Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

"BRAAAAAP.Warp Core breach imminent.All hands. Abandon Ship.BRAAAAAP.Warp Core breach imminent.All hands. Abandon Ship.BRAAAAAP.Warp Core breach imminent.All hands. Abandon Ship.BRAAAAAP."

Jack's ears were ringing from the loud warning klaxon that interrupted the ship wide emergency broadcast every couple seconds. He'd never imagined finding himself in this situation, never thought it possible that they would have to abandon the Enterprise.

The ship shook violently, and Jack slammed into the wall next to him, his head hitting the wall as he was thrown off his feet. The slightly curved hallway was filled with smoke, pierced by the red emergency lights and sparks gushing out of broken wall panels.

Jack coughed violently, trying to find his bearing again, staggering as he got to his knees, the dense smoke burning in his eyes, filling his lungs.

A powerful hand clasped his arm then, pulling him up.

"Keep moving, Jack!" North bellowed, tugging him along, further down the hallway, but Jack could barely stay on his feet, his vision swimming. Was it from the smoke inhalation or the blow to the head?

Before Jack could decide what was going to kill him, North shoved him through a door, and into one of the small escape pods. Jack moved to the side to allow North to follow him, but the man just stood in the doorway, his broad silhouette cloaked in billowing smoke and red light, almost like a vision straight from hell.

"What..?" Jack croaked, reaching for the man that was almost like a father to him.

The next thing Jack would remember was the explosion of the emergency seal, the violent movements of the escape pod as it was launched from the Enterprise, ripped away as it exited the warp bubble, tossed and turned in the wake of the ship. Then everything went dark.

************************************************140 Years Later************************************************

Space. The final frontier. Humanity had stared up at the stars for thousands of years, wondering what secrets it might hold. An infinite expanse of possibilities. Though right now, Hiccup was only staring at the dull grey walls of Starbase 117. He was leaning against the window frame of his ready room, arms crossed as he formulated his log entry.

“Captain’s log, Stardate 54523.2: Moments before the Enterprise was about to set off on its expedition into uncharted space, we’ve been delayed by an urgent mission. While we are still docked at Starbase 117, receiving some last minute resupplies, we have an important change in our crew roster.

Our First Officer has been reassigned to the USS Bradbury and has already departed.

I’ve been informed that a new first officer has been selected by Starfleet headquarters and will be joining us shortly. He will have to adapt quickly, since our mission is an urgent one.

The Andulien Republic, a small nation on the edge of Federation space, yet one of our most important trade partners in this sector, has suffered a devastating attack from their neighboring planet. Details are still sparse, but we are to transport Federation Ambassador Harrington to the system, to hopefully negotiate a peaceful resolution.”

Hiccup bit his lip, wondering if he needed to include anything else. It felt wrong, somehow, to see anything but the vast emptiness of space from this window. And even though they’d been on the move for weeks, he already wanted to get going again. A ship wasn’t supposed to be tethered to a harbor. Thankfully, they wouldn’t be staying long.

He shrugged, pushing off from the window frame, and walked towards the door. “End log.” he said, in keeping with his promise to keep the logs short and to the point.

‘Keep your flowery prose to the personal logs.’ Admiral Anderson had said with his usual gruff, but slightly amused tone. Apparently a lot of people in Starfleet read the public logs of their flagship, and Hiccup tended to lose himself in supposedly unnecessary descriptions. He smiled to himself. Wasn’t his fault that space exploration tended to expose him to stunning vistas and compelling stories. Who could blame him for describing them with the necessary amount of awe?

The door hissed open as he approached it and Hiccup stepped onto the bridge—the command center of the ship—which was almost empty while the Enterprise was docked. Another rare and almost uncomfortable sight, since Hiccup was used to having at least ten people in this room. It was a large and brightly lit space, feeling deserted like this. The workstations lining the oval-shaped room’s back walls were left vacant, except for a young ensign monitoring vital systems. The only other person in the room was Lieutenant Toothiana at the expansive communications station on the right side of the bridge, facing towards the view screen.

“Already done composing yourself?” she asked, her voice full of cheer.

“What! I wasn’t composing anything.” Hiccup said with a playful glare in her direction. “Aside from a log, perfectly compliant with Starfleet regulations, that is.”

“Of course, captain.” she looked up, eyebrow raised. “I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.”

“That’s right.” he huffed in reply, straightening his uniform as he paused in front of her station. “You’re saying there’s something I should be worried about.”

Tooth glanced at the ensign on the other side of the room and leaned forward conspiratorially. Friendly banter aside, it wasn’t good practice to openly mock the captain.
“Just try not to be awkward about it.” she said in a low voice “starting out on a new ship is difficult enough.”

Hiccup crossed his arms and raised his chin. “When have I ever been awkward about anything?” Tooth didn’t reply, only giving him a deadpan look. Hiccup huffed, though a smile was playing around his lips.

“I can be diplomatic when the time calls for it! I fully intend to make him feel welcome.” he started walking towards the lift again. “Besides, if my welcoming committee isn’t enough, I’m sure my more than charming bridge crew will make up for it.” he threw over his shoulder.

“Of course, captain. And good luck!” Tooth replied cheerfully, ignoring his sarcasm.

Hiccup shook his head as he stepped into the turbolift, propelling him down a couple of decks to the transporter room. So what if he was a little apprehensive about this meeting? It wasn’t every day that high ranking officers were replaced, after all. The previous first officer, Mia Collins, had left only yesterday, and Hiccup couldn’t deny he was glad to be rid of her. They’d worked together for five years, but Hiccup had never really warmed up to the woman. A professional work relationship was good enough, most of the time, but there was certainly room for improvement. Collins’ farewell party the day before hadn’t been a very tearful affair, with only a brief round of speeches, followed by an early departure. Though the other officers—unwilling to let a good excuse for a party go to waste—had celebrated late into the night. Hiccup was glad that only synthehol was involved, otherwise he’d still be suffering the consequences.

He’d read Commander Frost’s personnel file, of course, but that couldn’t really tell him how they’d work together as a team. Plus, reading said file had been wild to say the least, and it had left Hiccup with more questions than answers. As always, he’d just have to wait and see how it would pan out. Hiccup would have preferred to fill the vacancy with someone he already knew, but Starfleet had been insistent.

The turbolift doors opened a couple of seconds later, and Hiccup made his way to the transporter room. Astrid was already waiting for him as he stepped inside, casually leaning against the control console, reading something on her padd, the small device casting a faint blue hue on her pale face.
Her golden blonde hair was combed to the side, barely reaching her shoulder, the left side of her head decorated by an intricate undercut.

“Just in time.” she said, without looking up or making any other acknowledgement of Hiccup’s arrival.
“Well obviously,” Hiccup replied, walking to the middle of the room, facing the large transporter pad, which left Astrid off to his side. “-wouldn’t want our new first officer to be subjected to your kind of welcome.”

Astrid scoffed, pushing off the console and stepping up next to Hiccup, bumping his shoulder with hers in the process. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she said, glaring at him, though she couldn’t quite hide the smile playing around her lips.

“Oh you know, things like this just require a certain charm and sensitivity! And you’re severely lacking in that department, as we all know.” Hiccup said, shrugging and gesturing between the empty platform and Astrid.

She scoffed again “Let's see you charm your way out of a headlock if you keep running your mouth.”

“Aw, you wouldn’t do that to your poor captain, now would you?” Hiccup asked, glancing over to her with a broad smile. Astrid just smirked, shaking her head in amusement. That argument firmly settled, Hiccup straightened out his uniform jacket a little and folded his hands behind his back. It was the same collection of dark blue fabrics Astrid wore, just that the four stripes on his shoulders were golden, compared to the three red ones on her uniform, denoting his role in Command, and hers in the Operations department.

They let the silence drag on for another moment, listening to the ever present hum of the ship. The new commander was supposed to arrive on the station any minute now, and instead of letting him walk from whatever shuttle got him there to the Enterprise, they would just beam him over as soon as they were in range.

“Any news from the shuttle yet?” Hiccup asked, looking over his shoulder at the ensign standing at the control panel.
“No Sir, nothing yet.” the young woman replied, swiping her fingers over the screen to check again.

Hiccup turned back to the transporter pad, his thumb tapping out a rhythm against his other hand. “Have you read his file?” he asked Astrid, his voice lowered a little.

Astrid nodded, raising her eyebrows “Yeah that was quite the read, I wouldn’t believe it all if it wasn’t an official document. But I looked it up, and it all fits together, as crazy as it sounds.”

“Right? I thought his face looked familiar somehow, but I didn’t put it together at first. Then I checked the historical account, and lo and behold, he’s actually on the record.”

Astrid shook her head slowly, looking into the middle distance. “I can’t imagine what it’s like, being thrust 140 years into the future like that. Imagine you wake up and the world is completely different.”

Hiccup nodded, his expression somber “And everyone you know is long gone.” he added quietly, trying to wrap his head around the experience. Commander Frost’s personnel file really had read more like a science fiction story than reality, but Hiccup knew firsthand that even the strangest things could happen out here. It was a vast universe ─ or multiverse?─ and despite all the progress, humanity’s and the Federation's understanding of it was very limited. The more they explored, the smaller their pool of knowledge seemed to him.

Which led him to believe that any ‘hard rule’ of the universe was only true until it wasn’t.

Frost had been first officer on the original USS Enterprise NCC 1701, more than 140 years ago. The ship had been famously believed to be lost with all hands in a warp accident back then, but apparently that wasn’t true. Just three years ago, an escape pod from the ship had appeared, deep in Federation space, containing a half frozen and severely malnourished commander Frost.

No one had been willing to believe what they were witness to at first, of course, but the evidence was overwhelming. Everything from the escape pod to Frost himself had checked out to be, as impossible as it seemed, from the past, in ways that were impossible to fake.

And now, after three years of recovery and catching up at the academy, he had been assigned to the new Enterprise-NCC 1701-F.
Which was a completely different ship, it's only connection to the old Enterprise being the legacy name.

Hiccup couldn’t help but wonder at Starfleet command’s decision. How did a person live with circumstances like that? Let alone go back to such an important job, with so many memories attached to it? Was this some sort of publicity stunt from command? Sure, Frost had been first officer before, but would he be able to perform that role again, and so soon? Hiccup bit his lip, not for the first time wondering if this was doomed to fail one way or another. Admiral Anderson had already assured him that he could deny Frost’s assignment if it didn’t work out, but he would have to make that decision before they left for their expedition.

Still, he was willing to give it a try, and he would have to do whatever he could to make Frost feel welcome.

**********

Jack slowly turned the golden Starfleet badge in his hands, watching the glint of the shuttle’s interior lights reflect off the shiny surface. He was sitting on a bench lining the side of the shuttle, his elbows resting on his knees. In his time, it had only been a sigil, sewn into the fabric of his uniform shirt, now the arrowhead-shaped badge was detachable and actually contained a bunch of technology. He’d miss flipping open a communicator, but he had to admit that it was more practical to include that tech in the easily reachable badge.

He sighed softly as he leaned back and reattached it to his uniform, the strong magnet under the blue fabric forcing it in the correct position.

Jack actually liked the new uniforms, at least. Not that it was important, but he’d never looked good in a mustard colored (and they had the audacity to call it gold) shirt.

The new, dark blue fabrics of the heavy jacket worked much better for him, if he could say so himself. Apparently Starfleet had decided to make the standard uniforms more practical, a few years back. Since no one could ever predict when and where danger lurked, it made sense to be prepared at all times. The new uniforms were still subtle and stylish, since Starfleet personnel wasn't supposed to look like soldiers ready for battle. But the multilayered jacket and pants had all sorts of practical properties, like a stab proof layer, and was usable in both hot and cold climates. Jack hadn’t bothered to read the full manual though, and was occasionally still discovering pockets.

He glanced out the opposite window, though all he could see was the blue swirl of the warp bubble. His new posting was only minutes away, and he wasn’t sure if he was excited or apprehensive. Either way, he could hear his heart hammering up his throat. This was going to work out fine, right? He’d worked hard to get up to date with science and technology, but three years suddenly didn’t feel long at all. Others had their whole life to immerse themselves in this time, while he had to learn about it as an outsider. Then again, these three years, half of which he spent in a hospital, half in the academy, had felt like the longest, and most boring time of his life.

He hadn’t joined Starfleet a hundred and fifty years ago, just to have an uneventful life on Earth. He’d felt restless just weeks after recovering enough to walk again, and he’d basically begged the admiralty to get him back in action. They’d been apprehensive about it for a long time, but he’d argued that he’d been chosen as first officer of the flagship back in 2260 for a reason, and that he could be an asset to Starfleet again. He’d just wanted a ticket out of San Francisco, and he hadn’t really cared where they’d put him. He’d never dreamed of being assigned to the new Enterprise though.

Yeah, whatever his heart was doing, it was definitely from excitement.

“Dropping out of warp now, Sir.” the pilot announced, and Jack nearly flew to his feet, gripping the frame of the large window. The shuttle shuddered slightly as it decelerated, and the blue swirl of warp dispersed, granting him a view of the stars again.

And not just that. Jack gasped quietly as the shuttle banked, revealing space station 117, and the ludicrously large ship docked at its side. Its hull was sleek and aerodynamic, the black and silver coloring stylish yet minimalistic. It looked completely different than his Enterprise, yet he felt his heart swell at the view as they drew closer. It was difficult to truly take in the size, yet he knew it was easily four times as long and more than twice as wide as the original ship. He'd leaved through the design manual of the new Enterprise, but he hadn't quite believed the numbers it boasted. Over a thousand meters long and four hundred wide, half a million metric tons spread out over fourty-five decks. It had sounded big alright, but seeing it docked to the station, brilliantly lit by the nearest sun, was an entirely different matter.

The shuttle made another turn, flying over the ship (maybe the pilot was taking pity on him) and Jack felt a lump in his throat as he read the large, illuminated ‘Enterprise NCC-1701-F’ lettering on the bow of the ship. The Enterprise. An entirely different ship, in a different time, with different people on it, and yet he still felt her pull. The old ship had been the only home he’d ever known, and he couldn’t help but wonder if this one could offer the same.

Ever since North had shoved him into that escape pod, Jack had felt untethered, adrift just like the pod he’d been trapped in for months. At least he had a new goal now.

“Entering transporter range now, Sir.” the pilot said, and Jack had to swallow thickly, pushing off the shuttle’s wall.

“Thank you..” he said, picking up his duffle bag from the bench and stepping over to the small transporter pad. “Whenever you’re ready.”

The pilot didn’t hesitate long and pressed a button on his dashboard. Jack felt the slight buzz of energy in his body as the golden light swirled around him. He blinked and in place of the shuttle, he was standing in a huge transporter room, alone on a large circular pad.

Two people were waiting for him, standing next to each other at attention.

A tough looking blonde woman with a serious set to her eyes, and a lanky man with a more approachable expression. His auburn hair somehow looked tousled and windswept in an intentional manner.

The man stepped forward as soon as the golden light disappeared, giving Jack a friendly, slightly gap-toothed smile, and held out his hand.

“Commander Frost, welcome to the Enterprise.” he said in a warm tone, and Jack nodded, taking the offered hand and shaking it briefly. The four golden stripes on the man’s shoulder made it rather easy to identify him.

“Thank you, Captain Haddock, it’s an honor to be here.” Jack replied politely. Meetings like this were always a little awkward, since everyone had read each other’s files beforehand, yet social norms required them not to let that show. Jack always found those introductory phrases to be so stilted and fake, but it was difficult to avoid them.

“It’s an honor to add such an accomplished officer to our team.” the captain said, stepping aside for the woman to shake Jack’s hand as well. “Commander Frost, this is Lieutenant Commander Hofferson, chief of security and operations.”

She gave Jack a rather firm handshake, and Jack tried not to wince, returning her friendly nod.

“Thank you, I’m aware of how lucky I am to be here. The Enterprise is a marvelous ship.” Jack said, glancing around the transporter room as if this was the most impressive room he’d ever seen. Complimenting the ship was low hanging fruit, but he had to say something.

Still, the captain smiled with genuine excitement at the remark as he folded his hands behind his back again.
“She is, isn’t she? What a time to be alive.” he said, before his smile twisted into a chagrined expression.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply…uh..you know because of your…past.” he grimaced at the last word, and Jack couldn’t help but snort slightly. So much for politely pretending not to know anything.

“It’s quite alright.” he reassured the captain, adjusting the strap of his duffle bag with a soft smile.
“I’m aware it’s a rather unique backstory.” The captain still looked a little frustrated at his less than optimal introduction, and Lieutenant Commander Hofferson shot the man an almost smug look.

“So much for charm..” she mumbled, and the captain scratched his neck.

“Yes, well we don’t have to get into it right away, let’s get you settled in first.” he said, apparently eager to move on “Did you leave your other personal effects on the shuttle?” he asked, gesturing to Jack’s bag.

“Nope, this is it, I travel light” Jack gave him a crooked smile, shrugging the shoulder holding the bag. He hadn’t been much of a collector in the first place, and then everything he did own had been lost with the original Enterprise. So he really only carried a couple of spare clothes.

The captain nodded in understanding, probably guessing as much. “I see. Well, Lieutenant Commander Hofferson here will show you to your quarters, and give you a little tour of the ship.” he said, clapping the woman on the shoulder, who side eyed him with a somewhat consternated expression. The captain lifted his hands in defense, giving the woman a chagrined smile.
“I would do it myself, but I’m supposed to meet with the ambassador on the station.”

He nodded to Jack. “I’ll fill you in on the mission details with the others later, once we’re on the way. In the meantime, welcome to the ship, make yourself at home.”

Jack smiled and nodded back, coming to stand next to Hofferson as he traded places with the captain, who stepped onto the transporter pad. “Thank you, I’m looking forward to our first mission.” he replied, and the captain nodded, first at him, then at the ensign at the control panel. The room lit up with golden light for a moment, and captain Haddock vanished.

“I hope the tour isn’t too much of a bother, we can always postpone it..” Jack said, tilting his head slightly, trying to gauge if the woman was genuinely annoyed about her duties, or if it had just been an inside joke between her and the captain. The two of them did seem to be rather relaxed around each other.

“Oh, there’s no need for that Commander Frost, I’ll gladly show off our ship.” she replied, giving him a genuine smile. “It’s true that we have a lot to do still, until we can leave, but I’ll always make time for that.” She gestured towards the door. “Maybe your quarters first then? We can have a look at the bridge while we’re up there, though it’s not fully staffed yet.”

Jack nodded, eager to get rid of his bag and excited to see the bridge. “Just Jack is fine with me, by the way.” he said as they stepped into the hallway, walking towards the turbolift.
Referring to each other by rank and last name always felt so impersonal to him, especially when it was just officers talking to each other.

“That’s good to know,” she smiled, holding out her hand once more as they walked, “I’m Astrid.”

He shook her hand and nodded, stepping aside slightly to dodge a group of engineering cadets carrying toolboxes, rushing in the opposite direction. The hallway was rounded and quite large, but so many people were bustling about that it still felt a little cramped. There really seemed to be some urgency to their preparations. Astrid caught his look.

“We had to move up the date of our departure because of this mission, that’s why everyone’s so busy. The plan was to leave for our expedition the day after tomorrow, but now we only had a couple hours to get everything done, which requires all hands.” she said, apologetic.

“Ah, it’s an urgent mission then?” Jack asked, following Astrid into the turbolift, which promptly hummed to life, carrying them upwards.
“Seems that way. We’re supposed to escort that ambassador the captain mentioned somewhere, but that’s about all I know” she replied.

“Sounds exciting.” Jack smirked as they stepped from the lift into a similar, but mostly empty corridor. “Hardly,” Astrid huffed, shrugging slightly “but you know how it is, sometimes the supposedly easy missions are the ones that really turn ugly. We’ll see.”
Jack nodded, having made that discovery himself. “Well as long as it’s fun.” he said, testing the waters a little. He didn’t take himself too seriously, but he’d met plenty of officers who didn’t appreciate his tone.

Astrid raised an eyebrow, but smiled slightly. “I’ll do what I can.” she replied, coming to a stop next to a closed door. She gestured to a touchscreen next to it. “Place your hand on the pad to sync the room with your information.”

Jack nodded, barely hiding a grin, and complied. The screen scanned his hand for a second or two, then turned green, and the door slid open. ‘Commander Jack Frost, First Officer’ appeared in bold lettering on the wall next to it.

“All the doors on the ship will recognize you by your biometrics and grant you access, of course. This is just an additional security measure for private quarters, you won’t have to do that every time.” Astrid supplied, gesturing for him to enter.

He stepped inside, and warm lighting automatically lit up the room. It was spacious, to say the least. The officer’s quarters were always the biggest, and the sheer size of the Enterprise-F definitely had a part to play in it. This room was easily twice the size of the captain's quarters of the original Enterprise. His living quarters included a huge open room with an entire couch and seating arrangement, and a small kitchen off to the side. The back wall was almost entirely composed of large windows, spanning from the ceiling to the floor, allowing a marvelous view out at the stars. Jack tried not to gape too openly as he took it all in, noticing another door, probably leading to the bedroom.

Astrid was waiting politely at the door, and Jack knew she had better things to do than wait on him, so he just quickly deposited his bag on the couch and walked back to her.
“I see no cost was spared for luxury.” he said appreciatively. It wasn’t like he needed a luxury apartment as quarters, but he wasn’t going to complain either.

“Yeah, they really went all out this time.” Astrid replied with a slight shrug, glancing around the room. “I reckon it’s quite different to the original Enterprise? That was more of a science vessel, right?” she asked, sounding carefully casual, like she was trying to see if that topic was alright to broach.

“Very different. Much smaller, obviously, but also just with different priorities. Everything was very functional, to waste as little space as possible.” he said as they exited the room, the doors hissing shut behind them.
“And that was the Enterprise, the older ships in the fleet at the time were downright dark and dingy, especially compared to this.” he let his eyes follow the large hallway that curved out of view, seemingly going on forever.

“Yeah, the current Enterprise is supposed to be a symbol as much as it is a flagship. The Federation wants to project strength and abundance out here, and what’s better to do that than a lavish ship.” she raised her hands, gesturing at the whole ship around them.
“And it’s important that the interior resembles a civilian craft, both for the mental health of the crew, as for visiting dignitaries. Our guiding principles are peace and diplomacy, which should not be undercut by negotiating from a battleship.” she said, sounding very much like a tour guide.

“I assume that’s straight from the shipyard’s design documentation?” Jack asked with a smile, recognizing the sentence vaguely. Of course he’d read all about the new Enterprise as soon as he’d come to terms with the fact that something like that existed, but he hadn’t thought Astrid would be as familiar with it.

She pursed her lips, slightly abashed. Not one to be called a nerd, was she?

“Would you like to see the bridge?” she asked with a begrudging smile. Maybe she was catching on to the fact that Jack was absolutely frothing at the mouth to see everything on this ship, and to see it in action. And who could blame him? Still, he tried to hold back his excitement a little, just so he wouldn’t be accused of bouncing off the walls.

“Definitely.” he replied, and they walked back to the turbolift. The officers quarters were located on the two decks right below the bridge, which meant the outer walls were almost diagonal, just like the windows in his quarters.

One level up, and the lift doors opened directly onto the bridge.

This time, Jack couldn’t quite help but gape as he took in the huge, oval room, dominated by the massive viewscreen at the front, covering almost the entire wall. The room was brightly lit, but in a surprisingly cozy way. The light had a warm tone to it, and the dark blue carpet covering the floor gave the whole thing an inviting atmosphere. Two workstations for helm and ship’s weapons were up front, closest to the screen, and two large, comfortable looking chairs were at the center of the room for him and the captain. The thought that this bridge was so strange and futuristic, yet still had a place for him was surprisingly touching. Like it had been waiting for him all this time, even if he knew that wasn’t true.

As expected, the bridge wasn’t fully staffed yet, since the ship was docked. Still, there were already more people working here than Jack was used to. The bridge of the original Enterprise was maybe half this big —probably even less, if he considered the ratio from the diameter of a circular room to floor area— and could fit only around nine people. With the smaller stations all around the walls of the room, and the four main stations around the captain’s seat, Jack counted sixteen chairs on this bridge. He looked around with wide eyes, though he tried to reign it in as much as possible.

“May I have your attention for a moment.” Astrid spoke up, loud enough for everyone to hear.
“I’d like to introduce our new first officer, Commander Frost.” she said, and the three ensigns dotted around the outer stations stood at attention for a moment, and Jack gave them a friendly nod. That left the two officers, who had been chatting at the station to the right of the captain’s chair, but were now politely waiting for them.

Astrid walked over to them, and Jack fell into step beside her. “Jack, this is Lieutenant Ingerman, Chief Science Officer.” she introduced a tall, heavyset man with straw blonde hair.
The man gave him a friendly grin and caught Jack’s extended hand with both of his, shaking Jack’s entire arm with vigor.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, welcome to the Enterprise! And uh..” he looked between him and Astrid, seeming a tad unsure of himself “just Fishlegs is fine by me, if you’re alright with that.”

“Of course, I’m Jack.” he replied, returning the smile and gratefully retrieving his hand. “No need to be all formal with me.” he added, looking over at the other officer, extending the invitation to her as well. She was the same height as him, with light brown skin and a very diverse set of hair colors. He couldn’t help but stare at the intricate patterns woven into her hair, all the colors of the rainbow somehow weaving together without clashing.

“I’m so glad to hear that! I’m Tooth, then, or Lieutenant Toothiana, Chief Communications Officer, in case you need to mention me in a glowing report or something.” she winked at him and shook his hand as well, giving him a wide, white smile that did her name justice.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Jack chuckled. Her friendly enthusiasm was infectious, and he found himself smiling back just as broadly. He’d served on many ships during his career, and while always professional, not every crew got along well with each other. But at least for now, everyone on the Enterprise had been open and friendly, and quite casual with each other. He just hoped it wasn’t just a first impression.

Just as he was about to ask about the rest of the bridge crew, he was distracted by a small, but bright blue flash on the viewscreen. He turned towards it, squinting his eyes slightly. The screen was mostly black, only showing part of the space station they were docked to, as well as some distant ships on approach. So the small, but rapidly growing spot of wavering blue and yellow light was easy to spot.

“What is that?” he heard Astrid quietly say beside him, her attention on the screen as well.

A loud, but brief warning klaxon blared to life on the bridge, and a red box lit up around the strange light on the screen.

“Collision Alert.” the ship's computer calmly stated, and Jack’s eyes widened. He looked over to Astrid, who’s eyes took in the mostly empty room before landing back on him.

“You’re ranking officer.” she said apologetically, already moving to her Operations station, which controlled the inner workings of the ship.

“Right..” Jack replied, swallowing thickly as he turned to Fishlegs and Tooth, who had also moved to their stations. This certainly wasn’t what he had expected to be doing in the first…half hour of his arrival here, but he was officially in command of the ship in the captain’s absence.

He shook his head, as if to shake himself from a daze, and stepped closer to the screen. “What am I looking at?” he asked, glancing over to Fishlegs. The man’s hands were already pushing and swiping at the screens surrounding his station.

“It’s a small ship…registered to the Andulien Republic…but we’re detecting a massive amount of energy and antimatter radiation spikes” he said, his bushy eyebrows scrunched together. He made another motion, and the cameras adjusted, zooming in on the bright light and tracking it. It was indeed a shuttlecraft of alien design, hurtling into their direction. One of its nacelles was apparently on fire, leaking a huge cloud of crackling energy and flames.

“It’s on a collision course and rapidly gaining speed. At this rate It’ll crash into the Enterprise in…two minutes.” Astrid said, her voice rushed, but trained to be perfectly calm.

Jack clenched his jaw, trying to ignore his unfamiliarity with the ship and its crew, the sudden rush into action he hadn’t been prepared for. He closed his eyes for just a second, pretending he was on the old, much more familiar bridge.

“Shields up, red alert.” he said, opening his eyes, a determined set to his brows.

A brief wail went through the ship, red warning lights flashing to life as the rest of the lights dimmed, giving the bridge a much less friendly appearance. “We’re still docked to the station, we can’t activate the shields.” Astrid said, and Jack cursed inwardly.

“Disengaging the docking clamps would take too long, I presume?” he said, stepping over to the captain’s chair and sitting down.

“We could disengage with the emergency explosive bolts, but that could end up venting the passenger gangway still attached. I can’t tell how many people are currently in there.” she replied, eyes darting over readouts on her screen.

Jack nodded, glanced at the main viewscreen which helpfully showed a timer, counting down from 80 seconds. Each second running out diminished their already meager amount of options.

“Can you hail the shuttle? Or does the station’s flight control have any more info on this?” he asked, turning to Tooth.

“I’m trying, but the leaking antimatter seems to be interfering with communications. Flight control has the same problem.” she replied in the same tone as Astrid, one hand on her earpiece. Just then the turbolift door opened, and half a dozen people rushed from it, quickly filling most of the remaining stations on the bridge. It was largely unnecessary to have the bridge fully staffed while docked at the station, but Jack had triggered the red alert, and everyone on duty had jumped to the task.

“Can we catch it with the tractor beam?” Jack asked, and Astrid answered almost before he had said it.

“Not from this angle, not something that big and fast.”

Jack hissed in a breath through his teeth. The main tractor beam, which would be needed to deflect a shuttle at this speed, emanated from the deflector dish, located underneath the bow of the ship, and the shuttle rocketed towards them from above. None of this would have been a problem if they weren’t still attached to this damn space station.

He had to make a choice, and he had to make it fast. They didn’t have time to even consider a third option. They either violently broke free from the station, potentially killing anyone currently boarding the ship, or they destroyed the Andulien shuttle before it could collide with the Enterprise. Either way, lives were at stake, and firing at a foreign vessel was not to be taken lightly. He cursed inwardly. His primary duty was to the people on this ship.

“Commander Frost to transporter room“ he said, his leg tapping out a nervous rhythm.

“Any life signs on that shuttle you can lock onto” he asked, his eyes glued to the dwindling time. “And ready phasers,” he added, before he even got an answer.

“Six life signs Sir, but I have trouble locking on, there’s a lot of interference.” Jack heard over the speakers.

“Phasers ready.” said the short blonde man that had rushed from the turbolift to the seat in front of Jack.

