck and cover carefully and nimbly right in front of the Dragon while try to their best to remain hidden. It would've gone well if Ruffnut's olfactory sensor didn't catch a God Awful smell from her brother's enviro suit. "Ugh! Do you ever bathe?"
"If you don't like it, then just get your own blind spot."
"How about I give you one?" Ruffnut smashed her helmet to Tuffnut's, creating a clanking noise. A noise which the Nadder heard and responded violently. It opened its mouth and charged its ion cannon. The twins had only a second to dodge as a stream of ion blast tore through. The Nadder even swung the beam around in a small arc, and like an extremely long sword slice through everything in its path. Creating a chaos amongst the other cadet as their hiding spot were suddenly cut apart.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Fishleg ran from his spot as the ion blast burned a tip of his suit.
"Blind spot, yes. Deaf spot, not so much. Hehehehe." Gobber chuckled sinisterly from the intercom. Pissing every cadet on the arena even further.
Dogsbreath roared and jumped towards the Nadder. He managed to catch one of its leg, startling it for a while.
"Oh and I almost forgot, Nadder are armed to toe… and I mean that quite literally."
The Nadder's toes, which are formed of exhaust vents suddenly lit up eerily blue. Dogsbreath tilted his head dumbly. "HRNG?" And a hot burning beam blade suddenly burst out from the said toe and rip Dogsbreath' lower half out. Dogsbreath gave the Nadder a moment's pause though, and Camicazy use the chance to blink close to Nadder. But the Blue Dragon was smart enough and swing around, hard. It tossed Dogsbreath at the just reappeared Camicazy. The Nerazim swiftly dodged the incoming makeshift projectile and swing her sword, cutting a bit of Nadder's wing boosters, but caused a malfunction nonetheless. The Nadder became furious and swing its leg and smack the Protoss right on her waist. The force sent her crashing through several trees.
Astrid and Snotlout ran across the artificial forest, but Hiccup was still asking questions to Gobber. "Hey, so, how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?"
"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. NOW get in there!" The last sentence was carried out with an annoyed tone.
"I know, I know, but hypothetically..."
"Hiccup!"
Hiccup turned and saw Astrid and Snotlout hiding just beyond the corner. The Nadder has been forced to land and now it's scanning its surrounding. "Get down." Astrid glared at Hiccup, and motioned the boy to remain kneel down and stay quiet. Astrid and Snotlout decided to roll around. Hiccup decided to follow, but mid roll, he dropped a heat sink. The Nadder perked up and turned around, and saw the nervous Hiccup. The Dragon roared and chased after the boy.
Hiccup ran and the Nadder followed, as it did, being not too maneuverable on the ground, it smashed through trees and stuff. Furious, it unleashed its entire payload of arsenals: missiles, ion beams, Gatling guns, the lot, destroying its surroundings, leaving no place to hide, revealing everyone's position.
Astrid growled and aimed her Claymore Shotgun at the Nadder's eyes, but Snotlout, with his Missile Launcher, knock her off. "Watch out, girl. I'll take care of this." He fired the missile. But the Nadder just tilted its head and casually let the missiles pass between its spines.
"Errh… The sun was in my eyes, Astrid." Snotlout start spouting excuses for his failure while Astrid groaned in annoyance and start ran off as the Nadder chased after them. "What do you want me to do, block out the sun? I could do that but I don't have time!"
As they did, the Nadder just furiously unleash its payload time and again, making a ruin out of the landscape. Through it all, Hiccup was miraculously left unscathed through the hailstorm of bullets and missiles and laser blasts while the boy continuously asked questions about Night Fury to Gobber. "They probably... ...take the daytime off, for maintenance or cooldown right? Like a sleep mode or something."
Gobber slapped his face not sure what to say. As an instructor, he's pleased to say his students are faring better than they did a week ago, when dealing with the Gronckle. On a personal level however, this training also turns out to be a personal disaster. Oh, won't Stoick be pleased to know his son only have unbelievable luck to survive disaster as a redeeming feature?
Astrid resort to climbing and jumping from tree to tree as the Nadder took the ground with its blitzkrieg of weapons. She made one long jump when she realized that Hiccup was right in front of her. "Hiccup!" She screamed.
Astrid's scream brought Hiccup's attention but he was too late to move away as Astrid landed on him. A weird 'boing' sound was made when Hiccup's face was buried in the girl's ample breasts. The two blushed furiously.
"Ooh, Love on the battlefield." Tuffnut commented.
"She could do better." Ruffnut followed.
Slightly embarrassed, Astrid get back up and took her Claymore. The Nadder growled and was charging its ion cannon when Astrid charged in. The Nadder retaliates by firing a couple of rounds, but they missed as Astrid slid down and passed in-between its legs and fired the Shotgun several times, obliterating the Nadder's lower hull. The Nadder roared before falling down, disabled.
Gobber sighed and pressed the bell marking the end of this week's training. "Well done, Astrid. That's all for today. See you all tonight for some BBQ."