“You have ten more seconds, transporter room.” Jack said, leaning forward, gripping the armrest of the wide chair tightly.

“Locking on now sir.” he heard over the intercom, but his eyes didn’t leave the rapidly dwindling timer. Every second counted, so he didn’t wait for confirmation. The ensign in the transporter room either had the crew of the shuttle, or she didn’t. Either way, Jack had to protect the crew of his own ship.

“Fire phasers, full energy, vaporize that shuttle.” he said, and the blonde man nodded, pushing two sliders up on his console.

“Aye sir.” Four sustained, yellow beams lit up the viewscreen, spanning from the deck of the Enterprise to the shuttle, immediately blowing it to pieces. The explosion was entirely soundless, small and only a fraction of a second long as the shuttle’s oxygen supply caught fire. But even as the immense heat created by the blast melted whatever was left of the shuttle, there was no way to stop the small debris that started pelting the Enterprise moments later.

“Transporter room, do you have them?” Jack asked, his outward composure calm, though his grip on the armrest was white knuckled. There was a pause that was entirely too long, and Jack felt as if those seconds were drawn out to an absurd degree, everyone on the bridge collectively holding their breath.

“Yes sir, six people beamed aboard.” came the voice, heavy with relief. Jack let out a long breath, seemingly alongside the rest of the bridge crew. He settled back in the chair with a huff and looked over to Astrid, raising his eyebrows.

“Damage report?” he asked, hoping he hadn’t wrecked the ship on his first day.

First hour, really.

“No detectable hull damage, but we may have a couple cracked windows.” she replied, seeming just as relieved as Jack.

“That was fast thinking with the phasers.” she added, sending him a brief smile before she glanced down at her readouts again. “Our…surprise guests are being transferred to medbay now. I’ll go and have a look.”

“Thanks…I should probably join you, I would like to know what just happened.” he said a little distractedly, getting up from the captain’s chair and puffing up his cheeks as he blew out a breath. His heart was still racing, his head almost spinning with all that went down in the span of three minutes. One second he was just meeting some new colleagues, the next he had to order the destruction of an alien shuttle in a life and death scenario, and now he just went back to being the new guy?

“I didn’t expect your tour of the ship to be this exciting.” he said with a wry grin. It took Astrid a second to catch on, until her shocked look turned into an amused huff.

“Told you’d try my best to make it fun.”

She was about to turn towards the turbolift, but paused, looking past Jack’s shoulder.
“I suppose I should introduce you to the rest of the bridge crew, while we’re all here. Even if the circumstances aren’t quite as casual as I had planned.” she said, nodding to the two men who had manned the stations in front of Jack, closest to the viewscreen.

“Oh, yes of course.” Jack said, turning to see the two already rising from their seats. It was all a bit much to take in, but it was probably best to get it all over with. Once they were out on a mission, there would still be time to properly get to know everyone, and settle in more comfortably.

“Lieutenant Sanderson, Sir, pleasure to meet you.” the short blonde man said in a neutral voice, holding out his hand first, and Jack took it, blinking as he took in his strange golden eyes. Now that he had a closer look, he noticed that the man’s skin also had a golden hue to it, almost sparkling slightly in the light.

“The pleasure is mine,” Jack replied with a smile “that was some fine shooting just then.” he added, nodding to the viewscreen.
“Oh, and just Jack is fine by me.” Sanderson inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement, his face perfectly neutral.

“Understood Sir. I have found that some of the other officers find it comforting to refer to me as ‘Sandy’. You are welcome to follow their example, if you are so inclined.”

A fascinated smile crept over Jack’s face. He’d read about Lieutenant Sanderson, of course, the only android serving in Starfleet. He wasn’t sure if it would be rude to ask about his background, but he was eager to get to know him. Androids were still a difficult topic in the Federation, and Jack had heard a lot of different things about them. Speaking to an android himself would be fascinating. Though he didn’t want to abuse Sandy as a research project. That would definitely be disrespectful. Plus, if anything, this wasn’t the time to do it.

“I’d like that, thank you Sandy.” Jack said genuinely, and turned to the other, much taller man who had sat at the Enterprise’s helm.

Only, it wasn’t a man at all. Jack had to look up to meet acid green eyes with narrow black pupils, staring down at him evenly. He was a little taken aback by the intensity behind them, as if the being could see right through him. The officer wasn’t human, though Jack couldn’t tell what species stood before him. They had midnight black scales covering their skin, so dark it almost seemed to swallow up the light around them. Their face was rather flat, with reptilian nostrils, and instead of hair, the creature had ear plates and something like fins running down to their neck.

Jack tried his best not to gape, instead he mustered a friendly smile and held out his hand. Starfleet was rather diverse when it came to alien species these days, but he usually knew them. This one was entirely unknown and there was a primal sort of fear that made Jack swallow thickly, as the tall figure just stared at him inquisitively, green eyes burning with intensity, ignoring his outstretched hand. They had their arms crossed behind their back for an extended moment, before the officer glanced down, as if only now noticing Jack’s hand. They let out a deep, growling huff, but changed their stance to extend their own appendage. Their hand (paw?) had four large, black claws, and Jack could see how his very human gesture might be considered a foolish thing to offer. Still, the officer lightly batted against his hand, almost like a cat would in a play fight, before they crossed their arms behind their back again. Jack retrieved his hand sheepishly, feeling like he’d just stumbled into some sort of social blunder.

“This is Lieutenant Toothless.” Astrid said, quickly stepping to join the three of them, her smile a little apologetic. “He doesn’t like talking very much, but I’m sure he’s pleased to meet you too.” she added, giving Toothless a meaningful look, emphasizing the last few words of her sentence.

“He’s a dragon, it’s…” she hesitated for a second “..something you might want to ask the captain about, once there’s more time.”

Jack blinked at her, before looking up at Toothless again, trying and failing to hide his wonder. “A..a dragon?” he breathed, at a loss for anything more meaningful. The statement sounded absurd, but since he was clearly standing in front of a foreign species, it would be rude to question it, wouldn’t it? Either way, he hadn’t missed Astrid’s somewhat urgent tone.

“R-right..well it’s a pleasure to meet you Toothless, even if this is all a bit rushed.” he said, inclining his head respectfully. Not for the first time, he realized just how difficult it was to engage with different alien species. Even the most basic, most elemental signs of respect or aggression were not universal.

Some things could be complicated when dealing with other members of his own species, on his own planet, that had just grown up in different cultures. It was downright impossible to guess with aliens. What would his slight bow mean to a Dragon?

Either he’d gotten lucky, or the dragon was used to human customs, because he inclined his head as well, granting Jack a short growl and a terrifying, gummy…smile? Which Jack just elected to read as friendly.

**********

“Say that again?” Hiccup said, pressing a finger to the tiny earbud connected to his communicator, hoping he’d misheard Tooth. He’d already excused himself from the meeting, so he wasn’t worried about them hearing the slight edge of worry in his voice.

He’d been sitting in a conference room with the Federation Ambassador Harrington and Starfleet Admiral Anderson, waiting for the arrival of the Andulien contingent, which had been late to their own meeting.

Now Hiccup knew why.

Tooth was recounting what had happened on the bridge as he jogged down a corridor, until he found a door to the large observation deck of the space station. He hoped he was on the correct side of the station, and the amount of people standing close to the massive windows, gesturing outside and talking in animated tones certainly spoke volumes.

Hiccup pushed through the crowd, until he could see his own ship, still docked with no visible damage. Tooth had told him as much, but it was still a relief to see it.

An emergency shuttle that had apparently rushed to the scene still hovered close to the Enterprise, waiting for further instructions, since they had been too late to help with the malfunctioning Andulien ship.

“But you got them all off the ship safely?” he asked, just to make sure. Shooting down a vessel carrying a foreign delegation—including the nation’s president—was one thing. But if they had somehow killed them, it would have been very much problematic, even in an emergency. They were responsible for the Andulien’s safety while they were in Federation space, after all.

“Well mostly. We got them all off the shuttle, but one of the president’s bodyguards didn’t make it. He was wounded too severely in the initial explosion. But the others are being treated in medbay now, they’re a little banged up from the ordeal.” Tooth explained, and Hiccup drew in a tense breath. Not a good start, though it could have been even worse.

“Right..” Hiccup said, turning from the window to walk back to the meeting room. “I suppose I’ll go meet them there, and bring the ambassador with me on board.” he paused for a moment, chewing on his lip.

“Have Fishlegs examine the sensor readings from the last half hour, I’d like to know what happened. Even if there’s no wreckage to check.”

“Of course, I think he’s already on that.”

“Good. Hiccup out.” He really didn’t want to meet the Anduliens without an explanation at hand, since he couldn’t know if they were aware of the accident. Maybe they’d think the Enterprise had just opened fire. And that was definitely not a conversation he was looking forward to.

He made his way back to the meeting room, where he informed Ambassador Harrington and the admiral of the reason for the Andulien’s delay.

They both got to their feet, looking various shades of concerned.

Ambassador Harrington was a man solidly in his eighties, though he looked younger than that. He had thinning white hair and a weathered face, no doubt from decades of travel to the furthest reaches of Federation space. He wore his expensive silver robes with elegance, draping them around his slight stature as he stood.

“They shot them down?” he asked, his brow creased in shock. “Who authorized this?” He didn’t raise his voice, but the sharp tone still cut through the room.

“Yes, Ambassador. I don’t have all the details, but it was unavoidable, from what I’ve gathered. My crew wouldn’t have done it otherwise, I can assure you.”

Harrington gave him a frustrated look, visibly clenching his jaw and stepping closer to Hiccup.

“Well let's hope the Anduliens see it the same way. ‘Unavoidable’ tends to be rather subjective. To them it might just seem like we shot down a diplomatic delegation. What does it say about Starfleet that we couldn’t think of a better solution?”

“The issue will be investigated thoroughly, of course.”Admiral Anderson chimed in, stepping beside the ambassador, and giving Hiccup a meaningful look.

“Of course.” Hiccup replied, bristling, but trying not to get defensive. He didn’t like the implication that his crew would shoot down an allied ship in federation space without good reason.

“Maybe we should focus on the fact that we saved almost everyone on board the Andulien ship. They’re currently being treated in Enterprise’s medbay.” he said, redirecting the conversation.

He wanted to know what had happened himself, of course, but not necessarily with the admiralty and the ambassador looking over his shoulder.

“Fine” Harrington said, apparently somewhat placated, even if his brows were still furrowed.

“I shall meet them there, to smooth over any problems this has created.” he said, already moving towards the door.

“Of course, I will accompany you there.” Hiccup replied, following behind. He nodded to Admiral Anderson, who waved for him to do so, subtly rolling his eyes as he looked after the ambassador.

The admiral knew what command was like. Sometimes one had to make imperfect choices in the heat of the moment, so he wouldn’t criticize anyone’s decisions without having the full picture. Hiccup knew Anderson would have his back either way, not only because he was an old friend of Hiccup’s father, but also because he was a rather straightforward man, always looking to solve problems fairly.

Harrington on the other hand…

For a man of his age, the ambassador set quite the pace, striding down the corridor to the transporter pad with long legs. Hiccup had to hurry to catch up to the man, and he fell into step beside him. They walked in silence for a while, with Harrington apparently mulling their conversation over, because he raised a hand to stop Hiccup before they stepped into the station’s nearest transporter room.

“Captain, perhaps I overstepped earlier. I didn’t mean to imply any wrongdoing on part of your crew.” he said, ever diplomatic. “I was just..shocked to hear what happened. I’ve known the Andulien president personally for years, you know, back when she was still just a senator.” his shoulders sagged a little and Hiccup nodded, accepting the apology.

“I can see why you’d react so strongly then, no offense taken” he said, offering a brief smile.

“I know how important this is.” he added, following along as Harrington started walking again, the doors sliding open for them.

The old diplomat sighed, rubbing his forehead as he stepped onto the transporter platform.

“I’m almost afraid to learn how devastating the attack on the Anduliens really was. They’re usually very reserved people, but their initial call for aid sounded downright distraught.”

Hiccup had to agree, having listened to the short video message himself. The Andulien president had asked for an urgent meeting, recounting the brutal attack by their neighboring planet. There had been well over a thousand casualties, and destruction of vital infrastructure.

So far, the available information was rather scarce, but it didn’t sound good, and Hiccup was eager to get going, to provide whatever assistance they could.

“True, let’s hope their delegation is well enough to shed some light on what happened.”

He stepped onto the platform himself, nodding to the cadet operating the console.

A second later, they were back on the Enterprise and Hiccup didn’t waste any time, gesturing for the ambassador to follow him. The transporter room was located very close to medbay to ensure rapid access for returning landing parties, so it only took them a short walk down the hallway to reach it. The medbay actually took up most of this deck, spanning over dozens of individual rooms. Starfleet regulations required it to be able to house at least five percent of the roughly 6000 crew members at any time. Plus, as flagship, the Enterprise had to be able to support an entire fleet in case of a war, so they had to have additional beds available.

The medbay’s main entrance led them directly to the emergency unit, a large open space with a dozen medical beds. They didn’t have to search, since the first six beds were occupied, medical personnel milling around them, padds in their hands. The biggest group of people stood around the bed in the middle, including Astrid, Commander Frost, and the Chief Medical Officer Aster, looking grumpy as ever, his arms crossed over his broad chest. His bright white uniform with three red stripes on his shoulders stood out amongst the others, which was, after all, the point. Medical personnel should always be easy to distinguish. The group was already engaged in a discussion, crowded around a tall alien, sitting up on the bed.
Judging by the elegant robes, this had to be the Andulien President. Her skin had a dark green color, the delicate lines of her face adding a hue of blue. Her face had wavy ridges in places, snaking their way from her cheeks upwards until they disappeared into her hairline, the pattern only broken by the small bandaged patch on her forehead. Her hair was as black as her eyes, which were set black slightly, ringed by darker, slightly wrinkled skin.

Aster looked up first as Hiccup and Harrington approached, his stance relaxing minutely. “Captn’.” he said, glancing over the assortment of people and shrugging slightly, as if to say ‘I don’t know what this mess is about, but you should take care of it’

Astrid seemed glad to see him, while Commander Frost almost seemed a little uneasy, before he schooled his expression.

Harrington didn’t pay attention to either of them as he rushed to the alien’s side, clasping her shoulder. “Kryllia, are you alright?” he asked, and the genuine worry in his voice made Hiccup feel bad about his earlier annoyance.

The alien smiled, obviously relieved to see a familiar face. “William, I’m quite fine, thank you.” she said, her voice rather high, but very raspy. She lifted one of her long arms, which had a thick bandage around it.

“I sustained some burns when the ship malfunctioned, and I hit my head rather badly, but your people have already taken care of it.” she explained, glancing over to Aster with a smile.

“And my companions came away from it with minor injuries as well, so we can count ourselves lucky,” her expression fell as she looked to one of the other beds, where a body was covered by a blanket “at least most of us.”

Harrington’s shoulders sagged in relief, and he took a step back, more relaxed.

“I’m so sorry to hear that! But I’m glad you made it out fine. I only heard that your ship was destroyed, what happened?” he asked, casting a searching look at the officers standing around the bed.

Hiccup had joined Astrid and Jack quietly, standing next to them, as he didn’t want to interrupt the reunion of the two old friends.

The Andulien spoke up before either Jack or Astrid could answer Harrington’s question, probably because he had already answered the same question from them earlier.

“I’m not entirely sure either. Everything seemed completely fine, and we were on schedule for the meeting, but when we dropped out of warp, something exploded!” she recounted, dropping her gaze to her hands, one nervously picking at the other. “And then there were just a lot of warning sirens and flashing lights, and the fire, quickly spreading from the back of the shuttle..” she faltered for a moment, cradling her burnt arm. “The next thing I remember is stumbling onto the transporter pad of your ship here.” she glanced up at Commander Frost, who shifted slightly as everyone’s attention was directed at him, folding his hands behind his back as he stood a little straighter.

“We’re still investigating what caused the explosion,” Frost said, his deep, smooth voice reassuring, “but whatever it was, it probably caused one of the ship’s nacelles to start leaking antimatter. That sent it spinning into a collision course with the Enterprise, picking up speed as it went.” he glanced at Astrid, who nodded approvingly.

“We were forced to destroy the ship before it crashed into us, but luckily, we were able to transport everyone off of it first.” he finished, now looking up at Hiccup, that trace of uneasiness back in his features. It seemed like the man was somewhat apprehensive about Hiccup’s reaction to his decisions, and Hiccup offered a reassuring smile.

“I’m glad everything worked out as well as it did then.” Hiccup said. “And I’m sure we’ll find out what went wrong in the first place.”

He turned back to the Andulien president, holding out his hand. “Captain Haddock, I’m pleased to welcome you to the Enterprise, despite the circumstances.”

The alien shook his hand, her delicate fingers barely exerting any pressure. “President Kryllia Zyrkath,” she introduced herself, her smile seeming genuine, “the pleasure is all mine, you and your crew have my thanks for saving us.” she let her gaze drift over Astrid, Jack and Aster. The woman’s shoulders sagged slightly as she released Hiccup’s hand. “Now it seems even more of an imposition to ask for more help from Starfleet, but I’m afraid I’ll have to.” she said, looking a little chagrined.

“Of course, we’re here for a reason, after all.” Harrington jumped in, reassuring his friend, “getting you here safely is the least we can offer.”

Hiccup looked to Aster “Is it safe to move them yet? We could have the meeting up in the conference room.” Aster glanced at the monitor over the bed, frowning again. “I wouldn’t advise it. She sustained a concussion, I’d prefer to keep an eye on her.”

Hiccup nodded, looking between the ambassador and the president. “Well maybe you can brief us on the essentials here, and then get some rest when we’re on our way?”

Kryllia nodded gratefully, and searched her pockets for a moment, before retrieving a data stick.

“Of course, I wouldn’t want to waste any time with recovery. The matter is quite urgent. I’ve brought some recordings, so you can get a better picture of what is going on.” she said, holding it out. Hiccup took it, looking around the room in search of a free display. The large one on the wall next to them was just showing the general ship status, so he walked over, placing the data stick on a pad recessed in the counter under the display, which lit up as it read the data.

“Two days ago, the Braknar…” the president faltered for a moment, her face contorting into a wince. “I’m sorry, what am I thinking, I should give you some context first.” she said, looking at the questioning, worried faces around her. She sighed slightly, collecting her thoughts for a moment before she started speaking, her tone affecting that of a lecture she’d given before.

“The Andulien Republic and Kingdom of Braknar share a binary planetary system. So we’ve always been close neighbors, even if we only made contact with the Braknar about three hundred years ago, and our societies have been closely intertwined ever since.” she explained, pushing herself up from the bed and taking the few steps over to the large screen, her legs seeming a little unsteady. Aster took a step towards her, ready to catch the woman should she fall, but when the president came to rest against the counter, he withdrew again, though he kept close watch.

“It was us who made first contact back then, since we developed space travel earlier. But it has always been a mutually beneficial trade relationship, because our two planets complement each other quite well. Vorathos–their planet–is very rich in dilithium, while Naltheon–our planet–has a lot of arable land and much more advanced technology.” as she spoke, she swiped her hand over the display, showing pictures of the two very different planets. One full of lush fields and open spaces, the other seemingly completely covered in clouds, only broken up by numerous tall plateaus piercing through the dense cloud cover. Entire towns and cities, with tiny fields and pastures, were perched on top of them, reminiscent of roof gardens on a skyscraper.

“As you can see, Vorathos isn’t very hospitable, since its lower regions are covered in highly corrosive fog.” the president continued, showing a couple more pictures.

“Like I said, for the last three hundred years, we’ve had a mostly stable and prosperous relationship, which is why their sudden attack two days ago took us completely off guard. There have been smaller attacks and disruptions of the peace by some militant Braknar factions, but nothing of this scale has ever happened.” She hesitated for a moment, as if bracing herself for what was to come.

“Naturally, we have a lot of infrastructure on their planet, to make dilithium mining possible in the first place. Two days ago, a large group of militant Braknar, led by one of their warlords, suddenly started attacking the dilithium mining rigs, as well as our defensive installation.” she pressed another button on the screen, and a series of pictures and short videos started playing automatically, though without sound. The president kept quiet for a moment herself as a collective hush fell over the officers.

Hiccup’s eyes widened when he saw burning buildings and vehicles and dead bodies scattered on streets. A shaky, hand held video of someone walking through a bombed out building, Andulien and Braknar corpses scattered in the hallways, obvious blood stains on walls. It was truly disturbing footage, uncensored and not shying away from the terrible violence that was obviously happening. The Andulien president didn’t look at the screen herself, and Hiccup couldn’t blame her. He wouldn’t want to watch this a second time either. “As you can see, the attack was brutal, we’ve never seen something like this before.” the alien continued, seeming even more tired than before.

“And you’re asking us to interfere? To stop the violence?” Hiccup asked, already thinking about the needed manpower to take control of such a situation. “No, actually.” the president sighed. “The Braknar took us by surprise, but most of the Anduliens on the surface of Vorathos at the time managed to flee and save their lives, or hunker down. But the Brakar stormed our embassy, taking most everyone inside as hostages. Presumably so we wouldn’t retaliate. They are well aware that they are no match for our military in a fair fight.”

She used her uninjured hand to massage the ridges on her head, carefully avoiding the bandaged area.

“They are unwilling to negotiate the release of the hostages with us, so we’re asking you to mediate.”

“Why are they refusing to talk to you?” Harrington asked with obvious concern for his friend.

“They..their leader, he’s…” the president winced again, buckling slightly against the counter. Aster was at her side with two quick steps, guiding the alien back to her bed. “You need to rest.” he said gruffly, giving the other’s a pointed look.

The woman did look exhausted, and Hiccup nodded in understanding. “Right. We can discuss further details once we get there.” he said, more to himself, reaching up to scratch his cheek in thought.

“Ambassador Harrington, you are free to stay with your friend, Lieutenant Commander Bunnymund can have someone show you to your rooms later. And we’ll have rooms ready for your delegation as well, Madam president, once you’re feeling better.” He glanced at Astrid, who nodded in confirmation. She’d thought of everything in advance, as usual.

“Thank you captain, we should meet later to discuss our objectives.” Harrington replied, staying close to the medical bed.

“Of course.” Hiccup replied, nodding respectfully. “If you’ll excuse us.” he added, glancing at Astrid and commander Frost, inclining his head towards the door, already starting to walk. The two officers followed him out of the medbay, and they made their way to the nearest turbolift and stepped inside.

Hiccup let out a long breath once the doors closed, and the three of them were alone. He looked at his new first officer with an apologetic expression, not yet giving the lift a destination.

“How are you enjoying your first day here, commander? I swear it’s not always like this.” he said, leaning against the handrail that rounded the lift, his shoulders slumping slightly, the corner of his mouth rising in a somewhat dejected smile. He’d really wanted the new first officer to feel welcome and taken care of. Instead, he’d been forced to hand him off to Astrid, Frost had to immediately take command of a disastrous situation the second he visited the bridge, and then their first mission brief was haphazard and rather dispiriting, since the atrocity had already happened before they could even think about stopping it.

To his surprise, commander Frost actually gave him a lopsided smile, probably taking pity on him.

“Well I’m having a blast. I even got to use the phasers, so who am I to complain?” he said, flashing a white set of teeth and tilting his head slightly, his white bangs messily draping over his eyes.

Hiccup couldn’t help but snort, pushing himself off the wall and standing a little straighter.

“Guess I can’t argue with that.” he said, smiling and shaking his head slightly.

“And just for the record, even if it makes for a shoddy welcome, I’m glad you were on the bridge just then. That was a difficult decision and very little time to make it.”

Jack smiled at the compliment, giving Hiccup a nod. “Thank you Captain.” he said in his smooth voice, and somehow Hiccup’s outlook wasn’t quite as bleak anymore.

“Bridge” he said, and the lift hummed to life, accelerating them upwards. “Lets try and make the best of this mission, at least.” he added just before the doors hissed open, and the three of them stepped onto the bridge. “Captain on the bridge” the neutral voice of the ship’s computer announced, and everyone in the room, which was now fully staffed, turned their heads, those who were sitting got out of their seats and stood at attention.

Astrid moved to her station, while Hiccup and Jack only moved halfway into the room, Hiccup clapping the new commander on the back lightly.

“Most of you have already gotten to know our new first officer, Commander Frost, who took swift action when the situation called for it, saving a lot of lifes before his first shift even started.” he said, crossing his hands behind his back. Frost seemed to squirm slightly beside him, as if uncomfortable with the attention.

“I now officially welcome him to the crew, and I expect everyone to make the transition as seamless as possible.”

It got Commander Frost a lot of warm smiles and applause, which Hiccup wasn’t sure the man was comfortable with, but at least this part felt right, like it was going to plan. He nodded to his crew, who got settled back to their work, and then stepped to the captain’s chair.

“Commander.” he said with an inviting gesture towards the almost identical chair right next to it, sending Frost a smile.

“Thank you captain.” Frost nodded and obliged, sitting down on the large, plush seat. Hiccup did the same next to him, crossing his legs. A slow grin spread over his face, feeling the familiar buzz of excitement at starting a new mission, despite the rocky start. “Bridge to engineering.” he said, tapping the corresponding button on his armrest “are we ready to go?”

“Aye sir, she’s chompin’ at the bits!” came the immediate reply in Gobber’s thick accent, sounding just as excited.

“Roger that.” Hiccup replied, ending the call. “Take us out bud.” he saw Frost look over to him at that, raising an eyebrow in amusement at the informal address, but Toothless’ claws seamlessly moved over his terminal.

“Docking clamps released Sir.” Sandy said, and the parts of space station 117 that were visible in the viewscreen started to tilt and move off screen as Toothless maneuvered the Enterprise away from it. The ship slowly pushed off, turning towards open space and creating some distance to the cluttered space traffic around the station.

“Coordinates locked in sir, ready for warp.” Sandy said, as usual, mostly taking over the vocal part of Toothless’ job. Hiccup’s heart soared at those familiar words, and he glanced over at his new first officer with a broad smile, relieved to see a similar emotion on the commander’s face.

He looked forward again, settling back into his chair. “Let’s fly.”

Toothless moved his claw, and the black expanse of space immediately swirled away, leaving the bright blue streaks of the warp bubble, as the Enterprise effortlessly accelerated to warp eight, catapulting them away from the space station in the blink of an eye. Hiccup felt a weight drop from his chest, even as they still had a huge task ahead of them. He just couldn’t help it. As long as they were tethered to a station, instead of out here, he didn’t feel quite right.

He covertly glanced over to the commander, who’s grin was just as broad as his.

“Nothing quite like it, eh?” he said, and Frost turned that dazzling smile to him.

“Nothing.” he said, his blue eyes glinting with excitement. “Let’s fly is a new one,” he added, his smile turning crooked, adapting an overly haughty expression “I’m more of a ‘Hit it’ kind of guy.”

Hiccup snorted, but quickly schooled his face into a patronizing expression, his lip still quirked in amusement. “I see they didn’t select for good taste back in your time.”

Jack splayed a hand over his chest in mock outrage. “Excuse me? How is ‘lets fly’ any better, we’re not even flying, technically!”

Hiccup kept his smug pose, as if such arguments were beneath him. “Of course it is. And I have my reasons.” he said, glancing over at Toothless, who’s tail swished slightly, poking out between the seat and the backrest of the chair.

He looked back at Frost, who studied Toothless with a intrigued expression. Just then, Hiccup remembered that this had been only their second real conversation. His head tilted slightly, almost shocked at how easy it was to fall into banter with a man he barely knew. Most new officers, even of Frost’s rank, would be rather withdrawn and timid for a long while, trying to gauge how best to act around their fellow officers and superiors. But Frost seemed to just jump into the deep end, relying on his natural charm to smooth things over if they didn’t work out. Some of the tension he’d held in his shoulders smoothed out. Getting a new commander just before a long-term expedition could have been disastrous, but Hiccup had a feeling they’d get along just fine. At least so far, Frost seemed to be not only competent, but also easy to talk to.

He let out a quiet, relieved sigh and sat up a little straighter, gathering his thoughts as he looked at the viewscreen.

“Tooth, open a shipwide channel.”

“Aye sir.” she said, and the bosun’s whistle chimed through the corridors of the ship, halting conversations and stopping people in their tracks as they listened.

“This is Captain Haddock. As you all know, we have been assigned one last mission in this sector, before we head off to our expedition. While we’re at it, we’ve picked up our new first officer. Commander Frost has already shown how skilled and committed he is to the Enterprise, and I have no doubt he will continue to do so. Let’s show him what we’re made of.” Hiccup glanced over to give Jack a brief smile.

“We are headed to the binary planetary system of Naltheon and Vorathos, housing the Andulien Republic and the Kingdom of Braknar. Two days ago, a militant Braknar faction launched a brutal attack on the Andulien installations on their planet, wreaking death and destruction in their path. Unfortunately, we are too late to stop that atrocity from happening. But the Braknar also took dozens of hostages when they stormed the Andulien embassy. We are now on our way to prevent further bloodshed, and negotiate their release.

With the help of Andulien President Zyrkath, we will endeavor to bring those responsible for this attack to justice, and ensure lasting peace. We will make it clear that the Federation will not tolerate such violence against our allies. Thank you for your attention. Haddock out.” he nodded to Tooth, who cut the transmission.

“I hope I can live up to all that praise.” Frost said quietly, only for Hiccup’s ears. He looked a little chagrined, if not altogether displeased. Hiccup smiled mildly “Hey I'm not in the habit of giving out free praise. Plus, I want the crew to know they’re in good hands.”

“I’ll make sure not to disappoint them then.” Jack replied, sitting up a little straighter, nodding to Hiccup with a grateful smile.

“Captain, you should take a look at this.” Fishlegs’ voice chimed in from the side, and Hiccup looked over to the broad shouldered man, who was staring at his console in concentration.

“Put it on the main screen.” Hiccup said, and Fishlegs complied. Diagrams and pictures of the Andulien shuttle filled the screen, annotated wildly by Fishlegs’ familiar scrawl. The science officer preferred to use a stylus to write his notes and reports, claiming that typing things out would only slow him down. Hiccup indulged him, as long as he only handed in the reports after the ship’s computer had made a transcript.

“What am I looking at?” Hiccup said, squinting as he looked over the notes, at the arrows pointing to the port nacelle of the ship, and the underlined text from a manual right next to it.

“I’ve analyzed the ship’s sensor data in the minutes before the explosion on that frigate, and cross referenced it with the station’s data from flight control.” Fishlegs explained, words spilling out fast as ever, but not with excitement, which told Hiccup that the man was not yet sure of his findings. “The technology the Anduliens use works differently compared to ours in a lot of ways, so it took me a while to make sure. But look at this.” he said, tapping on his console. Another window opened on the screen, showing a video clip of the Andulien ship, the camera zoomed in quite close. For a few seconds, nothing happened, then there was a bright, yellow flash of light, barely there for a single frame of the footage, followed by another, blue flash. Then the light brightened, now clearly emanating from the port nacelle of the ship, growing larger and trailing a glowing blue streak behind it. Then the footage looped back to the beginning.

“I was trying to figure out what could have caused the explosion, but strangely enough, all our readings indicate that there was nothing out of the ordinary before it happened. No spike in heat, or emissions, no change in acceleration of the ship. It’s as if that explosion came out of nowhere. If there was some sort of cascade failure in the shuttle’s systems, or some issue with the matter-antimatter field, it should have put out something.”

Hiccup leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees as he studied the footage.

Frost tilted his head, his hand scratching his chin. “It’s something about that first flash, isn’t it?” he asked absentmindedly, more to himself than anyone else, but Fishlegs’ eyes brightened.

“Yes! That first flash of light seems to indicate a small explosion, right before the nacelle collapses and starts spilling radiation. I just can’t tell what caused that first explosion, it doesn’t really make sense.” he explained, looking a little frustrated as he stared down at the data again.

“Maybe something electric?” Hiccup mused, looking over the displayed handbook for the shuttle. “Life support systems blowing out a fuse? It’s a yellow flash, there had to have been oxygen, right?” he added, and Fishlegs nodded.

“Exactly my thinking, but the life support systems on this ship are on the starboard side.” he said, the intrigue he felt at this mystery clear in his voice.

Hiccup sat up straighter, his brow furrowing in thought, as he waited for Fishlegs to go on. The CSO stayed silent though, worrying his lip as he read through his own notes again.

“Fishlegs, what are you getting at?” Hiccup asked eventually, and Fishlegs startled slightly, as if he’d forgotten the others were there at all.

He gave Hiccup a slightly apologetic look, still frustrated that he didn’t have any good answers.

“I’m not sure yet. But it seems to me that there is no technical fault that could explain these parameters. It looks like a technical malfunction at first glance, but unless I find some completely new evidence, this might suggest sabotage of some sort. Maybe a small explosive device, just big enough to rupture the nacelle.” he said the last part quietly, obviously deep in thought again.

Hiccup raised his eyebrows, sitting back in his chair. “Interesting..” he murmured, sharing a look with Commander Frost. This new information just opened up more questions than it answered. If there was sabotage, who had done it? Who had cause to do it? Who would benefit? And why the president’s ship? Why next to the Federation space station? Hiccup bit his lip in thought.

“Thank you Fishlegs, good work. We best keep an eye out for any information that might corroborate this finding.” “Yes Captain.” Fishlegs replied absentmindedly, already reading something.

“Do you think we should inform the Anduliens about this?” Frost asked quietly. “Might be better to wait until we have a better idea of what is going on..”

Hiccup gave a non committal nod. “Yeah… asking President Zyrkath if she has enemies seems a little tone deaf right now. Then again, whatever they can tell us about this might be important and time sensitive.”

He thought about it for a moment. “Best just to keep our eyes open as we go along. Let’s not jump to conclusions.” he added.

Frost nodded, and they fell back into a considering silence as their eyes swept over the data on the screen. Hiccup wondered just how complicated this mission was going to get.

**********

Jack was surprised to find how easy the captain was to talk to. He’d found that the best way to overcome the awkward, slow progress of getting to know new people, was to just pretend to be friends already. That strategy was somewhat risky, as some people didn’t respond well to it and he had to adjust for that, but the captain seemed to immediately understand where Jack was going. They chatted idly for a while after they’d launched into warp, and Jack once again confirmed to himself that the somewhat awkward greeting during their first meeting had just been because the captain was eager to make him feel welcome.

Once the man actually started talking—or rambling, more like—Jack could see the genuine warmth and excitement in those green eyes, and the longer he listened, the more he understood why Hiccup Haddock was the captain of the Enterprise. Everyone had their own style of leading, of course, and every style had its merits. Some were focused on discipline and procedure, some more on empathy and communication. He could already see that Haddock was leaning towards the latter.

Plus, once he got the man talking about the technical specifications of his ship—with Fishlegs chiming in on occasion—Jack didn’t have to try so hard to make conversation. The captain rattled off facts about the phaser bays, the multipolarity of the shield generators, the shuttle bay blast doors and whatever else came to mind, his hands moving in an animated fashion the entire time.

“...and that’s how Gobber managed to squeeze another 6% efficiency from the warp core, bringing us to warp 9.799 that one time.” the captain explained, with a fond and excited smile as he looked over to Jack, who’s eyes widened slightly at the number. The warp scale had been reconfigured and changed countless times since he studied it over 140 years ago, but under the current system, where warp ten represented infinite speed and use of energy, reaching warp 9.799 was seriously impressive, about as fast as it was physically possible to move. And so much faster than the original Enterprise it boggled the mind.

The captain’s grin widened when he saw Jack’s reaction and his forest green eyes lit up. “Wait, you haven’t even met Gobber yet, have you?” he said, already getting up from his chair.

Jack couldn’t help but smile back, “I’ve not yet had the pleasure, no.” he said, getting up himself.

“How about we finish that tour then?” the captain asked, before glancing over to Sandy. “What’s our ETA?” The officer checked his terminal before replying

“23 hours, sir.”

“We have some time then!” the captain said, looking back to Jack and nodding towards the turbolift.

Jack smiled, following the captain as he started walking, quickly addressing Astrid as he walked past her. “Astrid, you have the conn.”

“Aye Sir.”

“Engineering.” the captain said, and the lift hummed to life, speeding them down to the belly of the ship. Jack waited for a beat, considering his words.

“By the way, I wanted to thank you for having my back earlier, Captain.” he said standing up a little straighter, still not quite sure if it had just been an act in front of the crew, or if the captain really didn’t mind his choices during the whole shuttle incident. “Even back when you didn’t know all the facts.” he added, nodding to the captain, the set of his eyes serious. The man looked surprised for a moment, but then he nodded back with a smile.

“Of course! If I started doubting my crew at every turn, we’d never get anywhere.” he said genuinely. “We both know that decisions under pressure are never perfect. But I trust that everyone on board does the best they can with what’s available.” he paused for a moment, frowning briefly, as if annoyed that he only just thought of it, “oh and please feel free to call me Hiccup.” he said with a crooked smile. The tension drained from Jack’s shoulders, and a smile crept onto his face too. He was beginning to realize that there was nothing deceptive about this man, for better or worse.

“Well still, thank you..Hiccup.” he said. “And I’m just Jack, then,” he added, holding out his hand once more.

“Good to know, Just Jack.” Hiccup said with a grin as he took Jack’s hand and shook it briefly.

Jack rolled his eyes dramatically. “God damn it.” he muttered, but he couldn’t help the corner of his mouth quirking upwards.

The turbolift deposited them directly to the main engineering deck, a large room with dozens of workstations all around the outer walls, brightly lit and full of bustling activity. In the middle of the room was a large console, shaped kind of like a massive dinner table, with control surfaces all around it and a projector in the middle, currently displaying a hologram of the entire ship.

The already spacious room opened up towards the back, into a massive open space spanning multiple decks both up and down. The Enterprise’s warp core was just that large, and balconies with access walkways circled the massive, humming construction like scaffolding on a building.

Jack gaped openly as they stepped closer, his eyes struggling to take in the size from up close. He’d seen diagrams, of course, but one tended to forget just how large this ship was, once inside. But now that he looked at its beating (gently humming?) heart, he understood how much energy it took to power it.

“Quite the beaut’, isn’t she?” a cheerful voice said in a thick Scottish accent, and Jack was drawn from his reverie. He looked over to see a large, older man emerge from a maintenance tunnel off to the side, grinning crookedly at him as he approached. Jack couldn’t help but stare a little at his appearance. The man wasn’t wearing his uniform jacket, which left him in the basic black sweatshirt underneath, which was torn on one side, and probably just as covered in grease as his hands, though Jack couldn’t tell with this color. He was wiping his hands on an equally greasy rag—Jack didn’t even know which system required that much grease—and Jack noticed that one of them was actually a complicated looking prosthetic. The man held out the other hand, now marginally cleaner, and shoved the rag into a pocket.

“Lieutenant Commander Belch, but you can call me Gobber, Sir.” he said, showing off a somewhat crooked set of teeth. Jack blinked for a second, before taking the offered hand, shaking it and returning the smile. The handshake was as greasy as expected, and rather firm.

“Not a big fan of formalities, as you can tell.” Hiccup jumped in with a wry smile before Jack could reply.

“But let me introduce you, at least. This is Commander Frost, our new first officer.” he said to Gobber, before turning to Jack again, slightly exaggerating the gestures of introduction

“And this is our Chief of Engineering.”

“Pleasure to meet you Gobber, I’m ju-” Jack cut himself off, glancing at Hiccup, who wore a knowing, somewhat smug smile

“Please just call me Jack, then. And to answer your question, she sure is.” he said, looking back over the warp core towering over them, always in view.

“First of its line, if I read correctly?” he added, sifting through the mountain of documents he had quickly skimmed through ever since he got the assignment.

Gobber looked rather pleased, resting his hands on his hips.

“Aye, it’s nice to know I’m working with people who can appreciate some fine engineering. We haven’t even seen the limits of this beauty, that’s why I always have the science guys milling around.” he said with a huff of annoyance, nodding to a handful of ensigns with teal stripes on their uniforms, unlike the yellow stripes denoting the engineers.

The heavyset man turned to Hiccup “By the way, have you read that report on their rewiring experiment Capn’?”

Hiccup’s eyes lit up “Yes! Sorry I haven’t gotten around to looking at it, but if their results are true it could have huge implications” he said, scratching his chin as Gobber nodded, leaning against the large center console.

Jack watched with amusement as the two men started talking about the Enterprise’s subsystems, technical terms flying back and forth, and mostly over Jack’s head. It’s not like he wasn’t also trained in engineering, or that he’d flunked his courses in Starfleet academy, it just wasn’t his area of expertise. He knew enough to get around, but looking at technical manuals tended to get boring really fast.

The captain and his chief engineer didn’t think so, naturally, and they almost seemed to forget Jack was standing there at all as they talked moving on to different aspects of Gobber’s current plans. Apparently going on a five year expedition posed some challenges when it came to supplies and maintenance.

Jack watched the captain, fully immersed in a diagram Gobber had pulled up on the center console, showing a heatmap of the port nacelle. Hiccup’s tongue was poking out slightly as he moved the diagram with both hands, zooming in to a specific section and enhancing the resolution. Gobber let out a short laugh, slapping his forehead.

“You know lad, that might just work..” he said, shaking his head with mock frustration. “Why didn’t I think of tha’.” Hiccup rubbed his neck somewhat sheepishly.

“You would have, I’m just a set of fresh eyes, you know how it is.” he said, glancing at Jack and probably only then remembering why he had come down here in the first place.

“Right, we best move on anyway, let me know if it works!” he quickly said, gesturing for Jack to get back to the turbolift again.

“Aye, don’t sell yourself short laddie, I’m not buyin’ it.” Gobber yelled after them, shaking his head with a fond smile.

“Sorry about that, I get distracted sometimes, feel free to drag me away if need be.” Hiccup said with a crooked smile as the lift moved them upwards again.

“Oh no worries, it still gave me a good look at engineering.” Jack replied, feeling a little bad for forcing Hiccup to even give this tour. The captain had no intent of cutting it short though, as he showed Jack the spacious bar and restaurant ‘10 Forward’, which granted a marvelous view through a huge window front, and was already bustling with off-duty personnel. They moved through the decks, and Hiccup showed Jack the shuttle bay, the storage decks and the individual science departments, studying physics, xenobiology, botany and pretty much any other field that could learn from what they encountered in the vastness of space.

One thing all compartments had in common, was that someone wanted something from the captain. They were stopped every couple meters, some scientist or officer approaching Hiccup with a request or a question that needed answering. Jack looked on in a mix of confusion and frustration as Hiccup fended them off one by one, answering questions as best he could without stopping the tour outright.

“Captain, about the requisition request I sent last week-”
“Yes, I’m still working on that, I’ll have to get back to you.”
“Captain, since the new cadets from the xenobiology labs have been assigned, we’ve been slowed down immensely, if we’re to finish this project-”
“Yes, I know, I’ve seen the report, you’re just going to have to make it work, maybe shut it down for a couple days and get some basic training in. I really need to get going.”

Since it was his first day, Jack didn’t want to question how Hiccup was running his ship, but he began to wonder why Hiccup had to address all of these issues himself. Most of them would have fallen into the first officer’s duties, so maybe it was just because of the transition. Handling personnel issues and working as a point of contact for the crew would be Jack’s job, allowing the captain to stay focused on larger issues. Jack felt like jumping in every time, but he’d have to familiarize himself with this new posting first. It was strange, however, that so many issues seemed to be unresolved at once. Had his predecessor done her job at all? In any case, it wasn’t something he would solve today.

Since the Enterprise housed just over 6000 people, it had state of the art recreational spaces set up, interior gardens, viewing lounges, any type of sport course, and of course holo decks. You had to keep that many people entertained and relaxed, or long missions would become utterly impossible.

Jack felt like he’d walked half a dozen miles by the end of the tour, even though the lifts had facilitated most of their movement. By then it was the early evening—ship time— and Jack couldn’t stifle a small yawn as they stepped into the turbolift once again, speeding towards the bridge.

Hiccup nodded with a small chuckle “Yeah it’s a lot to take in, but at least now you know where everything is.” he said, stretching his left leg a little as he leaned against the railing, looking quite exhausted himself.

Jack smiled sheepishly “It’s been very enlightening, thank you again, it’s just been a long day.” he said, hoping Hiccup didn’t think Jack had wanted that yawn to be some sort of statement.

“Indeed. I bet tomorrow will be even worse.” Hiccup said, checking the watch in the elevator wall, even as the doors hissed open. The captain didn’t step onto the bridge immediately

“Why don’t you get settled into your quarters?” he suggested, rolling his head on his shoulders, stretching his neck slightly. “I’m just going to check in on some of the things the crew brought up earlier, but then I’ll head off to get some rest too. We’ll arrive in about fifteen hours, so there’s enough time to get some sleep.” he said, still leaning against the railing.

Jack wondered for a moment if this was some sort of test, if Hiccup wanted to see if he was willing to work long hours. But the earnest, warm look the captain wore seemed too genuine for that. Was that why he was so overworked? Because he felt like he had to do everything himself?

“Cap- Hiccup, I have to ask, it seems to me that at least some of those issues would be my responsibility. I know I’m still new, but I’d like to start getting familiar with them.”

Hiccup raised his eyebrows, but his surprise didn’t seem displeased. “Oh, well, sure, I suppose I can send some of those requests your way, if you’d like to start already.”

“I would, thank you.” Jack said, nodding politely. He took in the slight slump in the captain’s shoulders, the exhaustion in his eyes, but he didn’t want to outright tell him that he looked tired. “But I’m sure some rest would be a good idea, while we still have a chance. Who knows how this thing will pan out once we arrive.” he said, giving Hiccup a small smile.

Hiccup nodded, a slightly resigned look on his face as he pushed off the wall. “Yeah, you’re right, of course. But I won’t be able to sleep before I get this stuff done anyway. I’ll gladly send some of it to your station, you can access it from your quarters. I set the briefing with the ambassador and the president for ten o’clock tomorrow, two hours before we arrive. The computer will notify you an hour earlier.” he added as an afterthought, stepping out of the lift and looking back at Jack, who remained inside.

“Thank you captain” Jack replied with a nod, and Hiccup gave him a brief smile, before heading off to his ready room.

Jack took the turbolift one floor down to the officers' quarters and made his way to his own, opposite of the captain’s. He let out an exhausted, but satisfied sigh when the doors closed behind him, and took the few steps over to the large rounded couch, his duffle bag still draped over the armrest. He zipped open his uniform jacket and flopped down onto the couch, splaying his arms and legs in every direction, his head dropping back against the headrest.

He wasn’t even sure why he was this exhausted, it wasn’t like he had run a marathon.

Still, meeting this many people and having to talk to all of them had been draining. It wasn’t like he didn’t enjoy it. In fact, he loved getting to know them all, but after a certain amount of interaction, his social batteries were just drained. It hadn’t always been like this, he thought. This sort of thing had always been natural to him, energizing even. But after he woke up in that hospital, after spending all that time alone…maybe something had changed deep within him. The first couple of days after waking, he’d flinched every time someone so much as addressed him, let alone touched him.

Intellectually, he knew there were consequences to prolonged solitary confinement, which he’d essentially gone through in that escape pod. He did have long talks with Starfleet psychologists about what happened, about living through a traumatic event, ending with six months of complete isolation in an escape pod with slowly dwindling supplies.

Jack rubbed at his tired eyes with one hand, leaving it there to block out the light. He didn’t like the idea of having changed. He’d liked who he was before. But what if some part of himself had died with them? He was a man out of time, after all. Once again first officer on the Enterprise, but in an entirely different world. Everything was the same, and everything was different. These new crewmates had been so welcoming and warm to him, and yet he couldn’t help but think of his old crew, who’d been like family. It would be easy enough to build a friendly relationship with his new crewmates, but it wasn’t the same. And maybe that was a good thing.

He sighed again, sitting up and resting his elbows on his knees for a moment, before he finally managed to stand up and trudge over to the office nook closer to the doorway. It was just a desk with a computer terminal and a comfortable chair, which he sank down in. He found that Hiccup had indeed sent him some requests and reports, but working through them was slow going, since Jack had to familiarize himself with the Enterprise’s systems first and look up a lot of information for the first time. Well he had to start somewhere.

It took him surprisingly long to get through the handful of things Hiccup had sent him, and by the time Jack was done, he only had six hours left to sleep. He let out a long sigh as he shut down the terminal, stretching his neck muscles as he started getting ready for bed. He hadn’t even unpacked yet, his duffle bag still slumped over the couch.

It didn’t take him long to store his scant possessions though, his two sets of civilian clothing joining the three uniforms already waiting in his wardrobe. He took off the slim chain around his neck, cradling the silver pendant of a shepherd's crook in his hand for a moment, before carefully placing his only remaining posession on his nightstand.

Once he’d settled into bed, the day’s events played before his eyes, and he felt like a weight that had been choking him lifted off his chest for the first time in almost three years. The hum of the ship was barely perceivable in his sleeping quarters, but it was there, steady and reassuring. There was still a mountain of problems ahead of him, but at least he’d started moving at warp speed again.

He couldn’t help the small smile on his lips as he drifted off to sleep.

The ship’s computer woke him hours later, leaving him with plenty of time to get ready. After a quick shower and breakfast from his personal replicator (the new Enterprise really was luxurious) Jack felt ready for whatever the day threw at him.

He stepped out of his quarters, almost running into Hiccup in the process. The captain looked freshly showered as well, his auburn hair still a little damp, but the dark rings under his green eyes spoke volumes.

“Good morning captain. Did you get some rest?” Jack asked, dipping his head slightly to catch the man’s gaze.

Hiccup let out a huff, raising one corner of his mouth. “Some, yeah. But I may have stayed up a lot longer than I should have.” he admitted with a yawn, as they both turned to walk towards the briefing room.

“I would have taken more of those department reports, that’s my Job, after all.” Jack said, feeling a stab of guilt. Even if he was only starting out, it didn’t seem fair that the captain gave up sleep while Jack enjoyed a full night of it.

“Hm?” Hiccup blinked in confusion.“Oh, no it wasn’t that, I barely looked at those, now that you mention it.” he frowned slightly “I got caught up reading about the Andulien Republic and Braknar, and forgot the time, I suppose.”

Jack raised an eyebrow, relieved that the captain hadn’t done his work for him, and, now that he thought about it, barely surprised that Hiccup would try to learn as much as he could before the mission started. The door to the briefing room slid open, revealing that they were the first to arrive.

“Learned anything worthwhile?” he asked, picking the chair next to Hiccup, who sat down at the end of the huge table in the middle of the room. The briefing room was surprisingly cozy, and Jack was sure it wasn’t the biggest one, just the one closest to the bridge. The large windows on one side of the room were at just as sharp of an angle as the ones in Jack’s quarters, and currently only gave a view of the blue swirling warp bubble surrounding the ship. A dozen comfortable chairs surrounded the polished, wooden table, which boasted a projector in the middle of it.

Hiccup shrugged, a little dissatisfied. “Not that much, to be honest. Most of it just talks about the specifics of dilithium trade and the noteworthy Andulien politicians who made it happen. Very few firsthand accounts, especially from the Braknar.” he explained, chewing on his lip a little.

Jack opened his mouth to reply, but just then the doors slid open, and ambassador Harrington and the president stepped inside, followed by Astrid and Fishlegs. Hiccup and Jack got out of their chairs, and after a round of greetings and some brief small talk, ensuring that President Zyrkath was feeling up to the task, they all settled around the table again, the Enterprise’s officers settling around Hiccup at the head of the table, Harrington and Zyrkath towards the other end.

“Madam President, why don’t you fill us in on the details. You mentioned that the hostiles aren’t willing to negotiate with you. What makes you think they’ll be more inclined to speak with us?” Hiccup said, motioning to the older alien, who had lost the bandage around her head in the meantime. Her arm was still wrapped in one, but she looked a lot better than yesterday.

She stood up with a nod.

“Thank you captain. We made contact right after their attack, but they refused to engage in any sort of negotiation. Their only demand was to get the Federation involved. I’m afraid I can’t tell you why.
We’ve always had an excellent diplomatic relationship with the royal house of Braknar, and that still holds true for the current head of state, Queen Sereigne. She is just as concerned about this attack as we are, and she has offered the royal palace as a somewhat neutral meeting ground for the talks.” Zyrkath tapped on a datapad she’d brought with her, and the display behind her lit up, showing a photo of a severe looking alien, apparently taken by a security camera. The alien had a very angular face with a square jaw and grey skin, thick bone ridges protruding from his skin at his temple and forehead. That wasn’t too unusual for the Braknar people, as the other people surrounding him looked quite similar. But the particular alien the president pointed out was definitely taller and even more broad shouldered than the others.

The picture showed him pointing down a hallway, screaming something, a rifle in his other hand.

This must’ve been taken during the initial attack, Jack thought.

“This,” Zyrkath pointed to the man, “is Revak Stormbringer. He is the current leader of these terrorists. Or at least they proudly pronounced him as such. He led the ruthless attack personally, as you can see here, and he has amassed a large following. We believe he is trying to gain power for himself, toppling the queen, or at least the weaker warlords competing with him.

But-” she sighed briefly “we can’t be sure about his goals, since he refuses to even meet with us. After all the brutality he showed during the initial attack, we are very concerned about the fate of the hostages, whom we haven’t had contact with for three days now.”

“And this Revak ‘Stormbringer’, do you have any history with him?” Ambassador Harrington asked, his lips curling in distaste as he mentioned the name. Zyrkath shook her head, expression grim

“Unfortunately not. It’s like he and his group appeared out of nowhere. If you’d told me a week ago that something like this was even possible on Vorathos—the Braknar planet—I wouldn’t have believed you. The Braknar change their names, or titles, if you will, depending on their current occupation, you see? He could have been ‘Revak Miner’ or something like that before. So it’s difficult to find solid information on him. We try to keep track of the eight known warlords and their militias, but he hadn’t appeared in our intelligence reports before. These factions, if you want to call them that, are each rather small and hardly a threat to the legitimate Braknar monarchy, so we didn’t expect anything coordinated like this.”

Harrington nodded thoughtfully, his lip still curled in distaste at the picture.

Hiccup leaned forward then, folding his hands on the table, his thumbs tapping against each other.

“So what is the actual situation on the ground? You said the hostages are all in the Andulien embassy?” he asked. Zyrkath nodded and swiped over the pad, causing the display behind her to switch to aerial footage of a large building complex. At its center was presumably the embassy, an unassuming four story building, built from what looked like sandstone, with a flat roof and small windows. Jack had expected something more modern, but the buildings surrounding the complex looked very similar, so it must’ve been the local style. The complex was apparently in the middle of a city, with residential buildings to either side, and placed alongside a rather small, winding street. The houses were dense and varied, reminding Jack of ancient cities back on Earth that still had a historic center.

The president gave them a moment to take in the view, then spoke again, her tone grave.

“This is our embassy on Vorathos, located in their capital city. We tried to lock it down as soon as the attack started, but apparently Stormbringer had accounted for that. It was one of the first places to be hit, which made it impossible for anyone to escape.” The camera zoomed in, showing the main gate of the complex, which clearly had been blasted open with a large explosion, the wrought iron doors were still attached to the wall, warped and bent. The small gatehouse was in even worse condition, riddled with bullet holes and still smoldering slightly, green blood splattered against what remained of the windows. Jack heard Fishlegs let out a long breath, his face lined with worry.

Zyrkath continued.

“We do not know how many of our people survived the attack. Going by the brutality at the dilithium rigs…” she swallowed thickly, shaking her head. “There were approximately ninety people in that building at the time of the attack. We were able to count six dead security guards with our drone, but we have no confirmation when it comes to the others. Stormbringer has claimed to have eighty hostages in his control, but he would probably say anything to achieve his goals.” she clenched her jaw. “Among these hostages is the ambassador himself, together with his family.” she looked directly at Hiccup, her eyes tired

“The ambassador is my brother. I’m sure you can imagine how desperate I am to resolve this peacefully.”

Hiccup’s eyebrows rose, and he nodded. “Of course, I’m sorry to hear about your brother. A lot of lives are at stake here, and we’ll do our best to get them out safely.” he paused briefly, maybe to avoid looking callous “You mentioned dilithium rigs? Can you elaborate on that?”

“Yes Captain.” Zyrkath replied, picking up her pad again. Jack looked back to the screen as the pictures changed once again. Apparently Hiccup wanted to learn as much as he could, without spending too much time on sentimentalities. Who exactly the hostages were and what they meant to the Andulien government wasn’t as important as their number and location, Jack supposed. And the technical details mattered even more, if the negotiations failed and they were forced to extract the hostages by force. It felt a little insensitive, but it was also the captain’s job to keep them focused.

The screen showed a series of aerial photos, portraying the general landscape of Vorathos, some of which Jack had already seen yesterday in the medbay. The tall, rocky plateaus piercing through the thick, corrosive cloud cover looked beautiful in their rough, desolate way. The towns perched precariously on top of them were colorful and diverse in buildings, just like the picture of the capitol from earlier. The next picture was new, showing large metal structures that seemed to be floating in the sea of clouds, untethered from any mountains. Jack couldn’t tell if they were actually floating, or connected to the ground, but they were reminiscent of the gigantic oil rigs humans had used in the past.

“These are our dilithium mines, dotted all over the surface of the planet.” Zyrkath explained, showing even more pictures of the impressive structures, sometimes in close proximity to a mountain, sometimes seemingly all alone, surrounded by an ocean of clouds as far as the eye could see.

“The attack was massive, and coordinated, hitting almost all of the mines at the same time.” she explained, now showing pictures of security cameras, dark hallways filled with rubble and splattered blood, burning shuttles on a landing pad and a control room riddled with bullet holes.

“We managed to get the word out quickly and evacuated the rest of the rigs, so at least we could prevent even more damage, but whatever the terrorists couldn’t take by force, they destroyed.'' The next picture showed one of the rigs heavily listing in one direction, smoke and flames gushing from inside. “The dilithium production has been halted entirely.”

The president sat back down with a slight wince as she accidentally braced her injured arm against the table in the process.

“So, our priority is freeing the hostages. And as much as it pains me to even consider negotiating with terrorists, it would be foolish not to try, at least.” the older woman finished, looking to ambassador Harrington again. Jack glanced at Hiccup, surprised to see an irritated expression flit over his face, barely perceptible if one didn’t pay attention. What was that about?

“Of course. Thank you for filling us in, madam president.” Hiccup said politely, and Jack noticed for the first time, that the captain always used a very measured tone when speaking to their guests, as if being formal and diplomatic was something he had to concentrate to get right. It would certainly fit, he mused. Hiccup had been much more expressive when he’d talked to Jack the day before, both in face and in body. It probably did take a lot of self control for him to sit still and lead a stuffy meeting. He’d wondered before if the captain’s penchant to wear his heart on his sleeve was troublesome in negotiations. Now he had a better idea how Hiccup managed it. And if one didn’t know the captain better, he would seem perfectly friendly and respectful. It made Jack glad to find that he already knew him well enough to notice the difference.

Hiccup wrapped up the meeting then, since they couldn’t really move forward until they had heard the terrorists’ demands. It was another hour until they arrived in Vorathos’ orbit, so the ambassador and the president decided to take a meal beforehand, while the Enterprise’s officers made their way back to the bridge. The mood had shifted somewhat, strained by the dire situation. Jack sat down in his command chair next to Hiccup, who was worrying his lip, staring blankly at the blue swirl of warp on the viewscreen, apparently deep in thought.

Jack drummed his fingers on his armrest for a moment, considering if he should even ask. “You seemed irritated back there,” he said quietly, leaning over to Hiccup slightly “something wrong?”

Hiccup didn’t react for a couple seconds, his brow furrowed in thought, before he jumped slightly, blinking his green eyes at Jack as if he’d just appeared out of nowhere.

“Hm? Oh uh..no, twas nothing, really.” he said with a brief smile, glancing away. Jack tilted his head, raising an eyebrow as he caught Hiccup’s gaze again.

“Didn’t look like nothing to me..” he said, prompting Hiccup to look a little chagrined, as if annoyed that he’d been caught with an emotion in a meeting.