Astrid caught her breath trying to calm herself from the rush of adrenaline. But more importantly she was pissed at a certain red head. She stomped her way to the downed boy and shoved her shotgun down his throat in a menacing manner. "Is this some kind of a joke to you?"
Hiccup looked at her, his eyes filled with fear and… was that uncertainty? Astrid couldn't care less if this guys start having second thoughts about his chosen path, but his lack of… everything… is now becoming detriments to everyone, especially to her. "Our predecessor's war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you're on!"
There. That should get him something to think about. Astrid groaned and left the bewildered boy on the dust.
Astrid was right about one thing, she did give Hiccup something to think about. The boy walked back into his locker and found his visor. He opened it and saw the damaged alien black warship. He looked at one of the damages he had inflicted on the Dragon's wings and something came up in his head.
A quick trip to the workshop, a brief work on a piece of contoured metal and whatever he have, a quick visit to the storeroom and Hiccup was back in Gobber's junk picker and flying towards a certain Carrier.
As usual, he parked the Starfighter next to the Night Fury's crash hole. This time, he's carrying a pack of energy cells, should be enough to power 10 starfighters… though knowing the Dragon's… 'appetite', this might be but a snack.
Hiccup was looking around the Crash site, wondering if the Dragon was still up there, on the launchpad, trying to fly away. When he arrived on the surface and look around, wondering where the Dragon went. There are more burnt trails and bent marks on the said launchpad now than last week. Some even had its circuitry exposed.
"He must've kept trying to fly away…" He looked upward, wondering if the Dragon had indeed fly away at last. Hiccup was so focused on the black space, he didn't notice a familiar black frigate just appeared out of a Stealth Bubble and soundlessly floating at a very low altitude and move slowly towards him.
When Hiccup realized, a black shadow had loomed over him. He turned around and gasped as a giant black frigate was on top of him, staring at him from above. In those mechanical eyes, Hiccup saw it was more curious now than murderous.
He gulped and showed the frigate his package, the energy pack. The Dragon's looked at the pack of energy cells and, in a slight moment, Hiccup saw something akin to glee in its eyes. Was it laughing at his simplicity? The Night Fury pushed the energy cell back at Hiccup.
"…you don't need it?" Hiccup took the energy cell back. "You're not… hungry or anything?"
The Dragon jerked lightly, clearly amused at what Hiccup was trying to do. It didn't blame him. Other dragons on the fleet attacked Berk and go for their energy, it only make sense that the young organic creature used energy cell as a sign of non aggression.
The Dragon's main body suddenly changed from its rigid and sturdy state of a frigate into a more robotic looking form. Hiccup saw in awe as its frontal bridge (its head) bent flexibly downward, not showing any form of joints or anything. Similar with Geth Flexible constructs (AN: the Geth soldier's neck). Four pairs of long fins (or tendrils, whatever) can be seen jutting backwards from the back of its head. The Dragon practically sit, in front of Hiccup, staring at him. Alright, let's see how peaceful this organic creature really is.
Hiccup sighed as his peace offering was rejected. He put the energy pack back but the Dragon seems to have something else on its mind.
The Night Fury suddenly bent down and stood on all fours, startling Hiccup. The Frigate close in on him giving Hiccup a better view of its face. The frontal part of the Night Fury's upper jaw is composed of a semi transparent jet black casing while its lower jaw is slightly larger than the upper. Now that Hiccup noticed it, what he initially perceive as slitted eyebulbs were in fact holographic construct not dissimilar with omnitool, reflected on the insides of the upper casing, and he can also see some very complicated constructs and circuitry constantly pulsing within the confines of the said casing. The eyebulbs suddenly disappeared and a purple scanning light sweep past Hiccup's face.
"Wowwowo… what gives eh? Hrm?" Hiccup looked at the Dragon has projected a new set of eyes. This time, rather than dragon's eyes, it's more akin to… a pair of human eyes? Fancy that. The Dragon tried to copy his visage. Starting with his eyes, albeit with its own stylized square like cornea.
It get back up standing on two and stare down at him, its fins relaxed and one pair, the longest ones, were erect and flap left and right, like a rabbit's ears. That and with the addition of that wide square pupilled eyes, the Dragon looked like a giant black mechanical Energizer Bunny of death from Hell. Which is one way of saying the alien warship was quite cute, looking like that. A few girls might go coo-coo over this sight.
Hiccup's thought about girls suddenly went straight to the likes of Ruffnut, Camicazy and Astrid. Ruffnut would probably call something cute when she had riddled it with holes. He couldn't say much about Camicazy, and Astrid wouldn't be caught dead with bunny… not unless the Bunny got a handgun in it. With a grenade. And a garrote wire. The series of mental image sent Hiccup into a burst of giggles.