“Well it’s just..I don’t know” he shrugged with a frown, and Jack was glad to see his expressiveness was back

“I’m just always a little put off when people are called ‘terrorists’, you know? The term carries a lot of weight, and makes negotiations even harder. By calling someone a terrorist, you already devalue whatever their position is.”

Jack raised an eyebrow “Well it was a pretty brutal attack, with civilian casualties, and presumably with some political goal in mind” he said, considering Hiccup’s words. “Isn’t that kind of the definition of what terrorists do?”

Hiccup shook his head “Lots of people use violence to further their political goals. Rebels, revolutionaries, demonstrators, governments.” he looked up, and the fire in his green eyes took Jack off guard. “The name you give something like that matters. Even if it might just seem like semantics.” Hiccup said, and Jack nodded. Hiccup held so much conviction that disagreeing with him didn’t even cross his mind at first.

“That’s true.” Jack said, hesitantly “though the president probably didn’t mean anything by it, right? She’s just personally affected by the attack. It’s understandable that she’d call it terrorism.” Hiccup nodded reluctantly and turned back to the viewscreen, worrying his lip again.

“Yeah that’s what I’d like to think too. We just don’t know enough about this situation yet.”

“Do you think this..Stormbringer guy had a good reason for the attack? Because even if he did, to commit something like this, I’m not sure how that could be justified..” Jack trailed off, unsure how he should feel about the whole thing. The images and videos they had seen had been genuinely disturbing.

“I don’t know.” Hiccup sighed, slumping slightly in his chair. “Could just be a violent coup attempt, or any number of things. We know very little about the Braknar’s political structure.” he shrugged “I mean it’s a monarchy, who knows what’s going on with that.” he added in a murmur.

Jack didn’t answer for a moment. The more he thought about it, the more frustrating their lack of information grew. They were walking straight into a complex political and humanitarian drama, and they had just the Andulien’s limited view on things to go on. The only thing they could do for now, was to keep their eyes open and gather as much intel as they could. He sighed softly, sitting up a little straighter. No use worrying about it yet, while they couldn’t do anything about it anyway. A glance to Hiccup, who was still deep in thought, his thick brows furrowed, told Jack that the captain was very much worrying, maybe even a little too much. His lip tilted into a slight smile.

“Since they have a queen and everything, do you think they’ll have knights too? Horses and moats and such?” he asked, tilting his head a little as he looked at Hiccup. It took the captain a moment to register what Jack had said, and he could see the confusion melting into amusement, his frown turning upside down, if Jack were to be asked. Hiccup sat up a little straighter again, sending Jack a smirk.

“Why? Are you just eager to rescue a princess with your stallion, decked out in gleaming armor? Or a prince?” Jack’s face lit up, delighted that Hiccup would stoop to his level of silliness immediately. The captain actually seemed just as surprised by it, looking a little sheepish.

“Or do other knight stuff, I mean, I wasn’t..” Hiccup added, shaking his head a little, looking like he wanted to reel the question back in, turning his face to the viewscreen again. Only then did Jack even realize the implication, and the faint blush on Hiccup’s cheek made more sense. Jack smirked a little self satisfied.

“Well who could say no to that? Sword Fighting and mounted combat is just more..epic than boring phaser shootouts, don’t you think?” he said in a casual tone, completely ignoring Hiccup’s flustered addition.

“And who wouldn’t want to rescue a handsome prince? Is there anything more heroic than that?” he added, looking over to study Hiccup’s reaction.

The captain swallowed thickly, before turning to Jack, slightly less flustered now. “That’s true. I bet an achievement like that would even get you a shiny medal from Starfleet.” he said with a smile, his eyes softening for a moment. “I would have to decide if I’d go with the Prince or the Princess though, if I only had one horse, that would be the real problem.”

Jack’s smile widened. “I don’t envy you there.” he said, eliciting another amused huff from Hiccup.

Once again, Jack was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to fall into conversation with the captain, how comfortable he was with the man. Hiccup just seemed so genuine and open in everything he did, that it was a little easier for Jack to let down his guard. They talked for another hour, switching back and forth between their thoughts on the mission and casual conversation, as Jack attempted to keep the mood light. As he’d already noticed, Hiccup cared a lot, sometimes about too many things at once. He seemed frustrated when he couldn’t solve a problem immediately, preferably by himself. So Jack felt it was part of his job to keep the captain grounded, to maybe lower his stress level.

Just when he started talking about his preference in ice cream, he was interrupted by Astrid, who gave him a pointed, but amused look.

“Dropping out of warp in 10 seconds, sir.” she said, and Jack gave her a mischievous smile before turning back towards the viewscreen, shifting to a more serious demeanor.

Hiccup seemed a little surprised by the quick passage of time himself.

“Thank you Astrid. Tooth, please let our guests know that we’ll meet in the transporter room in a couple minutes.” Just as Tooth replied with an ever cheerful “Yes sir.”, the blue swirl of the warp bubble gave way to the inky black of space.

“Standard Orbit, bud.” Hiccup added, and Toothless nodded, his claws moving over his panel as he steered the Enterprise closer to the planet that quickly came into view.

“That’s Vorathos?” Jack asked quietly, mostly to himself, as he took in the unusual brightness of the planet. Since the entire surface was covered with white fog, it reflected a lot more light than most. One couldn’t see any land from this distance. He wondered how much the temperature had dropped after the cataclysm the ambassador had talked about. With that much sunlight being reflected, it was a wonder the planet wasn’t a frozen husk.

“Can we see the Andulien planet from here? What’s it called, Naltheon, right?” he asked louder, glancing at Astrid, who nodded.

“Yeah, let me find the right angle..” she said, her hands flying over her controls. The view shifted to a small dot in the distance, before zooming in. The other planet was still quite far away, but the green and blue of its surface appeared a lot more friendly. Though maybe Jack was biased, since it resembled earth so much.

Hiccup seemed to think the same thing. “Well if I had to choose one to live on…” he said offhandedly, raising his eyebrows. He pushed himself from his chair, adjusting his uniform jacket as he stood, and Jack followed suit.

“Right, let’s go see what the ‘terrorist’ wants.” Hiccup said, and waited for Jack before walking to the turbolift.

“Astrid, you have the conn.”

“Aye Sir, good luck.” she replied, nodding to them as they walked past her.

Jack felt that familiar mix of excitement and anxiety again as they made their way to the transporter room to meet the ambassador and the president with her four guards and assistant, which were quickly introduced. Jack didn’t even attempt to remember their names, as all of these introductions and meetings almost blended together in his mind. He’d had to get to know a lot of people in the last three years, and he’d learned to try and focus on the most important ones. So as long as he didn’t create some sort of political incident, he’d be fine. The benefit of being around such high ranking, important people was that they all had a title you could address them with. The group beamed down to the planet, with Enterprise holding position in orbit above.

**********

The golden swirl of light dissipated around them as they materialized in front of the royal palace on Vorathos, and Hiccup had to squint as his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight. There was little cloud cover at the moment, and the white fog covering most of the planet had the same effect as a snowy landscape might have, reflecting the light.

He looked around, finding himself in a lush, but neatly trimmed garden, in front of a tall stone wall with a wrought iron gate. Behind them a lower wall ringed the open lawn, and beyond that the world fell away in a sheer drop. They were right at the edge of one of the plateaus, looking down to the sea of clouds, which stretched to the horizon. Other plateaus of varying height were close by, some even connected by cable cars. The garden they were standing in was probably specifically made for arrivals via transporter or shuttle, leaving just enough space outside the palace’s walls. Like any modern government building, it had jammers, preventing any transport directly into the complex, since it would be impossible to keep any sort of secure perimeter otherwise.

Still, they only had to walk about thirty meters to get to the tall gate, which was promptly opened by two guards. Their broad shoulders and angular, grey faces denoted them as Braknar, and they wore complicated looking body armor, interspersed with colorful fabrics. They carried long spears, with equally colorful frills towards the top. Hiccup remembered their earlier conversation and glanced at Jack, who was fighting a smile.

The guards were purely ceremonial, of course, and Hiccup could see the signs of actual security all over the place. Cameras, snipers on rooftops, actual guards with metal detectors and rifles slung over their back.

Being part of an expected diplomatic delegation, they were spared any search. Instead, they were welcomed by one of the queen’s advisors, waiting right behind the gate. He was an elderly man, who bowed in a dignified manner, before leading them into the palace. Hiccup realized that the garden was kept so small to make room for the rather lavish palace building. Apparently they wanted to make the most of the limited space on the plateau.

Hiccup couldn’t help but gape a little as they drew closer, the tall spires and lavishly decorated walls of the citadel rising up before them. The large windows were colorful, compared to the sandstone walls, and Hiccup wondered if they were colored to block some of the intense sunlight.

No expense was spared when it came to the palace, it seemed, as the interior was just as impressive. They walked down a long corridor with a ridiculously high, arched ceiling. A singular woven carpet covered most of the marble floor, the sheer length of it displaying opulence. The walls were decorated with large paintings and statues lined the hallway. It was a gorgeous sight, Hiccup had to admit. The beams of colorful light from the tall windows making everything gleam. Still, he found such displays of wealth a little distasteful. But he supposed a monarch had to project in such a way.

They were led into the throne room, which was even more impressive than the hallway, naturally, and Hiccup’s eyes were drawn to the lavish, gleaming throne, placed on a tall dais, more windows behind it drenching it in light. A female Braknar sat in it, looking regal enough, with her gem studded crown and complicated dress.

The older andulian man currently talking to her looked downright drab, wearing only a simple black suit. It had a similar type of cut as the president’s clothes, but didn’t catch the eye at all, almost as if it was designed to fade into the background. Their small party approached the throne, and the man was introduced as the andulien minister of security, tasked with the protection of the andulien assets. He looked relieved as he spotted the president, like he’d only just been holding his temper talking to the queen. As soon as Zyrkath greeted her, the minister stepped aside.

Hiccup was glad to stay in the background as well, as they went through a long winded round of introductions and formalities. Harrington did a much better job than Hiccup could have anyway, so he only had to bow his head a couple times and wasn’t forced to play diplomat. Which he was rather glad for. It wasn’t like Hiccup had a problem with authority in general, but there was something distasteful in bowing to an actual queen, someone who ruled without the consent of her people. The way the Queen elevated herself from her people, displaying her wealth like this just irked him, and he didn’t like showing respect to someone who was born into power.

He let his gaze sweep around the room again, waiting for the formalities to pass, and noticed that the minister of defense was quietly talking to what looked to be his bodyguard, a severe looking andulien woman. She was quite a bit taller than the minister, a dispassionate scowl seemingly cemented on her face as she looked around the room. Hiccup hadn’t noticed her before, as she was dressed in black, blending into the background even more than the minister, but the strong set to her shoulders and her cold eyes sent a shiver down his spine. Not someone he’d want to get into a fight with, that was for sure.

The Queen spoke up, dragging Hiccup from his thoughts with her imperious tone.

Her angular face made it clear how she felt about the whole proceeding as she looked at Harrington with a skeptical expression.

“I appreciate you responding to our aid request, ambassador. But are you certain that negotiations with these terrorists will be fruitful?” she asked, moving on from all the greetings to the actual reason for their meeting. “In the past, we have found that such violence can only be met in kind. That is the only message these people understand. Don’t you think it will encourage others to follow suit if we acknowledge their demands?”

Harrington nodded deferentially. “Indeed, your majesty, opening negotiations with them is not without risk.” he said, glancing at Zyrkath.

“But I fear the terrorists managed to push us into a rather unfortunate position. With this many lives on the line, especially with the Andulien ambassador and his family, we are duty bound to try any measure necessary to free them.” he explained, looking a little regretful.

President Zyrkath stepped up next to him, hands on her hips.

“I don’t like this any more than you do, but there’s a lot of lives on the line, including that of my brother. I’m not willing to risk it just because it sends a stronger message.” The Queen seemed to acquiesce to those arguments, her expression softening.

“I suppose you are right. He has been a good friend in the past, we should leave no option on the table.” she said, and some of the tension lifted from Zyrkath’s shoulders. “But I’d advise you not to get your hopes up.” the queen continued, ”These warlords are savages, I doubt they’ll negotiate in good faith.” she motioned to one of her servants. “Bring in the com-link.” she said, and the younger Braknar bowed briefly, before quickly stepping to the side of the room, rolling in a projector device on an unobtrusive cart.

“We’re ready, your majesty.” the servant said, and the Queen motioned for him to go ahead. The young braknar tapped a few buttons on the projector, and a large, holographic display flickered to life, mimicking a floating screen. It only displayed a loading symbol for a couple of seconds, but then it changed to a high quality video call.

Revak Stormbringer sat at a large wooden desk—presumably in the ambassador’s office—and smiled faintly when the call connected, and he could see them all standing in the throne room. He was wearing militaristic looking gear, some sort of camouflage jacket, with a bullet resistant vest on top, its pocket filled with gear that Hiccup couldn’t quite identify. Behind him stood multiple braknar, dressed similarly, armed with rifles and wearing masks.

A flag was roughly nailed to the wall behind them, red and black colors, replacing the blue royal Braknar flag that still poked out behind it. Hiccup glanced over to the ambassadors and queen, who were already fuming quietly at the bold display. If Stormbringer wanted to bring them to his side, it hadn’t been a good move to taunt them like this.

Revak leaned forward in his chair folding his massive hands on the table, the set of his brows serious, though a faint, satisfied smirk played around his lips.

“Ah, I see you’re willing to talk at last, your majesty. And you’ve brought your friends.” he said, his voice rumbling and deep. The way he accentuated her title made it rather clear what he thought of the queen. She raised her chin, not deigning to reply.

Zyrkath stepped forward instead, her expression straining to stay neutral.

“We have acquiesced to your demands, Revak, as a show of good faith. The Federation was kind enough to send their flagship to assist us in these negotiations.” Hiccup slightly raised an eyebrow at the wording, standing up a little straighter, hands folded behind his back. Emphasizing that the flagship was in orbit sounded more like a threat than anything else.

That wasn’t lost on Revak either, who curled his lip slightly.

“Good faith, hm?” he said, glancing to the space behind the camera with a somewhat amused huff.

Zyrkath moved on, ignoring the comment. “Accordingly, we demand to see proof that the hostages are all still alive and treated well.” she said, fists clenched at her sides.

Revak raised an eyebrow, his lip curling in something akin to a snarl for a brief moment.

“Demand? Your people have demanded quite enough of us. You will hear our demands first, then you will comply with them, and then you’ll get your hostages.” he said, volume rising, one hand clenched in a fist on the table, the other pointing at the screen. “They’re all still doing fine, unlike our people, held in your prisons.”

He took a long breath, clenching his jaw, and lowered his hand again, adjusting a datapad before him on the desk. He looked up at the camera again with a casual smile, but the facade had slipped. There was a lot of anger behind those grey eyes. Revak moved on, before anyone could respond.

“Our demands are as follows:

First, the complete withdrawal of Andulien personnel from Vorathos. You will leave the mining rigs behind and pull all of your people out.” This elicited various noises of disbelief, the three politicians and Harrington sharing glances between each other.

Revak moved on.

“Second, the immediate release of every political prisoner, both from the royal prisons, as from the Andulien prisons. Third, the dilithium trade will go exclusively through us from now on.

And finally, fourth, the abdication of the queen. Only once all of our demands are met, will we release the hostages, and cease hostilities.”

He put the datapad aside, giving the camera a challenging look, his eyes burning with excitement. Zyrkath and the queen almost fell over themselves with their enraged responses.

“That is outrageous!” “Utterly absurd!” “You’ve lost your mind!” They fell into arguing with each other as well, discussing the merits of talking to the terrorist in the first place, and the absurdity of the demands. Harrington seemed shocked as well, but tried to calm the other two, going for a more neutral position.

Revak, meanwhile, leaned back in his chair as he waited for them to calm down, not seeming too surprised by the reaction. Hiccup tilted his head slightly, narrowing his eyes in thought. The broad shouldered man knew exactly how the Anduliens and the Queen would react, yet he hadn’t pulled his punches at all. Hiccup wondered who else was in the audience, and if Revak needed to perform a certain way, to satisfy his followers. Then again, there really was no way to sugarcoat demands like that. Hiccup also noted the dark look in the eyes of the minister of defense, looming in the background, not yet participating in the heated discussion. It seemed like the man had anticipated this scenario as well.

“Ambassador Harrington.” Revak said loudly, cutting over the discussion. His face was stern, but earnest. “I asked for you to be here, because those two would never see reason otherwise.” he gestured to Zyrkath and the Queen, who glared back at him.

“If I have been informed correctly, the Federation stands for justice and equality for all, does it not?” Harrington gave a hesitant nod, stepping a little closer to the projector “Those are among our founding principles, yes.”

“Then why does the Federation stand with the Andulians? Who have done nothing but suppress and exploit our planet, and our people? Has your thirst for dilithium blinded you to the cost of mining it?” Harrington was taken aback, blinking in surprise, then a hint of indignation crept over his face.

“The Federation does no such thing. The Anduliens have facilitated mining on this planet through their technology. It is a mutually beneficial relationship with the people of Braknar, as you are probably well aware. I have personally reviewed the trade agreement between the Andulien Republic and the Queen of Braknar. If anything, it is in the Braknar’s favor.
The amount of goods and developmental aid that flow to this planet more than make up for the mined dilithium.”

Revak clenched his fists on the table again. “What! They mine a fortune in dilithium, our dilithium, and pay us back in scraps! None of that wealth ever makes it to the people of Braknar! That entire trade deal is a sham! The only way a fair deal could be made is if the Federation trades with us directly! Or are you just not willing to pay the price for the resources you want?”

“It’s not a sham just because you aren’t involved personally! Everything has been agreed upon decades ago in close collaboration with the Braknar government. Sounds to me like you are just looking to make your own fortune!” Harrington straightened his back, huffing in indignation, and Hiccup wondered if the man remembered what their mission was. Maybe it had been a mistake to bring the ambassador who was so closely involved in the politics of these two planets. He seemed more invested in defending the agreement he had worked to facilitate, than actually looking for a solution. Even if Revak’s demands were ludicrous, they still had to think of the hostages.

Revak seemed to have come to the same conclusion. His lip curled in a disappointed snarl.

“Why did you even come here, if you’re just a mouthpiece for their propaganda?” he gestured to Zyrkath again. “I had hoped that the Federation was just blind to this injustice, but it seems to me you’re a very willing participant.”

Harrington didn’t back down. “Did you really think that the Federation would make a trade deal with a terrorist group that just committed mass murder? You know perfectly well that your demands are untenable. So what do you really want?” he said, almost glaring at the man.

Revak ground his teeth, letting out a long breath. “Untenable? Just because you refuse to listen? If you want your hostages back, you’ll consider my offer. Don’t call me until you’re ready to actually negotiate.” he spat, before ending the call. Harrington huffed in indignation, before turning to Zyrkath and the Queen.

“He’s lost his mind! Did he ever even intend to negotiate in good faith?” Zyrkath said, and the Queen nodded primly, raising her chin. “I told you talking to the likes of him wouldn’t get us anywhere. I hope you see that now.”

Zyrkath’s shoulders slumped, her face a mix of distress and anger. The minister of defense chose that moment to step out of the shadows again.

“I think we’ve already heard enough, madam president. It is as I had feared, there is no negotiating with terrorists. We should go ahead with our assault.” he said it in a grave tone, as if this was the last thing he wanted, but Hiccup saw a gleam of eagerness in the man’s eyes that he really didn’t like.

The president shook her head, looking from the minister back to Harrington, wordlessly asking for a different solution.

Harrington shrugged slightly, shaking his head as well. “I just don’t understand why Stormbringer asked for our presence here in the first place, if he didn’t have some reasonable offer.” he sighed, “I suppose he’s not giving us a lot of options.”

The queen nodded, satisfied that everyone had reached this obvious conclusion.

Hiccup raised his eyebrows, “Wait, you’re giving up just like that? Shouldn’t we at least try to reach him again?”

“You’ve heard his ludicrous demands!” Zyrkath said, expression grave and hopeless, “he’s obviously not interested in reasonable negotiations!”

“Well, agreed, his demands are…ambitious, to say the least. But maybe we can temper them somewhat, maybe agree to parts of them?” Hiccup looked between the president and the ambassador expectantly. The Andulien only crossed her arms, and Harrington looked resigned as well, scratching his chin in thought.

He glanced to Zyrkath “Who are the ‘political prisoners’ Stormbringer was referring to? Maybe we could offer the release of some of them?” Zyrkath emphatically shook her head. “Absolutely not. He just wants more fighters for his cause, to fill up his ranks. And you’ve seen how violent that cause is. Anyone currently imprisoned went through a fair trial.” he thought for a moment. “He might be referring to the members of a terrorist group back on Naltheon. Our security forces recently managed to land a blow against their operation, arresting a couple dozen of them. They have been planting explosives around government installations for months now. Releasing them can only lead to more deaths.“

Hiccup glanced at Jack, who looked like he’d put the same pieces of the puzzle together. Had the ambassador's shuttle been hit by the same group?

Harrington gave a small, helpless shrug as he looked back at Hiccup. “I would prefer to end this without bloodshed as well…but his demands are impossible to fulfill, and I think that man is very much aware of that. I don’t believe he is interested in a peaceful solution. Maybe he just wants to seem like a magnanimous leader to his faction, disguising his brutal grab for power with talk of justice and freedom.”

Hiccup furrowed his brows. “You’re aware that a forceful ‘solution’ to this situation is going to be a bloodbath?” he glanced at the minister, who narrowed his eyes. Hiccup ignored him, focusing on Harrington and the president. He had the distinct feeling that the only thing that had stopped an assault so far, was the fact that the president’s brother was at risk.

“They’d be walking into that embassy almost entirely blind, fighting against enemies that have very little to lose at this point. What’s to stop them from slaughtering the hostages? Who’s to say they don’t have the entire building set to blow at the first sign of trouble?” he paused for effect. “We simply don’t know enough.”

Harrington looked even more hopeless than before, glancing back to the president. “It’s not just that the demands are too much. Consider what kind of message it would send, if we were to acquiesce to any of his demands? So many innocent people dead, and we reward him by giving him whatever he is asking for? Where’s the justice—which he so adamantly claims is with his cause—in that?” he looked around, the politicians nodding in agreement.

“Look, captain, I promise I’ll keep working on this, and we'll try to reach Revak again, but I don’t think we can reach a peaceful solution here. Maybe you could find some other way in the meantime? If the next round of negotiations—if he even agrees to one—goes as badly as the first, we have to be ready. Maybe we can find a way past the jamming, or something like that.”

Hiccup shook his head slightly. Harrington did have a point, even if he didn’t like it. It would be a bad message to send to the galaxy, that if you wanted the Federation to bend to your will, you only had to kill enough people. But the entire situation was teetering on the edge of disaster, and Hiccup didn’t like his chances.

The minister spoke up again. “We’re only wasting time here. The longer we wait with the assault, the better prepared they will be.” he placed a hand on Zyrkath’s shoulder

“Madam president, I am confident my men can save your brother. Just give the order and this can all be resolved within the hour.”

The president bit her lip, cradling her burnt arm again as she looked from her minister to Hiccup and back. “Do you think there’s another solution?” she asked Hiccup, and Hiccup’s shoulders tensed.

“Aside from negotiating?” he said, once again noting the dark look in the minister’s eyes. Why was he so eager to assault the embassy? Hiccup had no idea if they could come up with something else, or where they would even start. But he had to buy them some time to at least try.

“I’m sure a safer option can be found.” he said, nodding to Zyrkath, trying to sound as confident as he could.

“But it could be too late once you get there.” the minister cut in, his hand still on the president’s shoulder. Zyrkath was quiet for a moment, looking to the floor.

“You have 24 hours, captain. If you can get the hostages out safe by then, you’ll have my eternal gratitude. If not…” she looked at the minister, who barely managed to contain his anger and disappointment.

Hiccup nodded. He’d have to take what they could get. “Fine. I’ll head back to the ship and start working on a solution. I suggest you keep negotiating, at least to keep them occupied.”

Hiccup and Jack walked back to the front entrance in silence, Hiccup worrying his lip, his restless energy powering long steps. “That..could have gone better..” Jack said quietly, testing the waters as they stepped into the garden again.

“Yeah. It doesn’t look good.”

“And even if he promised, I have a feeling Harrington’s heart isn’t fully in it. They’re probably just waiting for us to give up, so they can go ahead with the assault.

Hiccup nodded, “Just storming the place and conveniently resolving the situation without concessions always seems like the easy way out, if you don’t have to take part in it.” he said, frustrated, his arms moving expressively as he talked. “Though it’s not like I have a better solution at hand either.”

A swirl of golden light later, and they were back on the Enterprise, making their way to the bridge.

“What if you talk to Revak yourself?” Jack said quietly, biting his lip in thought. Hiccup raised an eyebrow at his first officer, who looked a little sheepish, leaning against the wall as they stepped into the turbolift. “I mean he said we should call him, if we wanted to negotiate. Harrington might not, but you do.” he said, giving Hiccup a crooked smile.

Hiccup tilted his head slightly. “That would be against protocol, going behind a Federation ambassador during an official negotiation.”

“Maybe. But you know, as captain, you are legally an ambassador yourself.”

“The presence of an official ambassador does supersede my rights in that regard.”

“I don’t see any ambassador.”

Hiccup’s smile broadened. “Neither do I.”

They stepped onto the bridge, and Hiccup didn’t return to his chair, instead he stood closer to the viewscreen.

“Tooth, I assume you were monitoring the call down there, even if it was a secure line?”

“I may have snatched up some of it, Sir.” she replied brightly.

“Can you patch me through to Revak from here?”

“Already on it.”

It only took a couple of seconds, before the viewscreen switched to the same camera view they had seen in the throne room. Revak was alone this time, confirming Hiccup’s guess that the earlier call had been somewhat of a performance, meant for Revak’s people. The muscular man looked a little less poised as well, his expression tired.

“Revak Stormbringer, this is Captain Hiccup Haddock from the Federation Starship Enterprise. We weren’t introduced earlier.” The man sat up a little straighter in his large office chair.

“Got to be honest Captain, I didn’t expect to hear back from the Federation so soon. Are you calling to make threats then?”

“Well for now I’m not calling in my official capacity.” Hiccup tilted his head slightly, trying to gauge the man before him. “Ambassador Harrington seems convinced that you have no interest in negotiating. But I felt like some questions were left unaddressed earlier, wouldn’t you agree?” Revak stayed quiet for an extended moment, folding his hands on the desk again.

“Such as?”

“Such as why do you seem to be the only one who isn’t satisfied with the current trade agreement? Or why you felt that the only way to address that was to kill hundreds of people.”

Hiccup stood straight, his hands behind his back, looking intently at Revak. His tone was neutral, deliberately not passing judgment on the statements.

Revak narrowed his eyes, suddenly intrigued. “You’re asking the right questions, captain. I've had the same ones for a long time.” he said quietly.

“And you’ve found answers that were to your satisfaction?”

“I’ve found answers. That doesn’t mean I like them. But I get the feeling you’re someone who could come to the same conclusions I have, given the chance.” Revak leaned back, waiting for Hiccup to reach out for the metaphorical olive branch. Hiccup let the pause drag on for a moment, his heart hammering up his throat.

“And you’re offering me that chance?” Hiccup said, studying the man’s expression intently. For just a moment, Revak’s eyes lit up with hope, before he carefully restored his neutral expression. That was enough for Hiccup. If there was even the tiniest chance that this man was telling the truth, that his plea to the Federation had been genuine, it was Hiccup’s duty to come to his aid. Revak looked at the captain with the same intensity, as if trying to read Hiccup’s mind. Then the corner of his lip lifted a fraction.

“Why don’t we meet up in person?”

**********

“Hiccup, this is insane, even by your standards!” Astrid walked with him and Jack down the corridor to the transporter room, her hands balled into fists.

“This is an active hostage situation, and you’re planning to just walk in there? With no backup? Who’s to say that Stormbringer guy isn’t just going to add you to the hostage pool?” She made it really hard to ignore all the risks, but Hiccup had to.

“Sometimes you just have to have a little bit of faith!” he said, looking back at her with a smirk. “Plus, I will have backup. Our brave commander Frost over here can take a couple of terrorists, can’t he?” Jack gave a noncommittal shrug, looking at least a little guilty as Astrid glared at him.

“And if not, Aster’s sour mood will scare them into submission.” Hiccup quickly moved on, gesturing to the chief medical officer, who was indeed looking rather sour, leaning against the wall inside the transporter room, his arms crossed. Astrid shot a ‘say something'  kind of look to Aster, who just shook his head in exasperation.

“Like we’ve ever managed to talk him out of something.” he said in his usual gruff tone. “I’d just prefer it if you didn’t involve me in your harebrained schemes.”

Hiccup gave an exaggerated shrug as he stepped onto the transporter pad, Jack and Aster following, one definitely less excited about it than the other.

Astrid crossed her arms. “At least let me come with you, in case things go wrong.” Hiccup was already shaking his head. “If things go wrong, I need you on the bridge of the Enterprise. Who else is going to lead a rescue mission? Plus, we do need to present a plan to Harrington sometime soon. Can you whip something up while we’re down there?”

Astrid didn’t answer for a moment, working her jaw in frustration. Hiccup knew that she hated it when he put himself at risk, but she was the main reason he could do it so comfortably. Knowing Astrid was his backup, with the Enterprise and her absurdly well trained security department at her side, Hiccup could waltz right into danger, knowing she’d have his back. Though he tried to keep that to a minimum, if just to spare her the headache.

“Fine.” she said, rolling her eyes. “Just don’t cause any trouble.”

“When have I ever done that?” Hiccup said, splaying his hands as the golden swirls of the transporter started to spin around him, saving him from Astrid’s response.

They materialized right outside the destroyed gate of the embassy, which looked much worse up close than from the drone footage. The attackers hadn’t cleared up any of the mess on the outside, probably thinking it safer to stay inside, and not split up over the large complex. The gatehouse reeked of decay, the green blood splattered over the scorched back wall clearly showing why. They slowly stepped inside the walled off yard, looking around cautiously as they approached the front door of the building. Apparently there would be no one to officially greet them out here. As long as no one shot at them, this was fine with Hiccup. The large, wooden double doors were scorched and damaged as well, but it didn’t look like they had suffered as big of an explosion, since they were mostly intact, and very much closed. It was almost eerily quiet.

“I don’t like this.” Aster grumbled behind him.

“Yeah, not sure if one can call this a warm welcome.” Hiccup said quietly, looking around for anyone watching them, before he knocked on the door, which swung inward almost as soon as his knuckles connected with the dark wood. His hand froze in midair as they stared inside.

Half a dozen rifles were pointed right at them, wielded by Braknar in military gear, their expressions hostile and suspicious. After a beat of tense silence, Hiccup opened his raised hand, transforming the knock into an awkward little wave.

“Uh..hi..” he said, lowering his hand ever so slowly. Maybe this had been a bad idea after all.

He turned his body slightly, gesturing to the empty holster at his side. “We came unarmed, just as your leader requested,” he said slowly. “He agreed to talk.”

“And we shall!” a loud voice boomed from behind the group of armed braknar, who shared skeptical glances before stepping aside, lowering their weapons. They created a corridor for their leader, who towered over them all, a full head taller than most of his soldiers.

“Captain Haddock. You actually came.”

“Revak Stormbringer. You actually didn’t kill us.” They stared at each other for an extended moment, sizing each other up.

“Wait, that was on the table?” Jack’s warm voice cut in from behind him, apparently unable to endure the tense silence without making a joke. He’d found the right audience.

“HA!” Revak’s explosive laugh made Hiccup flinch slightly, “I like the rock you’re hewn from. Took guts to show up here like that. Come on inside.”

Hiccup shared a brief holy-shit-I-can’t-believe-you-just-did-that look with Jack over his shoulder, to which Jack only gave a crooked smile, his blue eyes blinking innocently.

Hiccup couldn’t help the smile that crept onto his own face, but he turned to follow Revak into the embassy’s entry hall. There were signs of fighting all over the place, destroyed furniture, bullet holes and scorch marks on the walls, some of the large, colorful windows had jagged holes. Hiccup even spotted some blood stains on the walls and an overturned armoire, messily wiped into an even bigger stain, as if someone had done a poor job trying to clean up.

He looked around, trying to spot where the hostages might be kept. Several closed doors led out of the large foyer, and a grand staircase towards the back wall led upstairs.

It would probably make sense to keep the hostages on one of the upper floors, providing a more difficult and slow access for any breaching team.

“I’ve brought my chief medical officer, in case you have wounded people here.” he said, looking at Revak’s back as the man walked towards the stairs. He stopped and turned to look, first at Hiccup, then at Aster.

Hiccup could almost see the gears turning behind those intelligent eyes, trying to spot a trap. It was entirely possible that they were just here to scope out the place. And, well, maybe that was part of what they were doing. Revak thought for a moment, locking eyes with Hiccup again, who straightened slightly.

They were both walking the wire, trying to gauge if they could trust each other.

Revak could have just lured them here to have even more leverage, Hiccup might just be here to create a diversion. Really, it was too much risk for either of them to take. And yet, there was potential they couldn’t ignore.

“That’s very generous. We have a medic as well, she’s already looked over the wounded, but I’m sure it couldn’t hurt if you helped out.” Revak said, nodding to Aster and the bag of medical supplies slung over his shoulder. “You’re not as strapped for resources. Follow me, they’re upstairs.” Revak started walking again, and the three Starfleet officers followed, boxed in by two of the soldiers, while the rest stayed to guard the lower floor. Revak pushed open large double doors on the second floor, leading them into a wide open office space. The large room was a mess. Dozens of desks and chairs had been overturned or shoved aside, paper and stationary littering the floor, bullet holes marking one of the inner walls. Crowded throughout the room were more andulien hostages than Hiccup could properly count, but a quick estimation brought him up to almost a hundred. They were mostly sitting on the floor, heavily guarded by braknar soldiers. It was a mix of men and women, all looking scared and quite ragged, some with visible bruises. Aster immediately got to work once he spotted an andulien with a large gash on his forehead, sitting on the floor with his back to the wall. He pulled out his medical tricorder to scan the wound. Revak glanced back at Aster and nodded in approval.

“I’m sure you’re eager to meet the true ruler of this planet.” he said, gesturing for Hiccup and Jack to follow him deeper inside the room.

Aster made to follow, but Hiccup nodded for him to stay with the wounded andulien. “Take care of them, we won’t be far.” he said quietly, before he and Jack followed Revak, who made his way past a cluster of huddled hostages. Hiccup caught up with the huge man.

“What are you talking about? We’ve already met the queen.” Revak let out a quiet huff, shaking his head. He led them to a corner office, slightly separated from the main office by glass walls. Inside, they found more guards, and a small family of anduliens huddled against the outer wall, a middle aged man with his arm around what was presumably his wife and young son. They looked up, relief washing over their faces at the sight of Starfleet officers.

“Oh Thalion, they came for us!” the woman said excitedly, looking to her husband. The man didn’t seem quite as excited, a skeptical look on his face.

“Meet the andulien ambassador!” Revak said, a little too loud, making the boy flinch. “The true king of Vorathos!” The rancorous tone of his voice spoke volumes.

The ambassador scowled up at Revak, working his jaw quietly for a moment, before he turned to Hiccup, glancing at the four stripes on his uniform. “Captain. Have you come to negotiate our release at last?”

Hiccup raised his brows “We’re here to negotiate terms, yes. My name is Hiccup Haddock, Captain of the Federation Starship Enterprise.” he bent down slightly and held out his hand, and the andulien shook it briefly.

“Thalion Zyrkath, ambassador of the Andulien Republic on this planet.” Right. He would have the same name as the president, being her brother.

Hiccup straightened again, folding his hands behind his back.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why does he call you ‘King of Vorathos’?” he said, glancing at Revak, who smirked, gesturing for the ambassador to explain.

“Because he’s a madman, that’s why.” Thalion said, his face turning to anger again. “He somehow came up with the idea that the Andulien Republic is in control of this planet, not the Queen.”

Revak huffed. “It’s not hard to see if you know what to look for.” he said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the desk on the side of the room. “The ‘Queen’ is little more than a sock puppet for the Anduliens. They know the Braknar wouldn’t accept andulien rule, so they use the Queen and her lackeys to enforce their will on my people.” Revak said, lip curling slightly as he looked down on the ambassador.

“The royal family has been the legitimate Braknar government for decades!” Thalion said, furrowing his brow as if not understanding how Revak could be so dense. “We only trade with her because violent warlords don’t make for stable partnerships!”

“Ooh, so she’s legitimate! If only you’d told me and the rest of the Braknar people sooner! Then we would have gladly accepted her exploitation!” Revak’s smile was mirthless and full of anger. “Oh by the way, who decided she’s the legitimate government? Was it the Braknar people?”

Thalion worked his jaw for a moment. “We only chose to trade with the most fair and stable partner on your planet. It’s not our fault you’re living in a monarchy!”

“Of course it is!” Revak snapped, pushing himself off the desk, pointing at Thalion. “Do you honestly believe the queen would have the amount of control she has without andulien funding and andulien weapons? Without the strongest military ‘police’ force on the planet, courtesy of yours truly?”

“What her majesty spends her money on is not our decision.” Thalion replied, lifting his chin. It was hard to seem in control of a situation, sitting on the floor as he was, but he gave it a good try.

“Oh so it’s all just a damn convenient set of circumstances!” Revak huffed, “as per usual. “The queen just happens to be the most powerful warlord -excuse me- legitimate ruler on the planet, and she just happens to do exactly what’s most profitable to the Anduliens. Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”

“What’s profitable to us is profitable to your people as well!” Thalion sputtered, shaking his head. “We pay a fair price for every bit of dilithium that is mined!”

“Money that goes straight to the queen, who spends it on her luxury items for her palace and more weapons for her army!” Revak spat back. “Conveniently finding its way right back into andulien hands! How do the braknar people benefit, exactly, by soaring profits for the andulien arms industry? How do they benefit from constant repression by her police force?”

“Her majesty only needs such a strong police force because of your warlords’ constant, violent attacks!” Thalion stood up then, his family huddled against the wall behind him. Revak didn’t stop him, confident in his control of the room, even as Thalion pointed at him angrily. “Don’t blame that on us, if you people could just be peaceful, there wouldn’t be any need for forceful police action! They’re just desperately trying to keep the peace!” Revak stepped closer to Thalion, towering over the man, who, to his credit, didn’t back down.

“And what peace is that?” Revak growled, “a peace in which my people are systematically and violently exploited? A peace in which we have no control over our own resources, our future?” he paused, grey eyes glowering down at the ambassador. “That is not the sort of peace I’m interested in.”

Thalion blew out a breath through his nose, apparently having difficulties controlling his anger. “You people are just ungrateful, power hungry beasts!” he snapped. “My nation built everything on this damn planet! We made the mountains habitable after the cataclysm, we built these cities! If we didn’t provide the dilithium rigs, you wouldn’t have been able to dig up a single gram of it! We provide you with millions of credits in aid!”

“Aid?!” Revak bellowed the word like a laugh, a bitter grin on his face. “You mean millions of credits we can use to buy food from andulien companies? Or all the aid money that pays andulien construction companies to build buildings they can then rent out to Braknar? Or maybe we can buy seeds, bio-engineered so they only last one year, so we’re forced to buy more the next year! Millions of credits that flow right back into the andulien economy, while leaving us conveniently dependent on it!”

He gestured to the window, pointing outside, his other fist clenched at his side. “Your ancestors may have come to our aid when the cataclysm struck, but they sure were willing to exploit the impoverished nation of workers, sitting right on top of a dilithium deposit.” Revak stepped forward, boxing Thalion in against the wall, “If only it wasn’t for the conveniently persistent fog keeping us trapped in these cities you’ve built.”

Thalian opened and closed his mouth, unable to form a reply for just a moment before he caught himself. “Ha! Your accusations are getting more and more absurd!” he laughed weakly, glancing to Hiccup for a fraction of a second.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. What was that about? Revak huffed in amusement, stepping back from Thalion, his intelligent eyes looking at Hiccup expectantly instead, a satisfied smile tugging on the corner of his mouth.

Hiccup had realized quickly that this entire argument had been rather pointless for the two men involved. Revak and the ambassador would never convince each other of anything, let alone concede ground to each other. But the smile on Revak’s face made it clear that the warlord had been very aware of the benefits of this discussion. He had expertly orchestrated a fight with the ambassador, and apparently he’d gotten Thalion to say everything he wanted Hiccup to hear. But that couldn’t be true, could it?

Hiccup glanced back at Jack, who looked equally puzzled. Hiccup tilted his head slightly, looking back to Revak with a skeptical expression “Are you implying the Anduliens are responsible for the fog covering the entire planet?” Revak had said it right when he had the ambassador agitated, with his back against the wall, as if the accusation was his strongest argument. It sounded more like a conspiracy theory, but the ambassador’s facade had cracked for just a moment, his response a little too forced. It had been enough to pique Hiccup’s curiosity, which was apparently all Revak wanted.

“Maybe I am saying that.” Revak said, crossing his arms again. The ambassador behind him let out a put upon huff, shaking his head as if to say ‘You see what I have to deal with?’ Revak didn’t let that stop him “We’ve never been able to find proof, but all this is just too convenient to be a coincidence. That fog should have dissipated years ago!”

Thalion barked out a more genuine laugh, his earlier moment of apprehension forgotten. Or just well hidden.

“Of course, and we’re probably also responsible when the sun stings your eyes in the morning, or when you stub your toe!”

Revak turned back to Thalion, raising his chin. “Oh you’re responsible for plenty of things, there’s no need to play stupid.” he snarled.

Hiccup watched them as they continued their heated discussion, a thoughtful tilt to his head. He couldn’t forget that brief moment earlier, where Thalion had seemed caught in a trap. The man was a diplomat, skilled at hiding his true feelings, yet that moment had seemed genuine…

Things were really getting interesting now.

**********

“Hey Astrid, do you have a minute?” Tooth’s voice dragged her from her thoughts and she lifted her eyes from her console. She’d been watching the Enterprise's sensor suite, studying all the other vessels moving around in this system. Most of them were andulien warships, the rest mostly cargo haulers. With so many unanswered questions about this conflict, and so many heavily armed ships in close proximity, she couldn’t help but obsessively check their movements. Hiccup, Jack and Aster were in immediate danger, yet she couldn’t do anything about it, even if it turned out to be a trap. They would be just as trapped behind that jammer as all the other hostages. So maybe she was glad for the distraction.

“Of course.” She walked across the bridge to Tooth’s station, looking at her display. It portrayed Vorathos as a simplified map, only showing the population centers and singular blue dots, which were presumably the dilithium rigs. Tooth pointed at two of the blue dots that were quite close together.

“I’m not sure if it’s anything, really, but I wanted a second opinion.” she said, looking up with one of her warm smiles that always made Astrid’s heart beat a little faster.

“So I’ve been monitoring communications to and from the planet, you know, to see if there are any other Anduliens in distress. And I was surprised to find a lot of com-traffic coming from these two dilithium rigs.” She pointed at the map, where two of the blue dots were quite close together, adjacent to one of the populated mountain peaks.

“It sounds like they actually fended off the braknar attack and are still holding their defensive position. So they’re the last two rigs that aren’t controlled by Stormbringer.”

Astrid nodded “I suppose that’s good news. I’m guessing they had better defenses than the other rigs?”

“That’s what I was wondering too, what made these two special?” Tooth replied, zooming in a little, showing just how close the two rigs were to the plateau, connected by a short bridge to the village on top of it. “But the more I looked into it, the more questions popped up. These rigs are…strange.” she said, looking up a little sheepishly.

Astrid raised an eyebrow “Strange?”

“Yes, well, it’s just that there’s barely any data available on them, unlike the other rigs. The Anduliens keep a public record of the rigs, listing the names of each one, and how much dilithium it produces monthly. Except for these two. Which made me even more curious.” Tooth explained, switching to yet another map view, this time showing hundreds of smaller symbols moving across it, connecting the rigs and towns.

Astrid tilted her head, and moved around Tooth’s station, looking over her shoulder, curiosity piqued.

“Is this their flight traffic radar?” she asked, and Tooth nodded.

“Yes, it’s mostly dilithium haulers and passenger transport shuttles. I had to check their archive, because air traffic is currently grounded. This is from one week ago.” She zoomed out and sped up the recorded flight paths. It showed the little symbols representing shuttles zipping all over the planet, and a steady flow of the dilithium transport ships going to and from each rig. Except…

Astrid narrowed her eyes “No traffic to our two special rigs.” she said quietly, and Tooth looked up at her with a grin.

“Exactly! Strange, right? And then I realized what had been staring me in the face the whole time: The com traffic was andulian, not braknar! We were briefed that all the rigs are controlled by the Braknar Queen, and staffed and protected by her forces, right? So why would there be two rigs directly staffed by Anduliens?”

Astrid nodded, brows furrowed, “And what are they doing there, if they’re not mining dilithium?”

“Right!” Tooth almost bounced a little in her seat, and Astrid couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm. Tooth had a way of lightening Astrid’s mood somehow.

Astrid straightened up and looked over to Fishlegs’ station, where the chief science officer had already started typing on his screen. “Fishlegs, can you tell me anything about these two rigs? If they’re not for mining, what are they doing?” The CSO was responsible for the ship’s sensor suite, so if they would be able to detect anything from here, Fishlegs was the man to ask.

“You’re not going to like this.” he said, narrowing his eyes as he continued moving his hands over the screen. “They have jammers, like the embassy. I can’t get a good reading on anything, though they’re giving off a lot of energy. Could also be part of the jamming though, I can’t give you anything conclusive.”

Astrid shared a look with Tooth, “So they’re the only two rigs held by Andulians, the only ones still not controlled by Stormbringers’ forces, the only ones that don’t actually mine dilithium, and the only ones with military grade jammers.” Astrid counted off on her fingers.

Tooth nodded “Strange, no?” she said with a pleased grin.

“I suppose that’s one way of putting it, yeah.” Astrid replied, smiling herself, “Guess we’ll have to go check it out in person.” she added, already stepping away from Tooth’s station, nodding for her to come along. She’d been looking for a good distraction, and this might actually turn out to be important.

“W-what, you mean you and I? Go down to the planet?” Tooth sputtered, eyes wide.

“Of course. You found this, don’t you want to see it through?” Astrid said with a smile, turning back to Tooth, “Stretch out our legs a little, do some field work.”

“But I never go on away teams..” Tooth said, kneading her hands in her lap nervously.

“Oh come now, you’ve been on away missions! It’s just not a regular thing. You’ll be fine!” Astrid said with a warm smile, stepping back to Tooth’s station and placing a hand on her back briefly, to get her to stand up. Tooth looked up at her with a somewhat apprehensive expression, but eventually got up, walking next to Astrid towards the turbo lift.

“You’re sure this is a good idea? We could send someone else, right?”

“And miss out on all the action?” Astrid replied, giving Tooth a crooked smile. Somehow, that was enough to convince her, and Tooth straightened a little, shoulders less tense. “I suppose that’s reason enough. As long as you’re there to keep me safe.” she added, a little teasingly.

“Obviously.” Astrid replied, turning back to the bridge, only to address the chief tactical officer, not because she was hiding a blush. “Sandy, you have the bridge.”

“Aye ma'am.”

They transported down to the surface, just out of jamming range of one of the strange rigs. They found themselves in a narrow street of a cramped town. The houses were packed tightly onto the plateau, each with multiple stories and only narrow alleys in between. Space truly was a luxury on this planet.

Astrid tensed as she took in their surroundings. The street was completely deserted, not a soul to be found in any direction. Windows were shuttered, doors locked. An eerie silence hung over the town, a cool mountain wind whipping through the narrow streets. Tooth stood close to her, looking anxious as she retrieved a tricorder from her belt.

“Where is everyone?”

She scanned the buildings surrounding them as Astrid pulled out her phaser instead, holding the pistol with both hands in a ready position. “There’s people hiding in these buildings.” Tooth said, a little relieved. At least it wasn’t like everyone was dead and gone. Though what were they hiding from? The fight for the nearby rig was over, right?

“Let's find that rig. I don’t like the look of this.” Astrid said, and Tooth nodded, looking at her tricorder and gesturing down the street. “This way, just two hundred meters.”

They moved slowly, Astrid carefully watching the windows, alleys and doors for danger. There were signs of hasty flight all over the place, discarded items and knocked over trash cans littered the street. Astrid noted that one of the buildings to their left and ahead of them was heavily damaged by small arms fire, the plaster broken and riddled with holes and scorch marks. The damaged building sat on an intersection, a street coming from the right meeting with the one they were walking on.

That meant the shots would have come from there…

“We should be able to see the rig, just around this corner.” Tooth said, eyes glued to her tricorder as she stepped around said corner and almost got her head taken off by a green phaser blast. It whizzed past her face and crashed into the already damaged building, leaving a fistsized hole in the wall. Tooth yelped, and Astrid was already moving, cursing herself for putting it together so late. She grabbed Tooth by the collar and tackled her to the ground, right as more phaser blasts ripped over them, leaving ripples of heat in the air.

“Get down you fools!” came a shout, the voice deep and grovelly, laced with pain. Astrid was lying mostly on top of Tooth, shielding her with her body, her phaser aimed in the direction of the shots. On the ground, they were now covered by a pile of smoldering rubble, which seemed to be the remains of a building facade to their right. Another few shots rang out, whizzing over the cover, then the shooting stopped again. A braknar male, dressed in military gear, was slumped against the same cover that had saved them, holding a bleeding wound in his side, wincing as he looked them over.

“You ok?” Astrid asked Tooth as she climbed off of her, remaining low and behind cover. Tooth, though covered in dust from the road, gave her an uncertain smile as she looked up at her. “I think so, thank you.” Astrid let out a relieved breath, returning the smile briefly as she helped Tooth to a slightly more dignified kneeling position, keeping them both behind cover.

She eyed the braknar soldier suspiciously. “Who are you, and who’s shooting at us?” Astrid said, her own phaser still at the ready. The soldier coughed, blood on his lips. “Name’s Draknor..” he winced again, every word obviously painful, his bloody hand clutching the large red stain on his side.

Tooth was already crawling closer to the man, eyes full of pity “hold on, let me help you.” she said, pulling a small first aid kit from one of her pockets.

Astrid almost stopped her, still suspicious, even if the man was wounded. She gripped her phaser tightly, and let her proceed, watching for any sign of more danger. The man had warned them, after all, he didn’t seem to be a threat just yet.

The tiny emergency med-kit stored in every Starfleet uniform was only meant for the rare emergency where no other help, or better kit was available. It was meant to be light and small first and foremost, since it was carried around by everyone. It only included a tiny dermal regenerator with a single charge, just enough to close a small wound, as well as a tourniquet, to potentially stop a life threatening wound in a limb from bleeding.

It was most definitely not enough to deal with the profusely bleeding wound in the soldier’s side, revealed as Tooth carefully pried away his hand, gasping softly at the sight. It was a wonder the man was even still alive. Even with both their regenerators, they would only be able to make the large wound slightly smaller, which wouldn’t make a difference. Astrid looked to the corner they’d come from, mentally calculating how long it would take to drag the man back out of jamming range. She shared a look with Tooth, who looked distraught, blood now covering her hands as well.

“We have to get him back to the ship!” she said, pressing the man’s hand down on his wound again, barely stemming the flow of blood.

The soldier shook his head. “No..I’m..I’m not a coward.” he wheezed, though his eyes were wide and rimmed with tears.

Tooth shook her head “That wouldn’t mean-”

“I’m not leaving,” the man said, shaking his head again. “I failed-” he took a rattling breath “but I won’t abandon my mission.” Astrid clenched her teeth, accepting the inevitable. There was no saving this man, but maybe he could still help them.

“What was your mission?” she asked, crawling a little closer “who’s shooting at us?” Tooth looked up at her, expression pleading, and Astrid did her best to ignore her.

“We..we were supposed to take the rig for Raknar, for our people.” the man started, his voice getting weaker by the minute. “But they were too well defended. We failed.. I-” he coughed, “my men, they’re all…all dead. I failed them.” he said, looking up at the sky, the angular lines of his face pained.

Tooth’s eyes were wide and full of sympathy, her hands still pressed on that of the braknar soldier. Astrid’s expression was grim as she carefully lifted her head, peeking over their cover. For the first time, she was able to take in the entire scene, shocked at the carnage presented to her. The street leading to the bridge of the rig was a wide open space with little cover. And it was littered with corpses. Almost all of them were soldiers dressed similarly to the one right next to her, weapons still clutched in their hands, lying in pooling blood. The approach to the rig was a tactical nightmare. What little cover the few market stalls and shrubbery alongside the street offered ended where the bridge began. From there it was about fifty meters of completely cover less approach over the flat steel bridge. Right behind it she spotted the rig’s defenses.

At least two heavy phasers were directed at the bridge, covering each other’s blind spots, only peeking out over heavy steel cover. She couldn’t help but wonder how she would approach taking the rig. Maybe with lots of smoke grenades and mobile shield emitters, or dangerously close fire support from the Enterprise. Certainly not how the braknar soldiers had tried, rushing the rig with nothing but their rifles. They probably hadn’t expected the heavy phaser positions being ready so quickly. Relying on surprise alone was a dangerous gambit.

It hadn’t paid off this time.

She lowered herself behind cover again, the Braknar now barely breathing. She couldn’t quite tell with their species, but he looked quite young, his face a mask of pain and regret. She wasn’t sure if the man had been fighting for a good cause, but he was certainly convinced of it. It didn’t matter anyway, he deserved what little comfort they could provide. Astrid lowered one hand from her phaser, gripping the man’s shoulder instead.

“You didn’t fail, you hear? This wasn’t your fault.” she said firmly, and the young man looked at her uncertainly, tears in his grey eyes.

“But-”

“No.” Astrid cut him off. “You never stood a chance against these odds. But you made a valiant effort, that’s all anyone can ask. And for what it’s worth, your men took this chance willingly, it’s not your fault.” she said, giving his shoulder a squeeze. The man’s lip quivered as he considered her words, tears now spilling down his cheeks. Then he set his jaw and nodded to her, eyes already closing. Both Astrid and Tooth kept their hold of the man for another couple of seconds, watching wordlessly as he took his last, rattling breath, falling still against the rubble.

Tooth sat back, wiping a tear from her eye, smearing blood over her cheek in the process.

“Oh..” she whispered, looking at her hands, covered in red, shaking slightly. Astrid moved to her side and put a hand around her shoulder, gently pulling her away from the dead soldier.

“I’m sorry.” she said, holstering her phaser as she settled in front of Tooth. She took both of Tooth’s hands in her own, regardless of the blood, and squeezed them slightly. “There was nothing we could have done.” she said, ducking her head slightly to catch Tooth’s line of sight.

“I-I know..” she replied, swallowing heavily as she looked up, violet eyes full of regret.

It took Tooth a moment, then she took a deep breath and squeezed Astrid’s hand back, her shoulders setting a little straighter.

“We came here for a reason.” Tooth said with determination, pulling back her hands and reaching for her tricorder again. Astrid missed the warmth of her hands as soon as she let go, but she only nodded, giving Tooth an encouraging smile. She hadn’t planned to drag her into combat, but Tooth was taking it rather well. She was a deeply empathetic person, and while that could be a weakness in combat, it might also be the source of the strength behind those brilliant green eyes. Astrid turned and peeked over the rubble again, drawing her phaser just to be sure.

“We should be close enough to get through the jamming signal. Can you get a reading?” she asked, and Tooth nodded as she leaned against the rubble as well, holding the tricorder in the direction of the rig.

“I am getting a reading but…it’s strange.”

**********

The andulien ambassador had refused to speak another word to Revak after a while, and Revak had seemed glad to end the discussion before he lost his temper. He’d led them out of the open office space, where Aster was continuing to treat small wounds, and up the stairs to the ambassador’s office.

Hiccup recognized it from the video call, the large desk and the camera equipment right in front of it. Revak led them to the other side of the room though, where a comfortable looking seating arrangement filled the space.

“So. You’re willing to listen.” Revak said, sitting down in one of the low chairs, which creaked under his weight. Apparently it hadn’t been built with Braknar in mind. Hiccup and Jack sat down opposite him, Hiccup leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees.

“Well let’s say I’m willing to hear your side of the story. You made a couple good points earlier, though I’ve seen the death and destruction your forces caused, and it doesn’t really make you look like someone willing to negotiate. And a lot of Braknar died defending the rigs, from what I’ve heard, it hardly looks like you were concerned for their future, killing your own people like that.”

Revak clenched his jaw, looking somewhere between frustrated and remorseful. “Nothing on this planet is really ‘ours’. So whatever was destroyed was a hit against the Anduliens. I’ll admit, some of the destruction wasn’t necessary, but a revolution is built on righteous anger. You can’t fault my people for acting out, now that we’ve clawed back some power.” he held Hiccup’s gaze for a moment, then sighed.

“As for the deaths…I regret that so many people were killed. I ordered my soldiers to offer the enemy forces mercy if they surrendered, but few of them did.” he frowned in disgust “died like dogs to protect their master’s property.”

“Enemy forces?” Jack asked. “We’ve been told that mostly civilians have been hit during the attack. You make it sound like a battle.”

Revak clenched a fist on the wide armrest. “Of course they’d say that. Anything we do is a heinous terrorist attack, even if it’s just a stone thrown through a window.” he huffed, shaking his head, “I won’t pretend and say that no civilians have been hurt, or that everyone that’s dead deserved to die. Collateral damage is always a possibility we have to contend with in a revolution. But from what I’ve learned, we managed to keep loss of life to a minimum. Most of the casualties were the Queen’s security forces defending the dilithium rigs. Like I said, my men were ordered to offer them the chance to surrender, but I can’t be certain if that always happened in the heat of the moment, or if they were willing. The Queen has done a remarkable job in training troops that are loyal to her. Probably helps that she pays really well.”

Hiccup tilted his head slightly. They’d only seen what the andulien president had chosen to show them. In that footage there had been multiple corpses of people not wearing armor. But had that footage been selected to convince them of something? They had little objective information on the attack so far, so either side could be lying. Revak’s reactions looked genuine, but he could say the same about the ambassador.

“Ok, let's assume you’re telling the truth for now. There’s a couple other things I’d like you to clarify. The ambassador spoke of ‘constant, violent attacks’ earlier. What does he mean by that?” Hiccup said, raising an eyebrow.

Revak huffed. “Those ‘violent attacks’ could be anything from a somewhat rowdy protest to someone resisting arrest by the royal police. The latter being enough for a long prison sentence. And if you happen to hurt a police officer in the process, they’ll get you for assault too, locking you away for years.”

“Are those the ‘political prisoners’ you demanded they release earlier? According to the andulien president, they’re all too dangerous to let go. Which does sound a little dubious, to be fair.” Hiccup asked, and Revak nodded grimly.

“Yes exactly, they’re all too dangerous to release, of course. They pose a danger to the status quo. The royal police aren’t subtle about who they arrest. We’ve tried refusing to work, and staged protests to get our demands heard. But we’ve only ever been met with brutal force. They’ve arrested hundreds, if not thousands of Braknar, simply for protesting about their conditions.

Did you think this attack, and taking hostages was our first option?” he scoffed, “it is our last! One desperate bid to get things to change, or we’ll stay subjugated forever.”

That was the point Hiccup had been hung up on this entire time. It had just sounded so unlikely to him that such a violent and large-scale attack would just spring up out of nowhere. ‘Terrorism’ as Zyrkath had called it, never just erupted out of nothing, in his experience. Could he really trust the man to tell the entire truth though? Obviously both sides of this conflict had an interest in portraying themselves as justified in their actions. It was frustrating how little objective information was to be had about this planet’s history.

“I see.” Hiccup said, more to himself as he mulled it over, scratching his chin.

Jack leaned forward as well then, addressing Revak with a skeptical look “You also implied that the persistent fog cover is somehow the Anduliens fault. That sounds more like a conspiracy theory to me.”

Revak shook his head dismissively. “Well we don’t have any proof, it’s just old stories, passed on through generations.” he looked up at Jack, seeming unsure if he should even mention it. “But the lasting effects of the cataclysm are awfully convenient for the Anduliens, no? We had a powerful civilization on Vorathos before the cataclysm, now we’re just a pathetic remnant, perpetually reliant on our ‘generous’ neighbors.”