The Dragon jerked slightly, surprised with the organic lifeform's actions. In its screen display, it zoomed on Hiccup's expression. It record and replay it several times. It bent down and get closer to Hiccup. The Dragon struggled to have its massive steel jaw to form a smile. But being a frigate and all… the effort was met with little success and went downright awkwardly funny. Hiccup noticed the effort (though he wasn't aware of what the intended end result supposed to be) and chuckled. The Dragon clearly noticed the organic lifeform is laughing at its expense. It continued to struggle. During which, Hiccup couldn't help but notice that the Dragon… has no tooth.
"Toothless? Could've sworn you have…" As if responding to the off-hand remark, the Dragon's teeth suddenly fold out and the Dragon snapped its jaw tight, right in front of the boy. "Teeth." Hiccup no longer laugh. Satisfied the Organic Lifeform no longer mock it, the Dragon continue to try. It finally resolves to another holographic projection on its visor. A smile.
Hiccup paused and finally realized what the Dragon was trying to do. It was trying to communicate with him and so he smiled back. "Yeah… that's how you do it. Somebody smiles at you, you smile back."
The Night Fury recorded the sight and repeats the recording in its head. It close in on Hiccup and replayed the recording on the surface of its visor. A video of Hiccup saying the word repeated before him. Both couldn't hear a thing though.
Hiccup was more impressed with the Dragon's technology and made an effort to touch its face. The Dragon jerked back, quickly revert back to its frigate form, when Hiccup, desperate of not wanting the Dragon to fly yelled. "WAIT! I… Erh… I Got something for you!"
The Dragon Frigate floats cautiously, ready to fly away at a moment's notice. Hiccup unpacked the second thing he brought that day… a piece of ship plating.
When it saw this, the Night Fury revert back to its stand by mode and looked at the plating before it. The frigate's mechanical arm extended and took the plate, scan it, and then brought its wing to the front. Indeed, there's a sizable chunk of its plating went missing and truth be told, it's quite annoying to try to fly with your wings in tatters. The Night Fury compares the plating and the damage on its wings. Hiccup's armor plating's shape and size match the missing chunk perfectly. It gently place the plating on top of the exposed plating.
Hiccup smiled widely when he saw how the plating he made matched perfectly. The Night Fury hummed for a moment, and a few streams of energy pulse flow towards the said plating. But it stopped upon edges of the said plating. The Night Fury growled in annoyance. Hiccup couldn't hear its voice, but he knew when the Dragon took out the plating that something was wrong.
"Errhh… did I made a mistake somewhere?"
The Night Fury looked at Hiccup and it saw the sincerity in the organic lifeform's eyes. Funny. The human child is the one who shoot it down… so why help it now… but he seem quite capable of making something like this… maybe…
The Night Fury took the plating and swished its head, apparently motioning the boy to follow it and hop on its back. Hiccup frowned. "Don't you have any pilot seat?"
The Night Fury shrugged and it reverted back to its frigate mode and float away. Hiccup gulped and jumped away, catching its tail before it gone too far, hang on to it for his dear life as the Night Fury fly around – thankfully not so fast. But at the same time, Hiccup got a chance to get an up close scanning on the broken set of wings with his visor.
The Frigate fly to the lower are of the massive human dreadnought and landed on what Hiccup saw as the Hangar area. It landed next to an old derelict frigate. Hiccup fell on all fours, wondering what's all this about.
He looked around the hangar and saw cranes, huge welders, and other tools you would find in a carrier to maintain and even build a starship. That and some half assembled warships and parts. Most of them are still intact. Just… out of power.
The Night Fury suddenly began trembling. Hiccup turned around and gulped when he saw the Dragon Frigate begin to crack. 'Oh lord… what's happening?'
And then, just like that, the Frigate's plating suddenly break apart with a snap and float around the frigate. Hiccup instinctively cover his head, but regained his composure immediately and realized the pieces of the ship's plating is floating around. Underneath the said plating are new armor plating, newer and less dented, except the fact the other exposed and damaged parts are not replaced with new ones. A sign just how bad the damage was. Hiccup suddenly realized.
Dragons in the myth are lizards. Scientifically speaking, lizards shed their skin from time to time. If these 'dragons' are in more ways than one conform to their namesake…
Hiccup was completely bewildered. All his life he had never encountered a synthetic alien race as weird as this. A robot that periodically shed its outer armor plating like lizards? He looked at all that shed plating and for the first time in his highly analytical life, Hiccup was lost. "What do you want me to do with those?"
The Night Fury proceeded to pick one of its shed plating and place it next to Hiccup's plating. It pointed at its skin, and then to Hiccup's plating, and fro.
The teen Engineer nearly slapped himself silly for not catching it up a little quicker. The Dragon wanted him to remake the plating, using pieces of its shed skin as the base material. "You want me… to remade the patch plating… using your shed plating err… skin?"
The Night Fury nodded.
Hiccup looked back at ample of shed Dragon plating floating around them. This is like Rhinoplasty (AKA Plastic Surgery). Using pieces from another limb's skin to mend other parts. He looked around and was grateful they fell on a mostly intact carrier dreadnought. There's enough equipment here that he can operate to and build an entire frigate as well as fixing one. There's only one problem:
"Well… I can help you… and I really want to help you. But… I'm gonna need some electricity to start things up in this ship… and… well… some of your pals had sucked this ship dry. So I need to find another energy source to jumpstart at least the solar panels. So I…"
The Dragon didn't let him finish, its claw then tore the floor and a smaller, more delicate arm extend down from its main arm into the hole and pull out an electric cable.
"Wowwow… wait a sec. I know you're in a hurry to fly again, but the energy required to power a ship this big is-"
Again, the Night Fury didn't seem to listen. Instead, the manipulator arm cut the cable with its built in laser cutter, and then just like that, connected with the exposed wiring of the said cable. Electricity begin to flow ceaselessly and the second set of wing of the said Dragon frigate hum like crazy as electricity jumped in and out at a rapid rate.
Hiccup gulped. This Alien warship was that desperate to fly. What do you expect, you idiot? You shot him down! A starship is designed to fly! What kind of starship can't fly?
But a frigate? Powering an entire Dreadnought?
"But you'll… you'll kill yourself at this rate…" Hiccup moaned, worry evident.
But then, the human was worried for nothing. All the sudden, computers begin lit up all across the derelict space ship. Generators begin to hum and thrums with power. Hiccup gaped as every piece of machinery on that ship comes alive.
"Good Morning, this VI MARSH. Welcome to SSV Equator. Scanning hull integrity. Alert, multiple Class-A hull breaches detected in area with life signs. Auto repair system, active. Priority: hangar area."
Even the VI is back online! How much energy that Black Dragon Frigate have? Meanwhile, the VI began initiating the autorepair system. Several hull breaches were closed. Soon, every holes leading into the hangar are closed, and Hiccup's environmental indicator show oxygen had just flown in.
Not disturbed in the least by the massive power absorption on its part, the Night Fury growled. Hiccup understood and activated his omnitool and speaks through the speaker. "MARSH! Activate the solar panels!"
"Voice Recognition, confirmed: Ensign John "Hiccup" Horrendous Haddock, III. Solar panels can only generate enough electricity to power 20% of the carrier's feature. Given the current situation, it will not be enough to activate most of the Ship's feature. Would you like to proceed?"
"Reroute all energy to this section of the ship only! This is the only section I need anyway."
"Understood, rerouting."
And with that, the derelict carrier went back to live, if only partially, and arrays of solar panels bloomed on the ship's surface. Parts of the ship shutdown while only the hangar area is lit.
The Night Fury stay connected to the power grid for a while before it finally let go of the cable. The Hangar area is now fully active and lit.
Hiccup chuckled. "Well… I gotta hand it to you. Size of a frigate, power of a dreadnought indeed." Hiccup took off his helmet and looked at the Dragon, face to face at last.
The Dragon Frigate turned to face him as well, scanning his face in its entirety, not deterred by the visor of his oxygen helmet.
"Nice to meet you." The Night Fury heard of Hiccup's voice for the first time. It growled and Hiccup also heard the Dragon's growl for the first time as well. They've exchanged greetings.
"Well… now we're done with the pleasantries… let's get to work." Hiccup grabbed a huge chunk the shed Dragon plate and had just lifted it one handed (in Zero G) when the VI sounded:
"Activating artificial gravity."
And everything went back to 1 G and Hiccup nearly got crushed by the ridiculously heavy plating, which sank as it fell to the steel floor. The other shed platings that were just floating around until a moment ago also fell down like rain, some even fell on the black frigate. Not that it gave the Dragon even a scratch.
"OI! VI! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!" Hiccup roared angrily.
"N-n-no sir. But a-a-artificial gravity activation is p-p-part of the ship's s-s-standard procedure."
Great. The VI was so busted, it was buggy and stuttering. Hiccup sighed and then looked at the dragon shed skin. He grabbed the plate and groaned as he could no longer lift it. It must've been very dense and weigh around a few metric tons! He looked around and groaned. There's no power suit in sight (not that he could use them even if there's one around) and the crane is not gonna cut it. But normally in the workshop, the minerals he need were already been melted down or at least in bite size that humans can carry.
The Night Fury looked amusingly as the human tried several times to lift a piece of its skin. It felt it too when suddenly it felt its entire weight coming back at it. The human carrier's primitive artificial mind must've activated an artificial gravity. Funny, it was so much less than Berk's. It watched as the human struggled to lift the piece of its shed skin. Deciding it's gone too long, the Alien Warship decided to give the human… this… 'Hiccup' a little more help.
It extend its manipulator arm once more towards the shed plating. Hiccup watched. What does the dragon up to now?
Hiccup watched as the manipulator arm sent a surge of electricity to the plate. The Night Fury motion Hiccup to try it again. Hiccup blinked, wondering what's all this about and grab hold of the plate and ready to lift it with both arms with all the strength he could muster. Hiccup gaped at what happened next. He lifted the entire plate… and its weight is practically inexistent. To emphasize this, Hiccup removed his one arm and lifted the plate with just his index and thumb.