Hiccup raised his eyebrows “It was a planet wide eruption of volcanic activity that created the corrosive fog, right? How can you suggest the Anduliens are responsible for its effects?”

Revak looked chagrined. “Like I said, it’s just old stories, we don’t have any proof at all. So don’t take that too seriously, I guess. If anything, the most damning piece of evidence is how much the Andulians hate that accusation. The police have imprisoned people for spreading those stories, saying it was ‘stirring up anti-Andulien sentiment’.” he scoffed. Then he paused for a moment, giving Hiccup a considering look, as if deciding if he should tell him at all.

He leaned forward, “I realize this sounds like a fringe conspiracy, and you won’t believe me, but there’s something weird going on here, and it’s not just the old stories. There’s these two dilithium rigs that are exclusively staffed by Anduliens, and they’re not even producing any dilithium. We’ve never been able to find out what they’re up to, until now. I haven’t heard back from the teams that were supposed to take them, but once we gain control of those rigs, it might shed some light onto what is going on.”

Hiccup leaned back in his chair, letting out a long breath as he mulled over everything he’d heard. Who was he to trust? And how was he supposed to untangle such a complex, messy situation? It went far beyond his duties and capabilities as captain to solve the problems of entire societies, let alone on such a short timeline. Or did it? He tapped his fingers on the armrest.

“You’re putting us into a very difficult situation here, Revak. Even if everything you say is true, which we have no proof for, neither the Andulien Republic, nor the Kingdom of Braknar is part of the Federation. So all that exploitation and unfair treatment isn’t subject to Federation law. I agree that it’s reprehensible, but unfortunately it’s entirely legal.”

“What are you saying.” Revak growled.

“I’m saying I’m not sure how we can help, how the Federation can help.” Hiccup said, sharing a glance with Jack, who didn’t seem to have a good idea either.

Revak kicked against the small couch table in frustration, before jumping to his feet, glaring at Hiccup. The two officers got out of their seats as well. They were hopelessly outgunned if this did turn violent after all. They had their emergency-phasers hidden in their jackets, but those would only stun two to three enemies before running out of power. But Revak only clenched his jaw, before he huffed, turning away from them, walking towards the window, muttering to himself.

“Of course.” he spat “as long as someone wrote in a book that it’s legal, there’s nothing you can do. Why are you even here then?”

Hiccup’s shoulders relaxed slightly, realizing that they probably wouldn’t need to fight.

“I didn’t say we wouldn’t help. We just need to figure out how. We can’t just dispose of the Queen and force the Anduliens to agree to all of your terms. That’s not how the Federation operates.”

Revak scoffed again “How do you operate then? What would need to happen for you to intervene?”

Hiccup paused for a moment, wondering the same thing. In the history of earth, and the Federation, they had learned that military intervention rarely produced good results. That an outside force joining a local conflict to ‘solve’ the issue had almost no chance of lasting success, if that was even the genuine intention in the first place. Yet, did they not have an obligation to help? This wasn’t an issue concerning Starfleet’s prime directive, forbidding them from revealing themselves or intervening in the business of pre-warp civilisations. In this case, there was quite obviously an imbalance of power, and exploitation of vulnerable people. And the Federation was at least partially responsible, since they were buying the dilithium from the Anduliens.

But where would it lead, if the Federation started small wars throughout the galaxy on the behalf of oppressed people? It wasn’t entirely without appeal to Hiccup, but no one else in Starfleet or the Federation would see it that way. He realized he’d been silent for a solid minute, his arms folded, one hand scratching at his chin. He looked up to see Revak glancing over his shoulder at him, waiting for an actual answer, not ruminations. Hiccup blinked his eyes, coming back to the problem at hand.

“Well, if it was shown, for example, that most of the Braknar population stood behind you, and against the queen, we’d have more of a case.” he said slowly, still thinking. Revak turned around again, hopefully convinced that they weren’t giving up already.

“I’ve managed to form an alliance between all the rebel leaders, or ‘warlords’ as the queen calls us. We do represent a significant portion of all Braknar.” Revak said, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall. “Now it’s only a matter of convincing the people living on plateaus under royal control. I’m rather sure they’ll be on our side, once we throw off the yoke of the queen’s police force, and once we can find out what the Anduliens have been up to on those rigs.”

Hiccup let out a slow breath, lost in thought. This would be the longest of all long shots, even if everything went well. They had only hours left to find a solution that didn’t end in bloodshed, and he didn’t have a clue as to how he was supposed to go about it.

“Well you’ve certainly given us a lot to think about.” he said at last, straightening his jacket. “We’ll have to fact check your claims, of course, but I’m inclined to believe you for now.” he looked to Jack “could you go collect Aster, I’ll meet you at the entrance. We’ll try and look for a solution from the Enterprise.”

“Yes sir.” Jack said with a smile, and stepped out the door.

“I’m not a liar,” Revak said gruffly, “but I suppose I can understand your need to check. At least you didn’t believe the Anduliens either.”

Hiccup paused on his way to the door, looking back to Revak.

“Like I said, I’m inclined to believe you. The Andulien Republic runs on a capitalist system, so there is inherently some amount of exploitation. It’s not too hard to believe they would abuse this power imbalance to exploit the Braknar. But Federation law requires that external trade relationships have to be vetted. It’s illegal to trade with an entity that uses slave labor for example. But I suppose the Anduliens have made it look just clean enough for our ambassador Harrington to overlook the exploitation.”

Revak scoffed, “Yeah, everyone’s good at overlooking things, as long as the dilithium is cheap and plentiful.”

Hiccup nodded grimly. “I suppose that’s true. I’ll let you know when we’ve found a solution.”

**********

A solid hour later, Jack stepped into the briefing room on the Enterprise, where most of the available seats were already taken up by Aster, Fishlegs, Sandy, Tooth and Astrid. It made sense that they used the room closest to the bridge, in case they were needed there.

They’d saved him a seat next to the captain’s, at the head of the table. Most notably, they were not yet talking, as they all studied the padds lying in front of them, reading intently, not unlike Jack had done for most of the last hour, his own padd in his hand. Hiccup had assigned everyone with research as soon as they stepped out of the transporter room, and they’d all jumped to the task. Jack’s head was still swimming with all the articles he’d read, trying to learn as much about the Andulien political system, its most important players and how they related to the Braknar, as he could. Some of what he had found opened up more questions than it answered, but they would hopefully be able to figure it out together.

The other’s looked up briefly as he took his seat, and he smiled back at them, just as Hiccup entered the room, clutching his own padd, the dark circles around his green eyes looking even deeper than before. Had the captain slept at all last night? He’d only mentioned that he’d stayed up late.

“Alright, let's get this party started.” he said, dropping into his seat with a sigh and turning to Astrid. “What’s Andulien's military situation? Does it look like they’re preparing for an assault on the embassy and rigs?”

Astrid shook her head. “Not quite yet, at least. Seems like they’re still waiting for our attempt to free the hostages. Though it’s probably only because of the prime minister's direct orders. The andulien military is definitely capable, and surprisingly extensive. They spend a lot of resources on it, and since they have plenty of those from the dilithium trade, they’ve built a large space faring fleet, and ground war capabilities. And it seems like they’re currently deploying a large portion of it, their military has been on high alert since the attack.

Their fleet is currently spread out, essentially creating a safe zone all around Vorathos, probably making sure that no Braknar vessels leave the planet without permission. And their main battleships are top of the line. We could probably take a couple of them, but then we’d get into real hot water.'' She swiped over her padd, and about two dozen red dots appeared, most of them hovering around Vorathos, their formation almost looking like a satellite constellation around the planet. Astrid pointed to one of the dots, which had an orange border.

“The orange ones are the main battleships, the others smaller frigates. The ones with yellow borders are troop transports. They had an army base on Vorathos, but that has been mostly destroyed and taken over by Revak’s forces, apparently. So the Anduliens currently don’t have troops on the ground on Vorathos, but they certainly have a large contingent ready if they need it.

Unfortunately I don’t have historical data either, it’s hard to tell if this is just a reaction to the attack, or if this is how they always do it. From the news articles Sandy found,” she nodded to the blonde man who had given them all access to the andulien data net, “it looks like the military presence and activity has been ramped up quite a bit, which is understandable.”

“What has been the Braknar response? Do they even have a standing army or fleet?” Hiccup asked, furrowing his brow.

“Well as Revak told you, the Braknar aren’t unified. The warlords he’s been working to unite all have their militias, but they’re not really standing armies. They’re mostly armed workers from the mines, though they apparently have some troops that are quite well trained. The queen technically doesn’t have an army, but her police force is heavily militarized to deal with the militias. They have top of the line equipment, bought from the andulien military, so they’re a force to be reckoned with. They’re mostly tasked with defending the peace on the plateaus the queen controls, and defending the mining rigs.”

Jack furrowed his brow. So the queen really was completely reliant on the Anduliens, both as a trade partner, and for military support.

“So the queen really is just a different sort of warlord, right? Just with more outside support, allowing her to control more than the others. Just like Revak said.”

Hiccup nodded, expression grim “And yet she’s the legitimate government, which really just means it’s the one the Andulians chose to trade with. It’s not like anyone voted for her.” he drummed his fingers on the table.

“Speaking of voting, how are things with the Andulian Republic? Any insights that might help us unravel this?” Jack shrugged slightly, looking at his padd. That was the topic he’d looked into, but he wasn’t sure if it would help any.

“Well their government is pretty stable, apparently, with the same party controlling it for decades now. The president has changed a bunch of times, but the policies have been largely the same, at least according to the andulien political commentators I read up on. Polls show that the majority of the population is content with the current government, so it’s unlikely to change either. The ruling party is known for its staunch defense of the planet, particularly against the terrorist activity that seems to crop up every so often.” Jack said, really only intrigued by the last part. He leaned forward.

“There’s reports of bomb strikes and arson every couple months, committed by Braknar terrorists and their sympathizers–or so the government claims. They target mostly government buildings and transportation, but there’s civilian casualties too.”

Hiccup raised his brows “government transportation? Like the prime minister’s shuttle?” he looked to Fishlegs, who had perked up at the same time.

“That could be the explanation, if someone had planted a bomb on the outside of the nacelle.” the science officer said, quickly swiping over his pad to look over the data from that incident again. Jack shared a look with Hiccup. Revak hadn’t mentioned such attacks, but even weirder was, that the ambassador hadn’t mentioned them either. Over the course of the discussion, Thalion had thrown a lot of things at Revak, but he hadn’t spoken about Naltheon even once. This was all one convoluted mess of a problem. Hiccup sighed, tapping his fingers on the table. Jack could see the gears in his mind turning, but so far they hadn’t heard anything that would lead to a solution. Hiccup turned to the chief science officer.

“Fishlegs, did you find anything about the cataclysm and fog we didn’t already know?” The stocky man to Jack’s right didn’t immediately reply, still reading on his pad, but he apparently noticed when the room fell silent, and he looked a little sheepish when he found them waiting for him. Hiccup looked at him with a patient and somewhat amused expression, as if he’d expected nothing else.

“Oh, ah..well not much. Just like the president’s brief said, two hundred and seven years ago, a supervolcano on Naltheon erupted, causing a chain reaction.” Fishlegs tapped on his pad, and a holographic representation of the planet appeared in the middle of the table, hovering and turning slowly.

“The resulting quakes were so devastating, it actually pulled the tectonic plates apart in a lot of places, opening gigantic rifts and exposing the inner layer of the planet.'' As he spoke, the animated version of Naltheon gave them a visual representation, angry red lines cracking open all over the planet’s surface like the shell of an egg.

“And the exposed layer contains a lot of dissolved sulfur dioxide gas, which, once exposed to air, created this dense, acidic layer of fog all over the surface. It reaches only about two hundred meters high, so some of the residents were able to save themselves in the mountainous regions.” The mountains on the planet were highlighted, and the wavering layer of fog was displayed, making them seem like islands.

“The Andulians rushed to provide assistance, but this is called the cataclysm for a reason. Almost 98% of the Braknar population was wiped out in a day.” he said, and a hush fell over the room. “Only about forty million of them survived.” Fishlegs paused for a moment, maybe to collect his thoughts, maybe out of reverence to so much life lost.

“That in itself was a miracle, and only possible because the Anduliens were able to help so quickly, transforming the mountains into livable plateaus and building shelter there.”

“How come this fog lingered for all these years? Shouldn’t it have dissipated at some point?” Jack asked, and Fishlegs nodded slowly, biting his lip in thought.

“It’s slightly heavier than air, so it doesn’t dissipate into the atmosphere. It’s actually still a problem, because sometimes the wind stirs some of the corrosive particles up and carries them all the way up to the plateaus. At that point it’s not necessarily deadly, but people do have to take shelter, and it damages structures over time. But still, it’s been two hundred years, it should have either settled on the ground, or diluted somewhat, but it’s still incredibly strong. That should only be the case if it has a continuous source.”

Hiccup tilted his head slightly. “Probably the tectonic rifts, no? Or are those all fully closed? Didn’t you say the fog was created by that lower layer of the mantle?”

Fishlegs’ eyes lit up, and he nodded “Right, that’s what I thought. But it turns out some of the rifts have been almost continuously open this entire time. The thing is, that shouldn’t be possible! We don’t have historical data available, and I can only go off of data from other planets, but a deep fissure to the core like that isn’t stable. The tectonic plates are always moving around, so it should have closed up by now.” He bit his lip, shrugging one shoulder.

“It’s like at least some of them are continually open and exposed to the atmosphere, but I don’t see how that would be possible.”

Jack thought back to Revak’s accusation that the fog had been convenient for the Andulians. While that was undeniable—Vorathos had changed from a powerful and populous neighbor planet to a wasteland with an archipelago of mountaintops—Jack couldn’t imagine anyone doing such a thing, not for any reason.

Still, at this stage, it was probably best not to rule anything out.

“What if someone wanted the rifts to stay open, would that be possible?” he asked, and Fishlegs eyebrows shot up, surprised and intrigued.

“Why would anyone want that?” he asked, before looking at the holograph, eyebrows drawing together.

Jack shared a look with Hiccup “Well we shouldn’t rule anything out, right?”

Hiccup nodded “Revak kind of accused the Anduliens of potentially being involved with the fog, but not even he’s fully convinced of that. It’s mostly just stories.”

Fishlegs slowly shook his head “I don’t see how that would be possible, especially not in a clandestine way…maybe with heavy orbital bombardment?” He glanced to Sandy, the chief tactical officer, who would know about ship based weaponry.

The android nodded briefly, “That would be doable, though it would be hard to regulate and maintain. A constant bombardment of a continental rift like that would also cause extensive earthquakes, of which we have not yet seen any signs.”

Fishlegs made a non committal shrug as he looked between Hiccup and Jack “I guess that rules that out?” Jack nodded, relieved to hear that this wasn’t happening. It was hard to believe anyone to be so cruel, to ruin a planet for their own gain, confining its people to small enclaves.

Astrid cleared her throat, sharing a look with Tooth, both women aghast.

“We need to show you something.” Astrid said, her tone both unbelieving and urgent as she gestured for Tooth to go ahead. Tooth hesitated for just a moment, then moved her hands over her padd. A colorful set of graph’s appeared in the center of the table, holographically displayed. Jack squinted, trying to wrap his mind around the dozens of values and color coded lines. These were…energy readings? Fishlegs didn’t seem as confused, as he leaned forward, eyes growing wider by the minute as they scanned over the data.

Astrid explained in the meantime. “We went down to the planet earlier, because Tooth noticed an irregularity with two of the dilithium rigs. They don’t appear to actually produce dilithium, for one thing, and they give off rather…strange energy readings.” She shared another look with Tooth as she gestured to the holographic display. Astrid continued, “We weren’t able to make sense of them yet, but now that you mentioned that accusation-”

“They’re cutting into the inner mantle!” Fishlegs cut her off, pointing at one of the graphs. He realized how loud his exclamation had been, and gave Astrid a little sheepish smile, which she accepted with bemusement. Fishlegs grabbed his padd and started furiously typing.

“Captain, I have to verify this, but these energy readings…it’s like they’re firing a continuous phaser beam. The amount of energy and heat dissipation…”

Hiccup leaned forward, looking just as shocked as Tooth and Astrid earlier “Are you actually saying they might be keeping the rift open? That there’s something to Revak’s fog theory?”

Fishlegs didn’t reply, only swiping and scrolling on his pad, eyes flying over text.

“Fishlegs!” Hiccup said, a little impatient. Fishlegs looked up, expression slightly pained

“I can’t give you a conclusive answer, but…” he looked at the holograph again, then back to Hiccup, “if one were to attempt such a thing, this would certainly be the way to do it.” he said, like he couldn’t quite believe it himself.

The room fell into a stunned silence for a moment. Jack realized that his mouth was hanging open, so he closed it, looking around the room. He’d assumed that Revak’s accusation was just a conspiracy theory, inspired by—however justified—hatred against the Anduliens. But what did it mean if the Anduliens were actually guilty of this? Of purposefully keeping an entire planet in a state of ecological collapse? The idea was so absurd, and yet…

Hiccup sat back in his chair, deep in thought as he carded a hand through his messy auburn hair. He shared a look with Jack, and Jack got the feeling the captain was equally lost for words. Hiccup thought for a moment, then leaned forward again, a determined set to his eyes.

“Tooth, could you call Ambassador Harrington and put him through to the briefing room?”

“‘Course, captain.” she replied, and it only took a minute for the older man to appear on the main screen towards the back of the room. He seemed eager to hear from them.

“Captain Haddock, have you come up with a solution yet? What are our chances of ending this without further bloodshed?” Hiccup sat up straighter, resting his arms on the table and interlacing his fingers. Jack wondered if he did that on purpose to stop himself from gesturing.

“We’re still working on that, ambassador, it’s a complex scenario. I’ll let you know once we’re ready. In the meantime, I wanted to get some more context to this situation.” Hiccup explained what they had learned so far, substantiating some of Revak’s accusations with the solid financial data Sandy had collected. He didn’t mention anything about the fog, or what they had just heard though. Jack tilted his head, watching with interest. What was the captain trying to do?

The ambassador looked more and more put off the longer Hiccup spoke, and it probably took all his diplomatic training not to outright glare at the captain.

“What’s your point, captain?” he said through slightly gritted teeth.

“My point is, that you talked about this trade agreement as if it were some sort of symbiotic, peaceful deal between neighbors. While in reality it looks more like a neo-colonialist venture, like back in the 21st century on Earth. And I found myself wondering why the Federation is even involved in this agreement. You know, since exploitation in the supply chain is illegal in external trade relationships.”

Harrington bristled even more at that. “I’ve personally overseen the Federation-Andulien relation for over three decades now. I assure you everything is perfectly legal and above board. Almost everything on Vorathos was built by the Anduliens, who didn’t have to help after the cataclysm, mind you.”

“But it’s clearly a one-sided agreement, when the Braknar have to pay for everything, while also giving up their planet’s resources.”

“Of course the Anduliens are looking to make a return on their investment!” Harrington said, shaking his head slightly, as if wondering if he was talking to an idiot. “They built all these plateau cities and all the mining rigs, which was a huge expense for them! So I’d say they’re due what they’re currently earning.” he huffed, “And all the Braknar do is fight each other, no wonder they never managed to get any mining going on their own.”

Hiccup furrowed his brow. “So what you’re saying is, the Federation needs this dilithium, so the Braknar don’t really matter.”

Harrington rolled his eyes “Face it, captain. The agreement is legally binding, and I don’t see any reason to change it. You should be looking for a solution to this terrorist aggression, not concern yourself with economic technicalities.”

Hiccup’s face stayed purposefully calm, but Jack could see the anger in the set of his eyes. “We also found data that suggests the Anduliens might be responsible for the persistence of the fog on Vorathos. Do you know anything about that?” Harrington huffed and waved a hand dismissively

“Please captain, don’t waste time with Braknar conspiracy theories, I’ve heard them all. You should either present a peaceful solution, like I asked you to, or let the Anduliens do their assault. Must I remind you that there’s only seven hours left until the president’s ultimatum runs out?” it was as much of a dismissal as they would ever get.

Jack could see the muscles work in Hiccup’s jaw, his fingers gripping tightly.

“I see.” the captain grit out. “We’ll let you know when we have something, ambassador.” Hiccup tapped a button on the table, ending the conversation.

A couple beats of silence, then Astrid placed her padd back on the table, looking to Hiccup with a raised brow.

“Did you still want us to work on some sort of technical solution?”

Hiccup huffed, relaxing a little back into his chair. “No. We’re going to solve this hostage situation by giving the ‘terrorists’ exactly what they want, actually.” he said with the hint of a grim smile.

“We just have to figure out a way to break up this trade agreement first. Once the Federation isn’t in a legal bind to work with the andulien conditions, we’re free to act however we want.”

Sandy tilted his head slightly. “Captain, I am afraid the ambassador was correct in his assessment of the legalities of this agreement. There is no obvious flaw in it that would allow us to break it. While we could apply for it to be reviewed by the chamber of commerce, since it does seem to go against the spirit of the law, I estimate our chances of success to be no more than 64 percent.”

Hiccup shook his head. “Yeah no, even if that would work, it would take months. We need a solution in the next seven hours, or this is going to turn a whole lot bloodier. Someone is going to run out of patience, and I don’t want to see what that looks like.”

Jack noticed that Fishlegs opened his mouth to say something, but seemed to decide against it at the last moment. Instead he just furrowed his brows and bit his lip, flipping through pages on his padd. If Jack had pegged the man correctly, he was still hung up on the last issue he couldn’t get an answer to. Jack turned to Hiccup

“So what we need is a smoking gun, right? Something that proves what the Anduliens are up to, and that they are not a good Federation trade partner going forward?”

Hiccup nodded. “Pretty much. Something that requires our intervention on the Braknar’s behalf.” Jack turned back to Fishlegs, tilting his head slightly.

“You got something, don’t you? About the fog?” The tall man looked up from his pad, slightly startled, looking a little sheepish.

“Oh..ah..well I’m not sure, it’s more like I’m missing something.” he paused for a moment, thinking, “I was trying to find out more about those two rigs, about how they can afford and hide such a big operation.

Then I noticed that there’s a discrepancy in the andulien military budget. Turns out they have an additional sort of black-budget, which is not disclosed to the public. Billions of credits are officially unaccounted for. And the Andulien Republic doesn’t have a lot of outside relations, aside from the Braknar and the Federation. So what are they spending that money on?”

“So you’re saying they’re spending a bunch of resources just to keep the fog from dissipating?” Jack asked.

Hiccup leaned forward again. “It must be worth it for them. Right now, with the fog, they have Vorathos in a stranglehold. It’s so difficult just to survive on that planet, that the Braknar are reliant on andulien help, one way or another. If the fog were to dissipate, the situation would rapidly change.” He looked to Sandy, who apparently was a genius when it came to breaking into computer systems—and most other subjects—

“But shouldn’t we be able to dig into their systems and find out?”

“I have combed through every accessible system we could find, captain. And I did not find anything related to these two rigs.” Hiccup shoulders sank slightly before the android continued “But secrets have a way of leaving a secret-shaped hole in data. I did find that the Anduliens are using a simple, yet very effective way of keeping their confidential data secure. They have an air-gapped server room in their defense ministry, built deep underground with walls of lead and steel. There is quite literally no way to gain access to that, unless you’re part of the andulien government, and physically there to confirm it.”

Jack raised a brow “That is such a hassle, to have a server with no outside connection. They really want no one to ever see what’s on those servers. Almost seems like overkill.”

Hiccup tilted his head “Not to sound too much like a conspiracy theorist, but that amount of security does raise some questions. You said there’s no way to access it? I’m guessing it’s well guarded too?” Sandy nodded

“It is located in the middle of their largest army base, in a bunker. Virtually impenetrable.” Hiccup waited for Sandy to go on, and Jack wondered if the android was known for leaving dramatic pauses.

“But it seems like the Anduliens have noticed the impracticability of this arrangement as well. Or they just wanted to have a backup location. Apparently the exact same set of servers is also located in an air-gapped room at the top of their main governmental building.” Hiccup perked up, one corner of his mouth lifting.

“Which is still impossible to get into.”

“I would say it is improbable to gain access, yes.” Sandy said, and a devious grin spread on Hiccup's face.
He looked around the room, from a surprised Fishlegs to an exasperated Astrid.

“Improbable is good enough for me. We’ve got ourselves a heist.”

**********

“You realize there’s no way for us to get you out of there once you’re inside, right?” Astrid asked, roughly three hours later, her arms crossed, leaning in the doorway as Jack and Hiccup suited up in the transporter room. It wasn’t like they could hide their identities very well, considering there were no other humans on Naltheon, but the black stealth gear they were currently donning was much more suited to this task.

“Yes well, that shouldn’t be a problem if everything goes to plan.” Hiccup replied, flexing his gloved hand, testing the fit of the black high tech glove.”

“That plan of yours is held together by optimism alone, there’s a thousand ways for it to go wrong.”

“Hey, it’s partly your plan too! Plus, if we do get caught, Jack and I are high ranking enough to claim diplomatic immunity. Probably.” he glanced over to his first officer, who was currently failing to hide a smile. Jack should probably work on his poker face, if he didn’t want to piss off Astrid even more.

His chief of security didn’t look convinced by a long shot, as per usual. Astrid took her job seriously—maybe too seriously, sometimes—and she tended to be the voice of reason on the bridge. Hiccup appreciated her greatly for it, since he tended to get too invested in a certain outcome of a mission, and was willing to risk his own life to see it through. He was much more conservative with other people’s lives, so he ended up going on a lot of away missions.

Which was a constant headache for Astrid. It wasn’t like she didn’t see the necessity of it, she was probably just frustrated that she could do so little to help. She sighed, pushing off the door frame and stepping over to the transporter console, where Sandy was already waiting.

“And you’re sure you can get them inside that thing?” She asked, to which the android gave a reassuringly confident nod.

“As I have stated before, there is a certain amount of risk involved when beaming matter into a confined, and fast moving space like that. But the chances of success are somewhere between 87.9 and 89.2 percent.”

Hiccup grinned, mostly to ease his own worry “See, that sounds good to me. Right Jack?” He looked over to his first officer, who tugged the black collar of his tactical suit closed, looking a little paler than usual as he addressed Sandy

“How ‘confined’ is that cargo container, by the way? You’re beaming out whatever is inside at the same time, right?” For the first time, Hiccup thought he could detect a hint of nervousness in Jack’s voice, which was usually so smooth and calm. Was it the risk of the transport? Or the mission itself? He’d seemed willing enough to go for it earlier. Or did he just not like confined spaces?

“Yes sir,” Sandy said “but it would raise alarms if I beamed out more weight than I added. Even with the weight.” he nodded to the suitcase-sized block of lead already standing on the transporter pad, one that Gobber had fabricated just for this purpose.

“I see.” Jack nodded, his jaw muscles clenching tightly. Astrid thankfully didn’t catch his hesitation, because they really didn’t have time for someone else to take Jack’s place. Hiccup and Jack stepped onto the pad, and he gripped the handle of the weight, glancing at Jack as he quietly asked

“You ok? You seem a little agitated.”

“Hm? Oh, no it’s fine.” Jack said, wiping his glove over his forehead briefly, his breathing a little shallow.

“Are you sure?” Hiccup tilted his head slightly, not wanting to draw attention to Jack’s obvious unease. He didn’t want to worry Astrid even more.

“You don’t have to do this, we can find someone else..” Hiccup said, but Jack was already shaking his head, knowing just as well that that wasn’t true.

“I’m fine, it’s fine, promise.” he said, giving Hiccup a strained smile.

“I don’t th-”

“Our window is opening sir, thirty seconds to go.” Sandy interrupted, and Hiccup bit his lip. He could still call this off, if he really thought it was necessary. He didn’t know Jack Frost that well, and he couldn’t tell if the man was just glossing over a serious concern, or maybe just nervous about the whole thing. This was their only shot though, and they’d have to completely rework their plan if they didn’t manage to do it now. Something they just didn’t have time for. He hesitated for another second. He would just have to trust Jack in his own assessment. He turned to Sandy and Astrid, who was looking at Jack with some concern now. Just as she opened her mouth, Hiccup said,

“Alright, energize when ready.” giving her a firm look. They were going to do this, and it would work. Astrid glared at him, fists clenching at her sides.

“You better get back in one piece. And remember to keep radio silence until you’re ready for pickup.”

Hiccup nodded, as they both crouched down, serious now.

“Aye. Take good care of my ship.” Just as he spoke the last word, they were enveloped by spirals of golden light, and the transporter room winked out of existence.

Hiccup blinked at the total darkness for a second, before tapping the light attached to his chest.

It lit the cramped space they were now crouching in, barely over a meter high, with a floor space of two by two meters. They could hear the loud engine noise vibrating through the floor, the whistling of wind against the sides of this cargo container. They had found out rather quickly that the andulien governmental headquarters was damn near impenetrable. It was a single, massive tower with two hundred and ten floors, almost 900 meters tall, and perched right on the edge of the large river passing through the capital city. With only two entrance points, one on the ground floor, the other on a shuttle pad on the 100th floor, it was easy to keep a close watch on anyone who entered. Which was exactly what the Anduliens were doing.

The crew had gone through multiple iterations of disguises, masks, projections, DNA alterations, but nothing would be able to pass the rigorous security checkpoints at said entrances.

Their only advantage was the extensive access to building plans and security routines that Sandy had been able to scrape from their less secure servers.

The android had found exactly one chink in the armor, and it only worked once a day. The tower was supplied by a storage depot about four kilometers away, and every day, a shuttle with a large container of goods—food, washed laundry, and anything else required— made the short trip to the tower.

Getting into a container like that at the depot was impossible, as the andulien security forces were well aware of the potential risk. So they checked every container very rigorously before the shuttle departed. Sandy had found, however, that the shuttle’s route wasn’t entirely covered by the jammers every government building employed. For a few seconds, the shuttle was unprotected, and they could beam inside.

Hiccup let go of the weight when he heard a soft bump to his left. Jack had sat down heavily, his back pressed against the wall, his breathing shallow.

“Jack? What’s wrong?” he asked, moving over to his first officer, half crouching at his side.