Hiccup's engineering mind quickly go through an entire catalogue of every known element, every permutation in the universe which had this unique property. And then it hit him like a brick: "…you're… plated… in an Element Zero composite armor?"
In laymen term: the Night Fury's outer armor is composed… of the most expensive and the rarest, most sought after element in the galaxy… and it's been shedding abundant amounts of them like scab for God knows how long!
…Sweet Holy Mary Mother of Jesus and Mercy…
The realization made Hiccup drop the plate, much to the Dragon Frigate's chagrin.
Hiccup regained his bearings soon after however and realized this is no time to be overwhelmed. "Alright. Alright! I get the message. Let's get to work."
And in the many, many busy hours that ensued afterwards, Hiccup realized then that fixing Night fury's platings isn't a simple matter. Oh no. It's clear that it's much complex than that, and he didn't know what that is. It doesn't help with the fact that his first attempt resulted in the Night Fury violently respond with a plasma bolt that barely missed him. He didn't blame it. He did try to forcibly meld burning hot plating into an exposed circuit by mistake. Chalking it up to a wrong composition of the plating, Hiccup simply re-melted the faulty plating and redo the process allover again.
After dozens of attempts, Hiccup was still trying to figure out what's wrong, but his body gave up first and he fell on his knees. And yet, the teen still trying to get back to his computer and insistent on trying to redo his calculation.
The Night Fury watched all this quietly. If only there's a way for the Frigate to communicate with the human kit in a more vocal manner. It can tell him that he had been wrong from step one. Fixing its shredded plating isn't a simple matter of melt it down, cast it into shape and then welded them to its skin. Oh heck no. It is much more complicated than that. The question is, how should it communicate this fact to Hiccup? But, as it scanned Hiccup's vital sign, it was surprised to see how much its vitals had deteriorated. What compels this human to do this? No. The boy cannot die now. Not yet. Not like this. He must survive.
With that conclusion, the Night Fury extended its manipulator arm and bar Hiccup's path to the computer.
"What?" The Night Fury shook its head. "Don't worry. I'll get it right. I know it hurts, but bear with it will you?"
The Night fury shook its head and pointed on the floor. The manipulator arm move back and forth between the floor and Hiccup. The Night fury even landed and docked down. It folded its large wings in a forward sweep, encasing the upper half of its frame. Hiccup caught the meaning.
"I can't rest now."
The Night Fury open up its wings backward and growled menacingly, stomping its arm as a warning.
Hiccup jerked back and finally realized, the Night Fury was right. He was frail in the first place and it won't do much good thinking when he was half alive. "Alright. You win. I'll rest." Finding a comfortable debris Hiccup sat down. Just as the Night Fury had suspected, a snore can be heard within a few seconds the boy lay down. The Night Fury also fold its wings forward again, and just like that, entered a stasis mode (sleep mode).
Hours later…
The Night fury went online again and scanned its surrounding. Its audio sensors caught the sound of furious button pressing. It looked around and saw Hiccup, sitting in front of the computer, typing.
Why, the organic creature sure is dedicated. It zoomed on the screen and found… human numeric? What is he up to this time?
The sound of the Alien Frigate activating did not escape Hiccup's ears. But he was too interested in what he's doing right now than to turn around.
It wasn't until when he finally finished what he's doing did Hiccup dared to show his awareness and turn around to show the synthetic audience his handiwork.
"Still confused over your plating composition… so… kinda… took a bit of a time for refreshing. Sorry."
The Night Fury looked at the computer screen. A series of 0s and 1s. A code. Human encryption codes. A primitive one, it seems. Frigate scanned the numbers from left to right, and at the end of the right, there's a letter. Apparently, the series of numbers represent the encryption code for that particular human alphabet.
The Night Fury read the letters from top to bottom. It formed a word. A name:
Toothless.
It remembered the boy called it that. Ergo, it was the Night Fury's name. Its callsign designated by the boy. Suddenly, a spark of an idea emanates from the depths of its system.
And then, to Hiccup's great bewilderment, the Fury's manipulator arm extend and touched/connected with the computer. And suddenly, the computer began humming at an alarming rate and when it's over, the Computer crashed, showing a series of thousands of numbers.
"Oi! You crashed the computer! Great! Now I have to reboot!" Hiccup's arm went to the reset button, but the Fury's manipulator arm slap it hard.
"W…What?" Hiccup turned around and saw the Frigate eying on him, pointing at its handwork on the screen. Hiccup looked at the screen and finally realized it was a code. An encryption… which the Fury asked him to decrypt.
"You want me to decrypt this don't you?"
The Dragon nodded.
Hiccup looked at the thousands of numbers filling the screen. It's just like that encryption of his EMP missile lock system. Only that it's several times more complex.
"You sure you don't want me to concentrate on fixing you up?"
The Dragon growled in assurance.
"Alright then. I'm not getting anywhere with your plating anyway…" Seeing no other alternative, Hiccup began to decipher it. Minutes after minutes passed, and before he knew it, Hiccup's table was already filled with sheets of papers filled with mathematic calculations. Leaving the math wiz on his own, the Alien Warship secretly picked one of the calculation sheet and scan it. Studying it and print something on it.
After a while, Hiccup became more and more confident with his work. That's the fun part about math in his opinion. You get puzzled at first, but once you cracked it, everything begin to make sense. The numbers that Toothless made is an encryption written in another different encryption. He slowly translate it, number by number, every line follows a different function. Eventually, he came up with a set of binary codes, forming 6 letters. The boy blinked as he recognized the word… the name those letters formed:
Hiccup.
His name. When Hiccup gets back on his feet, he felt something on his back and quickly turned around. The Night fury was staring at him with that calm square like digital eyes. It seems quite pleased that it finally managed to communicate properly with him.
Hiccup was awed. The boy stretched out his hand, trying to touch at least its underbelly.
The Night fury jerked back for a moment, startling the boy. Hiccup thought for a moment, and finally he decided to close his eyes, avoid eye contact… and outstretched his hand, waiting for whatever's coming to him.
The Night Fury close in on the boy's outstretched arm… and finally touched the hand gently with its snout.
Hiccup's eyes widened at the sensation of touching the living warship.
It's not cold or silent. It's warm… and pulsing with life.
This thing is alive. These Dragons… they're not just a fleet of AI warships… They're… they're ALIVE. In more ways than one.
Too bad their moment of first contact was disturbed by a sudden incoming call from Hiccup's comline.
"Hiccup! Where are you?" Gobber's voice sounded from the com.
"Gobber?"
"Searched allover the bunk and the starport guard said you took my freighter. Where are you?"
"I'm… I'm just flying it around… ya know… let off some steam."
"Don't feel too bad about what happened today. (Sigh) Look, we're gathering up for some BBQ. You coming?"
"Go ahead and start without me, I'll come back as soon as I can."
"Alright."
Hiccup looked at the Frigate before him. "I have to go back. But I promise you I'll return here."
The Night Fury understood. It handed the piece of paper it took earlier to Hiccup before it back away and docked with the other Starship and fold its wing forward, powering down.
Hiccup looked at the paper the frigate returned to him and noticed a few more codes. Similar with the one he decrypted earlier. He looked around and finally took a small piece of the Frigate's shed plating along with all his calculation papers and went back to the Freighter. Before he left, he turned one last time to the now dormant Alien starship.
"…see you again soon… Toothless."
When Hiccup arrived to the Maw indoor garden, everyone had already gathered around the makeshift bonfire.
"Ah! Hiccup, so glad you can join at last. Sit down there… now… where was I? Oh yes. The Dragon blasted my shotgun away and I retaliate by punching him. But he just bite them down and swallow it whole. And then I get a good look on its face: This Krogan's pretty delicious! It must've passed the word because it wasn't a month before another one took my leg." Gobber was telling stories about his past bouts with the Dragons.
"Isn't it weird to think your hand was inside a dragon? Like if your mind was still in control of it, you could have destroyed the dragon from inside by crushing his circuitry or something." Fishleg went on with his nerdy talk.
"I swear, I'm so angry. I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight, with my face." Snotlout rant around with his bravado.
Gobber appreciate the sentiment but that's not what fighting a dragon is all about. "No, no. Remember, it's a battleship. Cutting its leg means nothing. It's the wings and its propulsion system you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon."
At that point Hiccup can only think of Toothless. Toothless clearly coinstitue as a downed Dragon. And whatever damage he had inflicted upon him had made him one. But… what exactly he's supposed to do? Then he remembered the encryption Toothless showed him. How they exchanged words with those encodings. Could it be…
Gobber yawned. It's getting pretty late. "All right, I'm off to bed. You should be, too. Next week we get to the big boys, and you all know what that means? That's right, you'll start learn how to use your Power Suit. Slowly but surely we're making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare. But who'll win the honor of killing it and become the new Squad Leader?"
Everyone was excited when they heard it, everyone except Hiccup.
"It's gonna be me. It's my destiny. See?" Tuffnut showed a mark on his enviro suit.
Fishleg gaped in awe. "Your mom let you get a tattoo on your suit?"
"It's not a tattoo, it's a birthmark."
"You can't have birthmark on your enviro suit you idiot." Tuffnut followed.
"Yes, I can. You've just never tried because you're too scared aren't you?"
"You think I'm scared?"
"Yes you are. Scared of your own ugly face!"
"Ugly? We're twins you stupid genius!"
And the two went into their daily dose of sibling brawl. Ignoring the bickering duo, Hiccup decided to leave. But before that, there's something he need to ask. "Gobber?"
"Yes Hiccup?"