Jack moved his lips, but no word came out, just a short sound that vaguely sounded like ‘fine’, more like a whimper. His fists were clenched in his lap, his eyes unfocused and staring at the opposite wall. His breathing was fast and shallow, his skin ghostly white, especially in the cold bright light of Hiccup’s lamp. Hiccup resisted the urge to call Aster for help, remembering the need for radio silence. And he could handle this, surely? Was Jack having a panic attack?

Hiccup hesitated for another moment, hoping he wasn’t overstepping any boundaries and making Jack’s distress worse, then he reached out and gently gripped Jack’s shoulder, providing steady pressure.

“Jack? It’s ok, I’m right here. You’re not alone.” he said calmly, and just as the words left his lips, he realized his own stupidity. Of course Jack would be anxious about confined spaces, the man had spent a whole year alone in a tiny escape pod. And now Hiccup had gotten him to beam into a distressing situation, another cramped, moving space, more darkness.

“We’re just on a shuttle, we’ll be out of here in an hour or so. It’s not going to take long.” he continued, forcing himself to stay calm, his voice soft. “Do you understand?” he asked, and Jack hesitated, but nodded eventually, cold sweat beading on his pale forehead.

“I need you to breathe with me, ok? We’re just going to take a couple of slow breath’s, is that alright?” Another halting nod. Hiccup took that as permission, gently grasping Jack’s wrist, loosening the clenched fist and placing Jack’s hand on his own chest. He took a long, slow breath in, held it, and released it, pressing Jack’s gloved hand against him the whole time.

“Just in, and out. In, and out, easy as that, hm?” Hiccup said gently, slowly, with each corresponding breath. It took a painfully long time before Jack’s breathing actually matched Hiccup’s, but eventually some of the tension in his body eased, his remaining hand released the white knuckled fist, trembling slightly in Jack’s lap.

“M-sorry..” Jack murmured, his breath ragged as he tried to match Hiccup.

“You don’t have anything to apologize for.” Hiccup said, careful not to interrupt his breathing. He squeezed Jack’s hand gently.

“I shouldn't have asked you to do this mission, that’s on me. I know about your past, I should have accounted for that.”

Jack closed his eyes, his expression pained, his jaw clenched, and he didn’t reply. Since his breathing was getting more steady, Hiccup didn’t push him. Had he said something wrong? They were locked into that position for a while, Hiccup on one knee next to Jack, who was sprawled out against the wall, slowly calming down. The shuttle slowed after a couple of minutes, and the container shuddered slightly as it was offloaded with a crane and stored in a sub basement. The uneven movement made Hiccup sit down next to Jack, lest he fall over. His grip on Jack’s hand shifted, and he intended to let it go, but Jack turned it, gripping Hiccup’s hand instead, squeezing tightly for just a moment.

“Thank you.” Jack said quietly, and let go, Hiccup reluctantly folding his hands in his lap.

“Anytime.” Hiccup said, drawing up his legs as he leaned against the wall, turning his head to Jack, who looked a lot better already. Some color had returned to his cheeks, and his breathing was steady, his body relaxed. He wiped a hand over his clammy forehead, carding it through his messy white hair.

“I didn’t think it would be a problem.” Jack said, curling his lips. “I’m sorry..I-just the noise of the shuttle and the small space and…” he shook his head. “It won’t happen again, I promise.” he finally opened his eyes, turning to Hiccup. His blue eyes were earnest and full of pain, and Hiccup blinked at the intensity of it. He’d gotten to know Jack as such a fun presence to be around, always with a ready smile and a joke on his lips, but just this brief glimpse of the trauma Jack had gone through made his heart ache.

“I know.” he hesitated for a moment, “I..uh, imagine it’s not easy, coming back to work for Starfleet, after what you’ve been through.” he said, and Jack huffed quietly, looking down at his hands, flexing them slowly.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity.” he said quietly.

**********

Jack’s canned response felt wrong in his mouth, even more so than usual. The captain had been so careful not to mention Jack’s past, he could almost hear the eggshells softly creaking under his steps.

It was something he’d gotten used to, at this point. Getting to know him came with a huge amount of baggage, and it was especially weird when the other person already knew most of it, thanks to their clearance. It was like stepping into a room with a big sign on his chest saying ‘walking trauma’ considering how everyone tried to avoid talking about it.

He couldn’t really blame them, if he was honest. How was anyone to approach such a topic, especially if they weren’t already close to Jack. And how was anyone supposed to get close when they didn’t dare ask about it? Maybe that was why he hadn’t made any friends in the last three years of rehab and academy courses. He’d made acquaintances, sure, he’d been well liked and invited to social events, but he hadn’t really opened up to anyone aside from the Starfleet therapist. Even they had only gotten the parts Jack was willing and able to talk about. Everything leading up to the escape pod was still a jumbled mess in Jack's mind, the painful memories repressed.

He'd felt the same baggage awkwardly hovering between him and Hiccup, even if he’d taken a quick liking to him. The captain’s question was an opening, an invitation to talk about it, to open that door, at least a little bit. Jack drew up his knees, resting his arms on them. He briefly glanced over to Hiccup, who had relaxed against the wall next to Jack, not pushing the issue.

If everything went to plan, their container should be transferred to the sub basement for interim storage in the next half hour or so, which was when they planned to leave.

They’d been silent for a good minute or two, and the captain seemed content to give Jack some space. He supposed his non-answer had earned him as much. Jack didn’t want to talk about his past, relive it for the umpteenth time. He had his nightmares for that.

Not that Hiccup had asked for a deep dive, he’d just given him the opportunity to say something, nothing more. And maybe this was different than the acquaintances in the academy. They were supposed to work together for a long time, right?

“It’s honestly really strange.” he eventually said, almost too quiet for Hiccup to hear.

“Hm?”

“To be first officer again. It’s so familiar, yet so different at the same time.”

“How so?” Hiccup asked, going for a casual tone.

“Like…walking into a familiar place from your past, like a school, but it’s been renovated, you know? The shape is the same, but…it just feels off.” he swallowed thickly, “And you realize it’s not the place itself that you missed.”

Hiccup didn’t reply for a moment, and the silence stretched long enough for Jack to glance over to him.

He had his head leaned against the wall, looking at the low ceiling.

“It’s always the people that give a space meaning, isn’t it?” he said, meeting Jack’s eyes with a sympathetic expression, something Jack had gotten a lot in the last couple years. But Hiccup’s green eyes had that genuine depth to them, like he really wanted to understand. Maybe he would, in time.

Jack nodded, the corner of his mouth quirking up in a mirthless smile.

For the first few months after waking up, he’d been almost catatonic with grief. Traveling 140 years forward in time meant that everyone he knew was long gone by the time he woke up. Before, he’d rarely considered how much of an anchor the people in his life really were. Not just his mother and sister, who he still missed so much it ached. Everyone. His friends, his colleagues, his schoolmates, old acquaintances, people from his town he didn’t even know the names of. Knowing all of them weren’t part of this world anymore made it feel so empty and isolating. He didn’t belong in this time, and he didn’t know why he’d been the one to survive.

He took a deep breath, shaking his head slightly, carding a hand through his hair. This wasn’t the time and place to think about that.

He smirked, looking at Hiccup again, resting his head on his folded arms.

“Isn’t it just the worst, when you read someone’s file before meeting them? So awkward.” he said, and Hiccup smiled back, picking up on his tone shift.

“Yeah I honestly hate that. I’d prefer to get to know someone on their own terms. It’s not like reports and debriefings ever tell the full story anyways.”

“Exactly! That’s why the shows and books about Starfleet have to embellish so much. Some of the stories I’ve seen depicted were rendered downright absurd by that. Still pretty fun though.”

Jack paused for a moment, biting his lip.

“You don’t have to be so careful around me, you know? I know my background is a complicated topic, but you don’t have to dance around it.” he smirked slightly, as if letting Hiccup in on a secret.

Hiccup grimaced, caught in the act “Hah, yeah well, sorry about that. I was trying to make you feel comfortable, but I guess avoiding a topic is even more awkward.”

“I mean, I appreciate the effort.” Jack chuckled, “it’s nice, not being ‘The Time Traveller’ for a while. Even if everyone knows about it.”

“I imagine that’s a weird sort of fame to deal with.” Hiccup said, giving a crooked smile.

“Well at least I can blame my white hair on being really old.”

Hiccup snorted “Do you bleach it just for that?”

“I don’t, actually,” Jack shrugged. “it turned white at some point while I was frozen in that escape pod. Something about being blasted with all sorts of radiation and time travel just gives you really luscious white hair I guess. Hairdressers hate that secret.” Hiccup’s expression had briefly dipped back to uncomfortable, probably fearing a misstep, but then he snorted, stifling a laugh.

“I see, well it suits you very well, commander Frost.” he had to clamp his hand over his mouth to hold the laughter in as Jack gave him a withering look. A smile crept on Jack’s face too, and he turned away with an exaggerated eye roll.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to talk to Hiccup, the man had a way of lightening his mood.

Just when he opened his mouth to reply however, they heard voices approaching the container from the outside. Jack shared a tense look with Hiccup, and they both quieted, almost holding their breaths as they listened.

“Which one was it again?” a voice said, sounding rather bored.

“Uh..XMB-339-3B” a younger voice replied, probably reading off of something.

“Right. That would be…this one.” A loud clang reverberated through the container as something hard knocked against it. “And it was flagged only for a weight discrepancy? Nothing else?”

“That’s right Sir.”

“Ok then. Mark it for a thorough sweep, the others can go upstairs.”

“Yes Sir.”

Jack heard a series of quiet beeps, like someone entered something into a keypad, then the noise of a door, which hopefully meant the two guards had left. They waited for another couple of minutes, intently listening for a noise. If anyone was still in the room, they would have a major problem getting out of this container. Another minute passed in absolute silence, with only their shallow breathing audible. Satisfied, Hiccup nodded to Jack, who retrieved the plasma cutter from his belt, as well as the protective mask shielding his eyes from the light. He glanced at Hiccup, who looked otherworldly, wearing the same black mask, then got to work.

He moved the plasma cutter slowly, cutting a neat square into the sidewall of the container, stopping occasionally to listen for approaching footsteps. Before cutting away the last bit of metal at the top, still holding the metal in place, he attached a magnetic handhold to the plate, before cutting it free. The handhold allowed him to pull the plate inward rather quietly, though even the small clang of metal against metal made him flinch. What if someone was guarding the door from the other side. He shared another look with Hiccup at the noise, his jaw clenched, both of them staying perfectly still for a moment.

Nothing.

Jack let out a breath of relief, and Hiccup raised his eyebrows briefly, smiling. So far so good. They climbed out of the container, each movement careful, so as to not cut themselves on the sharp edge of the freshly cut square. Once outside, Jack carefully picked up the metal plate and maneuvered it back into place, before welding the edges back together. They’d done a neat enough job, Jack thought as he finished up. The welding seams lined up with the ribbed metal, so it didn’t even look like anything had happened. At least at first glance. They didn’t know when the containers would be inspected, and once they did, they’d obviously find the weight and the empty space. But as long as the guards didn’t figure out that someone had been in there, they still had time.

Maybe they’d assume that someone had stolen the goods, or was trying to cheat the system. The longer they had to think about it, the more time Jack and Hiccup had. Hiccup gently clapped him on the shoulder, looking satisfied with the welding as well.

Good Job he mouthed, barely a whisper. Jack shrugged nonchalantly, giving Hiccup a smug grin, as if nothing less than perfection was to be expected with him. Hiccup gave him a deadpan look, though his lip curled into a smile. They quickly moved on then, using the 3D map on Hiccup’s padd to find the air vent that would lead them to the elevator shaft. It was smaller than Jack would have liked, barely 50 centimeters tall and 70 centimeters wide. Hiccup gave him a questioning look, kneeling beside Jack as he pried off the vent cover.

Are you going to be alright? Jack nodded, swallowing thickly. It would only be a couple meters, he could handle that much. Hiccup gave his shoulder a quick squeeze, then he crawled inside, as quietly as possible. Jack followed him after a few seconds, crawling in backwards, so he could re-attach the vent cover. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t too bad. Yes, the space was extremely limited, much more so than in the escape craft, but since he was moving himself, since this wasn’t an enclosed space, and he could see the exit right in front of him, it somehow didn’t trigger his anxiety as much.

A couple minutes of rather sweat inducing crawling later, they emerged into the dimly lit elevator shaft. Jack gaped upwards, where a dark, rectangular tunnel led away from them, only lit by regular red emergency lights, two for every floor. The tower was almost a kilometer tall, and Jack couldn’t even see the end of the shaft, hidden far above them in the darkness. It felt like standing at the bottom of a well, and their task suddenly seemed a lot more audacious.

“Let’s hope someone stops an elevator at a low floor.” Hiccup said to his right, wiping sweat from his brow, gaping up at the shaft above them. “I’m not climbing all that.” Jack huffed out a laugh as he finally tore his eyes away from the view and bent down to open the bag with the magnetic grippers.

“Well I’m not carrying you, captain or no.” Jack said, grinning as he held a bundle of four grippers out to Hiccup.

“We’ll see about that.” Hiccup replied, jutting out his chin and narrowing his eyes playfully. They attached half the magnetic grippers to their boots, while holding the remaining in each hand, making quick work of it and quickly folding the bag to leave less evidence.

“Right.” Hiccup sighed, “off we go.”

There was no way around it, as they had get to the top of an unoccupied elevator, and there were currently none in the basement. The higher they got, the better their chances. The massive shaft had space for eight elevators, four on each side, their back walls facing each other. Very little space was left in between, just a couple of steel columns, providing a rail for the elevators’ backsides. If two elevators were back to back on the same floor, one could hardly squeeze between them. Jack grimaced at that thought. It wasn’t a pleasant thing to think about, as he climbed up that exact metal column, hand over hand, the padded material of the magnetic grippers softly clunking against it with every step. A lot of this plan was reliant on luck, and quick reflexes.

After only a couple minutes of climbing, he heard the ear splitting hiss of moving air as an elevator car approached them, Hiccup at his back, climbing up the metal column right behind him.

They squeezed themself to the right, as the elevator sped past him on the left.

The pressure differential in the air wave it pushed in front of itself made his ears pop.

“They’re fast.” he commented lamely, looking down at the elevator car, which stopped not too far beneath them.

“Second thoughts?” Hiccup replied, though his voice betrayed his own apprehensions.

“Of course not, I’m just looking forward to being reduced to a fine red paste on the wall of an andulien elevator shaft.” Jack said, grinning over his shoulder to Hiccup, who just shrugged in a welp-what-can-you-do sort of motion as he looked down. It was tempting to jump onto it, hoping it would carry them upwards, but someone had called it down, and someone would be inside. And there was no way to get on top without making noise. They needed to find a dormant car somewhere.

It took longer than he would have thought, and a whole lot more climbing than he would have liked. After almost twenty minutes of scaling the metal support beams, occasionally dodging speeding elevator cars, they finally spotted a dormant elevator somewhere around the tenth floor. They climbed on top of it, and Jack had to sit back for a moment, breathing heavily. The prospect of climbing a little with the convenient magnet holds hadn’t seemed too daunting, but the reality was exhausting, especially with all the gear they were carrying.

Hiccup didn’t look any better, pulling off his glove to wipe sweat from his brow, carding through his especially messy brown hair.

“You know what-” Jack said, having to pause for a heavy breath or two, “screw the elevator, let's climb the whole way.” Hiccup, who was kneeling on the roof of the elevator, shoulders slumped and hands in his lap, just gave him a deadpan look, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

“You’re so right. I’ll hack the elevator so we can start again from the beginning.” he said, rolling his shoulders, which were probably just as strained as Jack’s. Sandy had fully penetrated andulien security, and he’d gotten them almost everything they needed, blueprints for the entire building, guard schedules and, most importantly, a quick-hack device, which would hopefully allow them to override the elevator controls, without contacting Enterprise. Any outgoing com traffic would be heavily monitored, so they couldn’t risk it. They were on their own.

Hiccup pried open a maintenance hatch in the elevator roof, pulling out a couple of cables. Sandy had even fabricated the right kind of port for the quick-hack device, which allowed Hiccup to plug the small padd right into the elevator. The device stayed true to its name, and within moments, the elevator hummed to live and started to move upward.

“Hold on to something.” Hiccup said unnecessarily, as the elevator picked up speed so rapidly that Jack had to cling to it with force, his heart racing. It probably felt fine on the inside, but out here, seeing the red lights speed past, it was like clinging to a launching rocket. He winced at the sharp hiss of air around them, his ears popping with the quick ascend.

Now lying on his back, Jack made the mistake of opening his eyes and looking up. Seeing the top of the elevator shaft race towards them didn’t help. He clenched his jaw, wondering if Sandy had checked if there was enough space left between the top of the elevator and the ceiling, his eyes widening even as they slowed down, the ceiling getting closer and closer. He turned his head sideways and pressed himself tighter against the roof of the elevator, as if that would have made a difference.

They stopped, amazingly uncrushed, and Jack hesitantly opened one eye, finding that the ceiling was still a good meter above them. He released a long breath as his muscles unclenched, glancing over to Hiccup, who looked equally relieved. They took a brief moment to find their bearings, Jack working his jaw and swallowing to get his ears to pop, equalizing the pressure. The blueprints had shown that the entire upper floor had a dropped ceiling, which would allow them to crawl from the elevator shafts to the server room’s ventilation system. Jack wasn’t looking forward to more crawling, probably through a thick layer of dust and cobwebs too. Wait, did they have cobwebs on Naltheon? They’d need spiders for that, and it would be an absurd coincidence of convergent evolution for them to have anything like that. Then again, he’d seen stranger things.

A quiet cracking sound snapped Jack out of his thoughts, and he shook himself, concentrating on the mission. Hiccup had already started prying a wall panel open, right above the elevator door. This would allow them access to the crawl space, and then they’d just have to-

“Fuck.” Hiccup hissed as he pulled away the large wall panel, revealing thick metal bars between the actual ceiling and the dropped ceiling. He glanced back at Jack. That hadn’t been in the plans.

“Are we in the wrong place?” Jack asked quietly, shuffling back a little, looking around the elevator shaft. That wasn’t really a possibility, since there wasn’t a lot of space up here.

“No, I don’t think so.” Hiccup confirmed, gritting his teeth as he looked around as well.

“Maybe this is a more recent addition, something not in the plans. They’re not as dusty as the surrounding area” Hiccup worried his lip, eyes darting around, looking for a different solution.

“Do you think the plasma cutter can get through these?” he asked, gesturing to the thick metal bars. Jack crawled over, taking a closer look.

“Probably. But look,” he pointed at the horizontal metal bar, connecting the others at the bottom. “They’re not just less dusty, they’re spotless.” he narrowed his eyes and leaned in closer, before slowly exhaling a warm breath towards the metal. It didn’t condensate on it, instead there was just a faint blue hue shimmering over the metal for a fraction of a second.

“I think it’s protected by a force field. Even if it did get through, it would probably raise an alarm.” He glanced over, seeing Hiccup clench his jaw in frustration.

“This just got a whole lot more complicated.” he ground out, looking around the edges of the elevator door.

Jack nodded. They were committed now, deep inside the Andulien compound. Toothless was somewhere in the city, close to the tower, waiting to pick them up in a car and drive them out of jammer range as soon as they left the building, but the way to their objective was blocked. The plan was to get into the server room through the ventilation system on top of it, steal the data, then move back to the elevators the way they came. Jack’s backpack contained andulien clothing and holo projectors that could disguise them as Anduliens, just not very well. It would work at first glance, but wouldn’t hold up to any real scrutiny, nor fool any biometric scanners. That’s why they had to find such a difficult way inside the building. Once they triggered the fire alarm, however, they could move out with the crowd, hopefully. They had worked under the assumption that security wouldn’t be very tight when it came to people leaving the building, especially during a fire alarm.

Hiccup pulled the padd from his pocket, swiping over it, searching the blueprint again.

“Look, there’s a storage locker right around the corner from the elevator exit.” he said quietly, pointing at the fine white lines on his pad, tilting it so Jack could see.

“If we manage to get there unseen, we should be able to access the dropped ceiling from there-” he cut himself off when they heard a clunking noise underneath them. Their eyes met, widening. Someone had entered the elevator, and they had only seconds to get off of it, if they didn’t want to move all the way down again. They scrambled wordlessly to pick up their gear, namely the magnetic grippers, but the elevator already released its clamps from the wall, and started to descend. Almost at the same time, Hiccup and Jack leapt off the side of the elevator car, their grippers attaching to the metal paneling on the walls next to the sliding door to the hallway.

Jack hadn’t had time to reattach all of the grippers, so now he was clinging to the wall right of the door with only one hand, and one foot attached to the wall. Hiccup had gotten both of the boot-grippers on, at least, and was hanging left of the door, a little more securely, though with only one handhold as well. They were both breathing heavily, Hiccup staring down the shaft, his eyes following the car as it quickly disappeared, already hundreds of meters away from them. Jack averted his eyes from the sheer drop, clinging a little more tightly to the gripper. He swallowed thickly. Two were enough to hold his weight, right?

He shared a look with Hiccup, who looked about as panicked as Jack felt for a moment, before he closed his eyes briefly, taking a calming breath. Hiccup opened his eyes, now with a determined set to them. He looked over the closed elevator doors leading to the hallway. Jack did the same, since this was really their only way forward. There was no access hatch, but they should be able to pull the doors apart. It would save them, sure, but there were probably guards and cameras in the hallway. And Jack made the educated guess that any andulien guards wouldn’t be too enthusiastic about two humans in black combat gear climbing in from the elevator shaft. Hiccup had looped his arm through the handhold of his gripper, so he could use his padd with two hands. He was moving his fingers quickly for a solid minute, before he looked back up at Jack.

“The hallway is empty, at least for now.” he whispered, mouthing the words so Jack could actually understand them from this distance. “I’ve looped the cameras, but we don’t have long.” Hiccup added, stowing the pad in his chest gear. He quickly climbed closer to the door, using the frame as a second handhold, and his fingers searched for the tiny gap between the doors. Jack had more difficulty doing so, with only one foot able to attach to the wall, and his knuckles were white with effort as he clung to the bottom frame of the doors. Together, they were able to find a grip on the doors, nodded to each other, then pulled them apart with all the strength they had left in their trembling limbs.

Hiccup, having the better foothold, climbed into the hallway first, stepping out of the magnetic grippers and leaving them attached to the wall, before he reached down to grasp Jack’s forearm. He pulled Jack into the hallway, and they quickly got up, pushing the doors back together. Hiccup nodded towards the left, where the hallway turned around a corner, and they moved as quickly and quietly as possible, already hearing voices coming from the other direction. At least the plan had been correct about the storage closet, which was thankfully unlocked, and they both rushed inside, Hiccup leaning against the door as he closed it behind them, plunging them into darkness. They were both breathing heavily, and it took Jack a moment to find the light switch, illuminating the small closet with a single light strip in the ceiling. They calmed their breathing, listening intently for approaching guards. After a minute, they could be reasonably sure that they hadn’t been seen.

They shared a look, and Hiccup shrugged in a can’t-believe-that-worked motion. Jack wiped the sweat from his brow again, before looking at the ceiling. It was divided into six square panels, which looked like they would be able to lift them. Jack looked around for something to step on, and found a small stool. There was probably someone on staff who needed a little extra height to reach the upper shelves.

It required a lot of uncomfortable contorting and physical exertion, but they managed to both climb into the crawlspace of the dropped ceiling, closing the panel behind them. Half the difficulty had been to refrain from loudly cursing and grunting from the effort. They were both completely covered in dust, since they had been forced to slide and roll around in the thick layer covering the entire space, the dust sticking to their sweaty skin.

Jack had to suppress a snort when Hiccup gave him an exasperated look after trying to wipe dust from his face, making it only worse in the process. They eventually made their way forward, crawling through the tight space. Jack was glad for his thick suit and gloves, as the floor was covered in lighting mounts, bolts and metal beams holding the sections in place. Some of the protruding metal was quite sharp and pointy. They moved slowly, avoiding any noise, so it took half an hour just to cover the 50 meters of distance. According to their plan, they had just crossed from the central elevator column, over the hallway, into the space above the server room.

They couldn’t just lift a panel and jump into the server room however, since the architect had accounted for that particular security risk. They had considered cutting into the large vent that exited from the middle of the server room’s ceiling. But, being servers, the room gave off a massive amount of heat, and the air traveling through that vent would cook them alive if they went inside. Not to mention the drop in cooling efficiency their sizzling dead bodies would cause, possibly alerting the Anduliens.

No, that wouldn’t do. The architect hadn’t considered the entrance to the server room though. The server room sat in between the president’s office and his residence, which took up most of the upper floor of the building. To be unobtrusive, and maybe even secret to a casual observer, the entrance was hidden in a giant display, taking up the entire northern wall of the president’s office. It apparently mostly displayed a fish tank, when it wasn’t used for presentations or some such. One had to press the right place to open the door in the middle of the display, which led into a narrow security lock. It was a space one meter deep and six meters wide, and it was accessible through the dropped ceiling, unless the Andulians had added metal bars here too.

Apparently, whoever decided on that security upgrade had thought it sufficient to only cover the elevator, thinking that would make access impossible. It allowed Hiccup and Jack to quietly drop down into the narrow space of the security lock. Jack winced as he saw how much dust dropped with them, covering the black tile floor. And they didn’t really have any way of cleaning it either. Well hopefully they would be out of the building by the time someone noticed. The walls of the security lock were technically transparent armored glass, but the side bordering the president’s office was used as the display, so no one could see inside the lock from the office. At least not without turning the display off, which… well they’d just have to hope that that wouldn’t happen.

Jack turned to Hiccup, who had already moved towards their prize. An unobtrusive panel in the floor, off to the side of the lock. Jack could guess why the architect hadn’t considered this hole in their security. No one would ever find this without the deep system access Sandy had gained.

They couldn’t have opened the inner door of the lock, since it required a full biometric scan, and Jack doubted the president would provide one for them.

But Sandy and Astrid had found a fatal flaw in the system: In case of an electrical fire, the servers were supposed to be shut down, and the room would be flooded with CO². Since that would not only kill flames, but also anyone inside, and this particular room was frequented by arguably the most important people on the planet, the system’s response included a fail-safe door release. It was supposed to insure the president didn’t suffocate in his own server room. Sandy had been able to isolate the door release, producing a hack that would trigger only that, and not the entire fire-safety response. Hiccup pried the panel open and inserted the quick-hack device’s cable. Jack found himself clenching his fists hoping it would work. There was no way they would be able to climb back up into the dropped ceiling, four meters above them. If this door didn’t open, they’d be trapped until someone found them.

After a tense twenty seconds, he heard a quiet click, a thump, and a hiss of air as the solid steel door to the server room popped open. Hiccup turned to him with a triumphant grin, green eyes shining with satisfaction. Jack found himself smiling back broadly. Despite the smudged dust on Hiccup’s reddened cheeks and his messy hair plastered over his sweaty forehead, the captain somehow managed to look his very own flavor of gorgeous.

Jack almost flinched in surprise at that line of thinking, and quickly turned away, blaming his own blush on the heat and exertion. They really had other things to worry about right now. He quietly moved to the door and pulled it fully open, revealing the dimly lit server room. It had four rows of massive, floor to ceiling server racks, with a slightly larger hallway in the middle, leading to a computer terminal connected to all of them. Jack turned back to Hiccup, who had gotten up from the floor, brushing some of the dust from his suit as he stepped up next to him. “Open sesame.” he hummed, sharing a smile with Jack before they both stepped inside.

The room was thankfully rather cool, especially compared to the crawl space, and Jack finally stopped sweating. They used the quick-hack device again to unlock the terminal, which allowed them access to a truly massive amount of stored data. It was sorted into government departments, with thousands of folders and sub-folders, with non intuitive naming systems. A few inputs from Hiccup, and the quick-hack device used an algorithm to flag all the data Sandy had already found on more accessible networks, highlighting the ones that were stored only on the extra secure air gapped servers. Still, it left them with hundreds of folders. Hiccup had sat down in the chair, Jack squatting next to him, both looking at the screen.

He blew out a long breath, glancing at Jack “I had hoped it would be more obvious…this is gonna take a while to look through.” Jack bit his lip in thought, nodding as he read through the folder names.

“Try that one first, it’s from the ministry of defense.” he pointed at a folder, and Hiccup nodded, opening it. Maybe it had been a hunch, or just the memory of the shadowy minister of defense that had made him point it out. In any case, they were definitely on the right track. It still took them quite a while to sort through the naming scheme of the folders and sub-folders, but after fifteen minutes or so, an appalling image presented itself.

They found proof that the ministry of defense was actually running a false flag operation. There were dozens upon dozens of mission reports, detailing when and where bombs had been planted on civilian and military assets, alongside statements written in the Braknar script, claiming responsibility. It was laid out in detail, how data had been manipulated to prove that it had been Braknar terrorists. But then the rabbit hole only got deeper.

“Bingo.” Hiccup mouthed, opening a report on the ongoing destabilization of the continental rift on Vorathos. “This is irrefutable proof that they’re deliberately keeping the planet covered in corrosive fog. I had almost wished it wasn’t true.” he muttered, already copying all the relevant files onto his padd.

“What’s that older file there doing in this folder?” Jack asked, equally disturbed to have found proof for their worst assumption. Hiccup opened the file named Operation SKYWARDENand they both read in silence for a minute or two, eyes widening in horror.

“No way.” Jack mouthed, brows drawn together. “How could they..how could anyone..” he muttered, and Hiccup nodded grimly, his expression a similar mix of disgust and anger.

They’d just found blueprints to a large, specialized projectile, which was able to carry a nuclear fusion warhead. Launched from orbit, it was apparently able to penetrate thousands of meters underground. It had only been used once, 207 years ago. The Anduliens, afraid of their powerful neighbors and eager to get into a better trade position, had secretly launched half a dozen of these warheads into a known tectonic fault of Vorathos, detonating them deep inside the magma chambers of a dormant super volcano.

They had single-handedly caused the cataclysm that had cost billions of Braknar their lives.

“Maybe they’re just hiding behind it, but they supposedly weren't planning for the eventual outcome. Says here they ‘just’ wanted to cause a single volcanic eruption to weaken the Braknar economically and distract them.” Jack huffed out an unamused breath.