"…when the Dragon passed the word about how delicious you are… how did they do it?"
"What?"
"How did the Dragon's communicate with one another?"
"Why… they're hive minded. They're… synthetic warships… they're using Electromagnetic signals in encrypted channel."
"Have we ever tried to intercept those signals?"
Gobber was truly confused on where this conversation going. "Well… yes. Of course we tried. But all we get is gibberish. We just can't decrypt their signals."
"Do you have a copy of that signal?"
"Well, we just can't understand what they say or care-"
"Do YOU. HAVE. A copy?" Hiccup repeated a tad louder with pressure.
Gobber went completely silent at the tone. He sometimes forgot that Hiccup is Stoick's son. Some part of the Father is bound to get imprinted on the son, at least. "It's in my workshop, on the Ghost Drive."
"…thanks."
Hiccup left without another word. Astrid, in particular, was somewhat taken back. She never saw that side of Hiccup. The Stubbornness issue that all Marauder seem to possess apparently passed on to Hiccup as well. 'Well… maybe what I said in the ring did give him something to think about." And with that, she resumed her meal.
Meanwhile, Hiccup went straight to the workshop and opened Gobber's computer. He searched for the Ghost Drive and for the copy of the Dragon communication signal. The screen soon show a depiction of wavelength in chaotic amplitude and changing colors.
"…okay… let's see if this works." Soon Hiccup began tinkering with the computer, creating a program, and a function. "Converting electromagnetic wavelength variants into numbers… and… print."
The Printer let out sheets of papers filled with nothing but numbers. Hiccup scanned the numbers and caught several familiar encryption. His heart skipped a beat when a realization hit him.
"Could it be?"
The light in Gobber's workshop was on all night.
The next morning, Gobber gaped at the abundant amount of paper overflowing on the workshop. Sitting on top of the pile of papers was, sleeping Hiccup with the worst case of eyebags he had ever seen.
"Hiccup? HICCUP!"
"Zzz… Zz-WHA!" The teen jerked up from his slumber. "What?"
"Were you here all night?"
"I… What time is it?"
"8 o'clock. Morning."
"I overslept…? I OVERSLEPT!"
"Relax… no attack last night… seems your dad gave the Dragons so much beating, I don't think there's gonna be another raid for some time."
"Ye…Yeah… Okay." Hiccup looked around and remembered what he was working on yesterday. He gathered himself up. "Sorry about the mess Gobber… I was…"
"Well… it's okay. What are you working at?"
"A… Project."
"Hiccup. I hope this-"
"It's NOT what you think. It's safe. For everyone. I think." Hiccup smiled. Oh… won't the Krogan be surprised if he find out what he did.
"Okay… if you say so… Anyway… just here to wake you up and remind to mind the station." Gobber thought for a moment and finished with: "And for the Love of my Ancestor, clean this place up."
"Understood. Don't worry… I got what I need." Hiccup took one piece of the most important paper out of all the pile of papers he made last night. "I'll clean up the rest… and Gobber… I may be a little busy… for a while."
"You're not doing anything dangerous… are you?"
"Who me?" Hiccup took a moment and realized that was a wrong response. They both know Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the 3rd is synonymous with danger. "…well… it's not that dangerous. I'll survive. From my lips to God's ears."
"Okay…"
And Gobber left while Hiccup remained on the workshop, cleaning up all the papers. As he looked at each paper, he still couldn't believe that he had done it.
That Krogan taste nasty. Don't bite him.
BLaaargh! I bite his leg.
Be careful with the red haired one. He's a bag of pain, that one.
The big one or the little one?
The big one! What do you expect!
Hiccup chuckled. Oh… how many scientists in Berk would be tearing their hair off over this?
Many had tried to do what he had done with highly sophisticated quantum scanners, super computers, satellite hackers…
He did it with just old school paper and pen.
He, John Hiccup Horrendous III, is the first human who had decrypted and translated the Dragonese Encryption.
Dragon Codex:
Deadly Nadder:
Frigate Class
The Nadder is the most well balanced and versatile of all dragon warships, thus making it the powerhouse of the Dragon Fleet. It is composed of three separate sections, each with its own set of weapons. The front section, which is its head contain its primary armament (aka its dragon breath) which is a variable output Ion Cannon. Nadder can charge its ion cannon through several levels of power and alter the strength of its ion cannon as needed: ranging from an anti personnel laser cutter (the weakest) to an anti fortress positron stream. Mid section contains its wings, which is armed with a pair of six barrel pulse Gatling gun. This is mainly used to deal with anything: from air to ground targets. The rear section contains two sets of weapons: its rear legs which double as boosters and Anti heavy beam cannon battery for dealing with armored ground targets, and its tail, with each scales on it are interchangeable-warhead smart missile launchers for ground bombardment and, most often, as anti air countermeasures. The Nadder's design is made mostly for urban combat. Its scaled plating, when not on fight or hiding, is usually somewhere between rainbow blue to green, but it can change its coloration to match surroundings. Though rarely seen, it is confirmed that Nadders can also dive down and submerge in water, acting as submarines. It is the best naval unit in the fleet with underwater speed rumored to equal that of a Night Fury in flight mode.
Armament: Nadders' flight is supported by a series of boosters situated in its wings and legs. Nadders only have average top speed but it can achieve that speed in record time, and it can decelerate at an instant. No Dragon has Nadder's maneuverability (except Night Fury). In battle, a poor ground walker by nature, coupled with its handicapped vision, it usually prefers to hover around on top of the battlefield at low altitude, positioning itself on a spot where it can use all its weaponry with impunity and most often would mainly use its Gatling Gun in conjunction with other secondary weaponries depending on the target (beam cannon for ground targets, missiles for air target or target in range) during the cooldown period of its Dragonbreath.
Oh Yeah! Factor: Nadder's field of vision is severely limited because each of its eyes is situated on opposite sides of its wide head. One eye can only see one side of its head, this unable it to see anything that stood directly in front of its snout. It has very keen sonar sensors though, so don't sneeze! And on a side note: Nadders display textbook narcissism.
Oh Shit! Factor: Versatile and can handle just about anything. Expect reasonable firepower no matter how you attacked it.
Threat Level: A
Shoot on sight. Some stealth and discretion needed.
Gargantuan Swarmer:
Carrier Class
At first glance, the Swarmer appears to be a gigantic dragon, dwarfing even Gronckles. But if one were to look carefully, one would quickly notice that the Swarmer's main body is that of a cruiser, slightly smaller than the Gronckle, but that relatively small body is supported by a pair of ridiculously oversized wings (each size about three times bigger than its own body). The Wing however, is the Swarmer's main feature: it house an entire fleet of drones used for a variety of purposes. The most often being as an offensive method, in which the drones work as razor sharp projectiles that overwhelm and completely cut all opposition down to size (Hence it was categorized as Carriers). The Dragon itself has no other self defense weapon and virtually helpless without its shuriken drone fleet. But the Swarmer also demonstrates another form of Dragon's technological prowess: it is also, literally, a mobile mass relay station and beacon. This feature requires at least two swarmers to be working in tandem: one act as the gate of entry, the other act as the beacon for exit. Weirdly enough, the dragon itself cannot engage in FTL travel and float around very slowly. The Night Fury remains the only known dragon capable of engaging FTL travel at will (and without the need of gateways).
Armament: an indeterminate number of small drones used mostly to slice and dice things. A very passive dragon which rarely attack directly, preferring to call in hordes and hordes of reinforcements with its role as a mobile mass relay.
Oh yeah! Factor: Has no weapon other than its drones. And its main body is also relatively weak, though heavily shielded.
Oh Shit! Factor: Able to call in an army with a blink of an eye.
Threat level: S
Never engage without an army on your back.
Codex Updated:
Element Zero
(Atomic Number 0, Chemical Symbol Ez), also known as 'eezo', is a substance that, when subjected to an electrical current, releases dark energy which can be manipulated into a mass effect field, raising or lowering the mass of all objects within that field. A positive current increases mass, a negative current decreases it. This 'mass effect' is used in countless ways, from generating artificial gravity to manufacturing high-strength construction materials. It is most prominently used to enable faster-than-light space travel. When humans discovered the Prothean ruins on Mars, they also discovered refined element zero that the Protheans had left behind. It enabled research into FTL ship drives before the Charon Relay was discovered. Eezo is generated when solid matter, such as a planet, is affected by the energy of a star going supernova. The material is common in the asteroid debris that orbits neutron stars and pulsars. These are dangerous places to mine, requiring extensive use of robotics, telepresence, and shielding to survive the intense radiation from the dead star. Only a few major corporations can afford the set-up costs required to work these primary sources. For this very reason, Eezo remains a very rare mineral even today and have a very high price tag per kilo (which continuously increasing).
Hiccup's Journal Rec. 2:
This… is a very interesting encounter for today. The Night Fury… Toothless… is smart. And I mean smart I mean he's… intelligent. I'm not talking Monkey See monkey Do kinda thing. He's intelligent enough to use whatever resources he have. Like his choice to remain in the derelict Carrier. His actions implied that he was aware of the ship's role and capability to support and repair other starship.
He was even smart enough to hotwire our system, which, I think, he would consider to be grossly primitive. And to think his entire outer casing was made by an Eezo composite… that is one rich dragon. Scanned the tail fin earlier. And based from the glimpse of what I've seen… that tail fin is some sort of… Processor. It absorb abundant amount of data and then process them somehow and transfer it back… somewhere. Haven't got enough to work with.
Finally we figure out a way to communicate with each other. We just need to streamline it. He did give me some encryptions on the paper. Translating it later.
Who knows. I may got hand of something very interesting. End of recording.
And that's it, for now. R&R, ladies and gentlemen. R&R. Hate it, like it, despise it, flame it. Let me know what you think.