“Sure took advantage of it, when it turned out how it did.” he said, gripping the backrest of Hiccup’s chair tighter. The amount of suffering this attack had caused was indescribable, the proportions unthinkable. And for what? Better resource extraction? Jack shook his head.

“Let’s get this data and get out of here. I’d like to show Harrington what his favorite trade partners have been up to.” Hiccup nodded grimly, saving all the files on his device. “To think we traded with them in the first place. They’re considered a Federation ally.” he ground out, disconnecting his pad and logging off from the console.

“I’m gonna make sure that was the last deal Harrington ever signed off on.”

They had found what they had been looking for and more, yet Jack didn’t feel elated about it. It would hopefully help them resolve this situation and help the Braknar, which was great, but he never considered just how vile the people in charge of the andulien republic had behaved. This was more of a nightmare than he’d ever imagined.

They left the server room, quietly closing the metal door behind them, and Hiccup stepped over to the open floor panel in the security lock. He locked the server room door again and deleted the traces of them being there, while Jack slung his backpack to the floor in front of him. He retrieved the tightly packed andulien clothing, along with the collars and flat shoulder rig, which would project andulien faces over theirs.

The costumes looked unobtrusive, made to resemble the service workers of this building. Just when he lifted his hand to toss one of the packages to Hiccup, the door to the president’s office suddenly slammed open. They both froze in place, only quickly sharing a panicked glance. Had they been caught? They looked through the semi-transparent display, just as the president herself stormed inside, her fists clenched. Her expression was furious, but she thankfully didn’t come any closer. She stopped in the middle of the room and turned back to the door, waiting. The minister of defense stepped into the office, the set of his shoulders much more relaxed, though his expression looked suitably apologetic as he looked to the president. He was quickly followed by his bodyguard, who didn’t look at either of them as she stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. Her face was just as expressionless as Jack remembered from that first meeting in the throne room, but her eyes quickly swept through the room, scanning for hostiles before she posted up against the wall next to the door.

“Did you know?!” the president spat, obviously furious, and the minister raised his hands in a placating gesture.

“Of course not Mam, I would never have signed off on such a risky mission.”

“So it was one of your operatives who tried to kill me?” If anything, the minister’s gesture only seemed to enrage the president further. She pointed her finger at the man, who winced slightly.

“It appears that one of my agents made a mistake, madam president, I would never allow your security to be compromised like that. The agent in question has already been detained and stripped of his rank.”

“Your department is out of control! What’s next, a bomb under my desk? Would that be a curious little mistake as well?”

“No madam president, of course not. I have made sure that nothing of the sort can happen again.”

“How?! And if that was so easy, why hadn’t you done that before your people tried blowing up my shuttle? Did it slip your mind?”

“Madam president, I-”

“Well which is it, are you in control, or are you not?"

“I assure you, I am in control.” the minister said, anger briefly flitting over his face before he schooled it to be demure and apologetic again. He continued in a quieter voice.

“I am in control, madam president. To be able to do their duties, our agents have to have a certain amount of leeway with their orders. But this particular agent went overboard, no doubt about it. Even still, he assured me in later questioning, that he didn’t intend any harm. He had reason to believe the Federation would be able to save you with time to spare.”

“One of my bodyguards died!” the president was pointing with her bandaged hand again, the other clenched at her side. “That could have been me! Don’t give me that bullshit!” she lowered her hand, breathing heavily for a moment.

“You’re gonna shut the whole program down, I’ve had enough of this. I should have shut it down the moment I took office.” She turned away from the minister, shook her head and stepped over to her desk, picking up a datapad. The minister looked genuinely worried for a moment, following her to the desk.

“Now, madam president, I can completely understand your feelings on the matter, I would feel the same way! But we can’t forget how important this operation still is! We need our people to understand how dangerous the Braknar are, now more than ever! They’ll never understand if we don’t give them a reason to be afraid!” The president turned, leaning against the desk, her arms crossed, still fuming at the minister. Who lowered his voice slightly, raising his hands in a more subtle gesture of calm.

“If we stop now, all of it will have been for nothing. All of those unfortunate casualties, wasted. We need to see this through to the end.” The president shook her head slightly, but Jack could see that her resolve was crumbling.

“And what end is that?”

“We’ve just witnessed what happens if we’re too lax with the Braknar. They killed so many of us, and they’re still holding your brother hostage. The Federation’s diplomacy isn’t going to save him, and concessions aren’t going to get our mining rigs back under control.” he ducked down slightly, catching the president’s gaze, “please madam president, allow me to take back what’s ours.”

The president huffed, shaking her head slightly, but pushed off the desk, pacing around it, worrying her lip in thought. Just then, Hiccup adjusted his left leg slightly, unable to hold the uncomfortable position any longer. It pushed the small pry bar he’d used on the panel to roll on its side, and Jack’s eyes widened. It barely made a sound, just a tiny ‘clink’, but the sharp eyes of the minister’s bodyguard snapped to the display. Jack thought he’d been still before, but now he barely dared to blink or breathe, as the bodyguard slowly walked through the room, not disturbing the politician's argument.

Her eyes scanned the large display, and Jack could have sworn she made eye contact. He held his breath, hoping she really couldn’t see through her side of the screen. She was standing right in front of it, eyes narrowed as she looked around, listening for any more sounds. She was scarcely a meter from their position, and Jack felt as if she would hear him blinking his eyes.

“Fine.” the president said loudly, and the bodyguard's attention fell back to the room. “I promised them 24 hours, which will elapse in… about 90 minutes. Ready your men. If they don’t resolve it till then, you can do whatever is necessary. But you better watch your step from here on out. I expect regular reports, deniability be damned.”

“Yes madam president, of course.”

The president sighed, massaging her forehead. “I have to go to that press briefing. I assume you have something to plan” she started walking towards the door, and the minister followed her, nodding.

The bodyguard eyed the screen again with suspicion, but then she was forced to turn away, lest her boss left without her. She closed the door behind the three of them as they left. Jack let out an explosive breath, sharing a relieved look with Hiccup, who almost collapsed into a sitting position, stretching his left leg.

“That was too fucking close.” the captain muttered, and Jack nodded, already going back to unpacking their disguises.

“I swear she was looking right at me. We better get out of here.”

Hiccup agreed, and went back to the panel. It only took another 30 seconds or so to unlock the outer door, allowing them access to the president’s office, and Jack swallowed thickly, realizing just how close they had been to being discovered. If they had left the server room a minute earlier…

They both donned the disguises and activated the holographic projectors, which made them look like Andulians, at least at first glance. It wasn’t a fully rendered model, barely capable of moving with their facial expressions, so anyone would notice as soon as they said more than a few words. But hopefully that wouldn’t be necessary. Hiccup, now looking like a suspiciously tall andulien, gave Jack a once over, and the projected andulien face was almost eerily still compared to his usual expressiveness. Jack knew he looked the same way, and he made a showy little gesture, getting an amused huff from his captain.

They stepped into the office, closing the secure door seamlessly into the screen behind them, and walked towards the lavish door leading to the hallway. Hiccup retrieved the quick-hack device and attached it to the panel next to the door. He had to both unlock the door, as well as start the fire alarm from there, so Jack assumed it would take a minute. He looked around, a few paces further back in the room, wondering if there would be any valuable intel they could find in here. But since they had just been in the most secure server room the Anduliens had, there was probably little chance of that.

The door to the office opened, and Jack turned around, surprised how fast Hiccup had gotten it to work, when he came face to face with the minister’s bodyguard.

She stood in the doorway, hand still on the handle, her eyes wide as she looked down at Hiccup, who was kneeling next to the door, hands on the quick-hack device. Then so many things happened over the course of three seconds, that Jack almost felt like he was moving in slow-motion. It only took Hiccup half a second to realize that there was no way to talk themselves out of this one, and he dropped the device, instead fumbling for the phaser on his belt. It was buried under three layers of andulien clothes though, which slowed him down.

The bodyguard moved impressively fast, letting go of the door and swinging up her knee, smashing it right into Hiccup’s temple, which slammed the captain against the wall beside him. By the time Hiccup crumpled to the floor, either unconscious or on his way there, Jack had started running. He hadn’t even considered his phaser, which was either brilliant or stupid. Let the record show that it paid off once again to train in close quarter combat, even in a world with ranged weapons. Jack slammed into the bodyguard in a flurry of motions, his fists, elbows and feet aiming for weak spots, but the woman was remarkably fast, fending off attack after attack.

He was satisfied to see her grit her teeth, at least, her breathing quickly growing heavier as they fought, each attack followed by a block, her blows still painful even when blocked with a forearm. Jack barely had time to glance down at his captain, who only slowly managed to stagger to his feet, dragging himself up the wall, one hand clutched to his head. Jack dodged another blow, realizing that Hiccup was aiming his phaser at the two of them, but hesitated to shoot at the tangle of limbs.

In a daring move, Jack jumped up, kicking out with both feet aimed at the bodyguard’s stomach. He dropped onto his back, while she was only shoved a meter backwards, but it gave Hiccup enough of a window to shoot a nonlethal phaser blast at her chest. The blue light dispersed on her body, and she only staggered backwards, very much not stunned. Jack grimaced. Of course she was wearing armor under all those layers.

“Don’t move!” Hiccup yelled, turning up the dial on his phaser and aiming it at her head. The left side of his face was reddened, already forming a bruise.

“I don’t need to.” The bodyguard sneered, and just then, Jack heard the sound of dozens of boots trampling down the corridor to the office, as a jarring alarm blared through the room. They were officially screwed, there was no way they could shoot their way out of here. Half a dozen guards poured into the room behind the bodyguard, their rifles already up, looking for the right targets. This time, Hiccup was faster on the uptake, already grabbing Jack by his wide collar, jumping behind the president’s giant desk, dragging him down with him as a hail of red phaser beams lit up the room, tearing through the couch cushions and one of the chairs, right where Jack had been standing.

Hiccup didn’t look where he was shooting, he only vaguely aimed at the door, angling the phaser over the edge of the desk to give them covering fire. It was apparently enough to hold off the guards for a moment. Jack fumbled through the layers to get out his own phaser, and he did the same, squeezing a few shots over their cover, even if he didn’t quite see the point of it. Were they even going to negotiate, or were the guards entirely focused on killing them?

“We have to get the data out of here.” Hiccup grit out, his back pressed against the desk. Jack nodded, though he had no idea how that was supposed to happen.

“You’re surrounded! Give yourself up and we’ll let you live!” the bodyguard helpfully supplied, and Jack shared a hopeless look with Hiccup, who dropped his head against the desk.

“Fuck.” he hissed. “It can’t have been for nothing.” Just then, Jack heard a strange, high pitched wail, like a drawn out scream, quieter than the blaring alarm, but distinctive. He couldn’t quite place what it was, or where it came from, but Hiccup’s eyes shot open, a manic grin spreading on his face. He looked at the floor to ceiling window, three meters away in front of them, which acted almost like a mirror with the darkening sky outside, and the brightly lit office.

“We have a way out now.” Hiccup said, his manic grin not reassuring at all.

“What? How?” Jack watched with increasing confusion as Hiccup fiddled with his phaser, setting it to overload. It gave off a high pitched whine, flashing red as it overheated.

“I’m not sure how blowing them—or us for that matter—up is going to help…” Jack said, firing over the desk again, forcing the guards back into cover.

“What’s your plan?” he added quietly. Hiccup grinned at him.

“We’re going out the window.” he said, tossing the phaser towards the window front and gripping Jack by the collar again, tugging his head down with his own.

“WHAT?” Jack gasped out, just as the explosion shattered the window, the hot blast slamming them into the desk.

“Come on, just trust me!” Hiccup screamed, tugging at Jack to get up, already standing. The guards were dazed by the explosion, but wouldn’t hold off for long. Jack had no choice but to put his life into Hiccup’s hands, hoping the man actually had a plan. He got to his feet, and Hiccup almost tackled him into the gaping black hole in the shattered window, his arms wrapped tightly around Jack. They were free falling, wind whipping painfully against Jack’s skin as darkness enveloped them. They spun end over end, light and darkness whipping by with increasing speed, and Jack couldn’t stop the drawn out scream.

So this was the end. One kilometer of free fall, then death by concrete. He couldn’t even fathom what Hiccup might have been thinking, they were still inside jamming range, and no one would be able to beam them out of this fall. Just then, he heard the strange wail again, closer and louder, pitching up as it got closer and closer. It reminded Jack of a dive bomber, or some kind of animal. They slammed into something black, driving the air from Jack’s lungs, but it wasn’t the ground. It was moving, breathing, flapping its …wings? Jack blinked, his hands desperately clinging to black scales as Hiccup’s strong grip loosened, the captain using one hand on to the thing that had caught them, one to grip the back of Jack’s shirt.

Jack’s eyes couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing. They were on the back of a giant, black…bat? The large animal was already beating its wings, stopping their descent.

“Thanks bud, that was quick thinking!” Hiccup had to scream against the whipping wind, and Jack’s eyes widened, finally processing what Hiccup had said, even if it barely made sense. There was only one person Hiccup referred to as bud

“Toothless??” Jack yelled, and the large animal raised its head, looking over its shoulder with bright green eyes. It gave him a gummy grin.

“Did no one tell you he's a dragon?” Hiccup laughed, looking quite relaxed, despite their current situation. “Come on, climb up.” he added, dragging Jack further up Toothless’ back as he climbed up himself, straddling the dragon like he was riding a horse. Jack was glad not to hang off the side anymore, and he clung tightly to Hiccup as he settled behind him.

“But..but how-?” Jack stammered, and he could feel the chuckle from Hiccup’s core. The captain sat relaxed, as if this was his favorite spot to be, not a near death situation.

“I’ll explain later!” Hiccup said over the still rushing wind. He nudged Toothless with his knee, and the dragon banked diving towards the edge of the city with remarkable speed. “We need a ride out of here bud, did you stash a shuttle?” Toothless warbled something, and Hiccup nodded in understanding.

Jack didn’t even question that bit, he was willing to go along with just about anything right now.

They landed in a quiet park, a couple kilometers from the tower, which was still looming in the distance. Toothless chose a dark spot near a dense copse of large trees, and they dismounted. Hiccup slid off the dragon with an easy, practiced motion, holding out his hand for Jack, who took it as he climbed off himself, legs still a little wobbly. Jack’s body was still in ‘falling to my death’ mode, apparently.

Hiccup still had that grin on his face, and Jack thought it suited him quite well as the captain brushed a hand through his messy hair, standing in every direction after the wind whipped ride.

Jack blinked in disbelief as he looked from Hiccup to Toothless and back, opening his mouth to say something but eventually he only gave Hiccup a desperately questioning look.

The captain chuckled lightly “Hah, yeah well I suppose some explanation is in order.” he said as Toothless turned to him, bumping him with his snout. Hiccup briefly leaned his forehead against that of the dragon’s, closing his eyes.

“Thank you bud, you were just in time.” Toothless warbled an acknowledgement before pulling back slightly, turning his head to look at Jack. The first officer looked somewhere between dumbstruck and amazed as he took in the large black shape of Toothless’ dragon form, and Toothless indulged him, stretching out his wings for a moment before settling down to sit.

“So you’re…” Jack started, furrowing his brow, “you can shape shift? But…how is that even possible?” Hiccup stepped to Toothless’ side, scratching the dragon’s neck.

“Amazing, isn’t it? We’re still not sure how exactly it works, something about a denser formation of nuclei. Apparently most dragons can do it.” he looked up fondly as Toothless huffed, stretching his neck proudly, and Jack couldn’t help but smile. It was such a strange sight to behold, a human and a dragon, an actual, real-life Dragon talking like they were close friends, full of affection.

Hiccup turned to Jack again “Now you know why he’s such a good pilot.” he said with a grin, and Jack’s eyes swept over the dragon again, full of wonder.

“That’s..that’s incredible.” he said, hesitantly stepping a little closer, looking up at Toothless, who’s steady, acid green gaze bore into him from above. Jack was reminded of the first time he’d met Toothless, back on the bridge of the Enterprise in his humanoid form. Even then, the dragon had been taller, and he’d noted how intense, almost hypnotic his eyes were. It felt as if Toothless was staring right into his soul.

He swallowed thickly, tearing his eyes away with some difficulty to look at Hiccup again. He had so many questions that he didn’t even know where to start.

“Where did you guys meet? And why have I never heard of dragons before? I feel like that discovery would have been a big deal.” Hiccup scratched his neck, slightly uncomfortable.

“Well that’s kind of a long story…” he cleared his throat “we met when I got stranded during an away mission on Toothless’ home planet. He saved my life.” Toothless shoved his wing into Hiccup’s shoulder slightly, and Hiccup chuckled, patting the dragon’s neck again. “Yes yes, I saved his life too. We’ve stuck together ever since. Toothless joined Starfleet, and turns out he’s not just good at flying on his own. And I uh..made a deal with Starfleet to keep this discovery off the record. His planet is quietly marked as a quarantine zone, so no one disturbs the ecosystem there.”

Jack could tell there was much more to this story, but the captain didn’t seem too comfortable talking about it, so he restrained his myriad of questions. For now.

“That’s incredible.” he looked up at Toothless again “how did you know to catch us? Thank you for that, by the way.” The dragon dipped his head in acknowledgement, warbling quietly as he glanced over Jack’s shoulder, back at the tower in the distance.

“Right, he heard the alarm go off and knew something was wrong. And I suppose it was quite easy to tell what was wrong when he looked in through the window.” Hiccup translated, and Jack blinked at his captain.

“Why doesn’t the universal translator pick up what he’s saying?”

“Hm?” Hiccup raised his eyebrows, like he hadn’t even realized he’d just translated an indecipherable noise from a dragon.

“Oh, well apparently dragons don’t really have a language that works like that. The universal translator can decode words and sentences, but dragons communicate more on a uh..” he waved his hands as he explained, the large gestures moving his shoulders, “-sort of telepathic level? It’s kinda hard to explain, and apparently it doesn’t work with everyone.” he gave Jack an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, it’s kind of like explaining color to a blind person, if that makes sense? Apparently I can understand him just fine, but no one else can? I’m not sure why, maybe I’ve just learned to read him very well…”

Jack stared at him for a moment, every answer from Hiccup just opening up more questions. He opened his mouth to ask at least a dozen more, when a shuttle sped past the park, rather low to the ground, search lights, darting around the streets, a siren blaring. Right. They were on the run. Hiccup looked just as startled as Jack felt, apparently also a little lost in the moment. He patted Toothless’ thick neck.

“Right bud, you gotta change back, we’re conspicuous enough as it is. Did you say you had found a shuttle somewhere? We need to get off the planet, and they have jammed absolutely everything now.” Toothless grumbled something, but got up and lumbered closer to the darkness of the trees.

Hiccup turned away towards the entrance of the park, and Jack did the same, unsure if Toothless was ok with being watched during his transformation, even though he was incredibly curious to see how it worked.

“Apparently there’s a shuttle charter service station just on the other side of this road.” Hiccup said, squinting his eyes to read the distant sign. “That’s our ticket out.” he added, nodding for Jack to come along as he started walking towards the park’s gate. It was still a hundred meters of neatly trimmed lawn to go, and Jack was glad for the darkness of the park. Their projectors had started failing the minute they jumped from the window, and there was no way they could pull off walking down lit streets. Who knew what sort of search the Anduliens had kicked off to find them. They could probably guess that they had been human, or maybe the flickering of the projectors had been bad enough during the fight that the guards even knew for sure.

“I’m guessing we’re not renting one?” Jack said with a wry smile, falling into step with Hiccup.

“Well kind of.” Hiccup grinned “we’re borrowing one. I’m sure we can talk about payment once we’re back on the Enterprise.”

Jack startled slightly when Toothless suddenly appeared at his other side, now back in his much smaller humanoid form. He was wearing the same black tactical gear as Hiccup and Jack, and he only briefly glanced down to Jack in acknowledgement. It was so strange to accept something so fantastical as a shapeshifting dragon as real, but both Hiccup and Toothless were so casual about it, that Jack had no other option. Plus, he could question all this once they were out of danger. They had wasted enough time as it were.

They made their way out of the park and over the small side street, hastily dodging from shadow to shadow as best they could. The shuttle chartering station was only protected by a chain link fence, and after the stunt they had just pulled at the tower, breaking into this property was child's play, comparatively.

They used the plasma cutter to get through the fence, and quickly crept through the shadows to a small, unlit shuttle close to the edge of the yard. They could hear some voices in the building just a couple dozen meters away. Apparently someone was working late. But that shouldn’t be a problem, if they were quick enough. The quick-hack device wasn’t set to hack a random shuttle, but Hiccup seemed to have an idea of what he was doing. The captain searched the hull of the shuttle near to the side door, until he found a small hatch. He pried it off with his multitool, revealing a cluster of cables and hydraulic pipes. Jack kept watch as Hiccup rummaged around in the cables, cutting and reattaching some. Jack turned when a small shower of sparks lit up the night behind him, and the shuttle door hissed open, unfolding three steps for them to climb in. That was fast.

“You’re in the habit of stealing shuttles?”

“Ah, well these hydraulic doors all work the same way, really.” Hiccup shrugged at Jack’s raised eyebrows, blushing slightly as he climbed into the shuttle, closely followed by Toothless.

“I like repairing things, keeps my hands busy when I have to think things through. So I know my way around engineering.”

“Right.” Jack said with a smile, climbing in behind them. He pressed the button next to the door on the inside, and it closed by itself, thankfully sealing tightly. Wouldn’t do to have a hull breach if they had to go all the way to space. He couldn’t know how large the andulien jamming range was.

The shuttle was a small commercial vessel with large windows, probably mostly used to take passengers for scenic space rides, not for interplanetary travel. But as long as it got them closer to the Enterprise, it was going to have to be enough. Toothless had already taken one of the pilot seats, the screens on the dashboard lighting up. Apparently the door lock had been the main security feature on this vessel, and it didn’t require any identification beyond that. Probably because a charter business like this had dozens of pilots who regularly used any vessel available. Hiccup took the co-pilot seat, familiarizing himself with the screens. Jack took up position behind them, looking out of the side windows as the engines started coming online with a high pitched whine. He wondered how long it would take the workers to notice the sound, and how long they had to escape before the andulien security forces caught up with them.

Toothless grumbled in annoyance, sitting a little awkwardly in the chair Jack was holding on to. “Yeah sorry bud, there’s no way to adjust the controls either, apparently. It’s only a short flight, tho.” Hiccup said, and Jack realized how finicky and small the buttons on the pilot’s screen were, especially for Toothless’ broad claws. The Enterprise’s helm had been specifically adjusted for him, especially the chair which allowed room for his tail. In the shuttle, the dragon was forced to sit on it.

Still, it only took half a minute for the shuttle to shudder as it pushed off the ground, already turning towards the outskirts of town. Toothless glanced over his shoulder, warbling something short at Jack, and before Jack could ask Hiccup what he meant, the shuttle blasted off with full acceleration, forcing Jack to grip the seats tightly as his feet left the ground for a brief moment. He let out an undignified yelp, clutching the backrest of the seat with white knuckles. They raced over the city at top speed, though ‘over’ was almost an exaggeration, considering Toothless was speeding over the streets and in between buildings at such a low altitude they might as well have been a ground vehicle.

The dragon let out a low and rhythmic warble, even as he concentrated on his controls, and it took Jack a moment to realize he was laughing at him. Now that Jack was standing safely again, squatting between the pilots’ chairs, he allowed a begrudging smile on his face.

“Ah I see how it is. Was my screaming earlier not enough for you?” he huffed, glaring playfully at the dragon. With the way he was flying right now, Jack did not want to distract him.

“Well he did tell you to hold on to something.” Hiccup said from his right, and Jack turned his glare to him, spotting the amused curl of the captain’s lips as he tried not to laugh.

It only took Toothless a couple of minutes to navigate them to the edge of the city, and out into the darker countryside, still going at top speed, the landscape rushing by beneath them.

“Damn, they must be jamming from orbit. There’s still no connection.” Hiccup grumbled, hands flying over the console in front of him. “You gotta take us up, bud.” Toothless made a noise in assent, and Jack squeezed himself tighter between the seats in preparation, right before the shuttle pulled up, flying almost vertically to gain altitude. Flying low may have given them a little more time, but now the Anduliens would definitely be able to track their exact position. They raced through the atmosphere, the air ionizing around the front of the hull, blinding light filling the cabin, the entire shuttle rumbling with strain at such high speeds. Then the sound suddenly stopped as they left the atmosphere behind, the black expanse of stars unfolding before them. That, and the rather close andulien battleship in low orbit, only a couple kilometers away from them.

“Damn they’re fast.” Hiccup said, only briefly glancing up at the ship, still unsuccessfully trying to reach the Enterprise. Jack glanced over his shoulder, then back at Hiccup’s display.

“There might be a way to boost the strength of the signal.” he said, “the andulien shuttle the president used had an emergency com-buoy, right? That was launched from the back of the ship and sent the emergency code on all frequencies.” Hiccup looked up at him, intrigued.

“Right! Maybe we can reroute the normal comms to the beacon..” he glanced at this console briefly, before looking at Jack again.

“Can you go to the back and try to find a way to manually release the buoy? I don’t think I can do that from here.”

“Yes Sir.” Jack said with a grin, already pushing off the seats and taking the few strides to the back of the shuttle. On his way there, he looked out the port side window, spotting a second battleship, closing in on them from the other side, boxing them in. Toothless was still on a course pointing straight away from the planet, hoping to outrun the jamming signal, though that was probably originating from the battleships.

“Right, they’re hailing us.” Hiccup yelled from the front, just as Jack opened a maintenance panel at the back. He looked over the wiring and a few switches, nodding to himself. Releasing the buoy wouldn't be too difficult, but…

“Can you buy me some time? This is gonna take a minute.” Jack yelled back, already starting to work.

“Buying time is my specialty. I’ve queued a message to the Enterprise, it’s going out on all channels as soon as you get the buoy out.”

“Right, I’m on it.”

Hiccup had apparently opened a channel to the battleship, because Jack could hear a gruff voice over the speakers

“Shuttle PX-4572, this is Admiral Zenthara of the ANV Carellian. Shut down your engines and prepare to be boarded. We have reason to believe you are carrying stolen goods.”

“Of course, Admiral.” Hiccup answered in a stressed tone of voice Jack hadn’t heard from him before, playing it up, “We’re trying, but our systems seem to be malfunctioning. Stand by, I’m working on it.”

“You have ten seconds to shut down your drive and surrender, or we are prepared to open fire. I assure you, that is not an idle threat.” the admiral immediately responded, probably expecting some sort of stalling tactic. Hiccup shifted gears accordingly.

“I see. My name is Hiccup Haddock, Captain of the Federation Starship Enterprise. As a Starfleet captain, I am a legal representative of the Federation. If you open fire and kill us, it will be seen as an act of aggression against the Federation. And I assure you that is not something either of us want.”

Jack glanced over briefly, when the admiral stayed quiet. The video feed showed him glaring at the camera.

“How can I know there’s a Federation ambassador on an andulien shuttle, launching from Naltheon, speeding away from a crime scene?” a grin spread on his face, and Jack turned away again, working even more frantically. “No one will know.” the admiral added, before cutting the connection.

“So much for that.” Hiccup said, turning back to Jack, “not to rush you or anything, but we have half a dozen missiles incoming.” Now he actually sounded a little stressed. Jack didn’t reply, too focused on his task. He ripped out the last cable that was in the way, and connected it to the right circuit. A loud thunk went through the shuttle as the emergency buoy was released, and Jack huffed out a breath, quickly making his way forward again. He looked out the window at the tiny flares moving towards them from the battleship, missiles burning their solid fuel. The Anduliens really wanted to get rid of them then, if they used that much firepower for a small shuttle. They would tear them apart like a cannonball blasting through a watermelon. Jack swallowed thickly, hoping against hope that their signal got out. He took a shuddering breath as he watched the missiles approach, his heart beating in his throat. Was this it? Had their luck finally run out?

Out of nowhere, the USS Enterprise rushed into view, diving in between the battleship and their shuttle, its red point defense phasers already firing at the missiles. A hail of short phaser bursts filled their vision, and Jack spotted six small explosions as the missiles were hit.

Just then Astrid’s voice sounded through the speakers, as she was apparently sending on all frequencies, the Enterprise drowning out the jamming through its close proximity.

“This is Lieutenant Commander Astrid Hofferson of the Federation Starship Enterprise. ANV Carellian, Cease fire immediately, or prepare to be destroyed. This is your first and only warning.” she said, the acid in her voice making the hair on Jack’s neck stand up. She was even more frightening than the andulien admiral.

Hiccup grinned next to him, glancing up at Jack as he tapped the hidden Starfleet badge under his tac-suit.

“Enterprise. Three to beam up.” he said, and the golden tendrils immediately started forming around them. Astrid probably had given the order already.

“Captain on the bridge.” the ship’s computer announced as Hiccup, Jack and Toothless stepped out of the turbolift. They had taken the time to pull on their uniform jackets, since a little formality would serve the situation better than a grimy tac-suit. Then again, Hiccup still felt sweaty and gross, dust smudged on his face. But there was no time to waste. Hiccup hadn’t noted the exact time when the president had given her 90 minute deadline to the minister, but he knew they were cutting it close.

He nodded gratefully to Astrid, who got out of the captain’s chair and walked to her station, passing them on her way.

“That was a well timed rescue, I think the andulien admiral is still shaking in his boots.” he smiled, and Astrid shrugged dismissively.

“You were taking so long, I thought I’d come and get you.” Hiccup could see the genuine relief to see them all back safely in her smile and he grinned as he sat in his chair.

“Very generous of you.”

Toothless and Jack took their seats as well, and Hiccup took a second to take a breather. They’d taken a huge risk with this operation, and he had to relish the feeling of it turning out well.

“Tooth, get me a connection to Revak.” he said, glancing at the communications officer with a tired smile.

“Yes Sir.”

The bulky Braknar appeared on the main viewscreen just two minutes later, and Hiccup got out of his chair again, standing with his hands casually folded behind his back. The rebel leader looked at him with a mix of suspicion and interest.

“Captain Haddock. You’re back to negotiate?” he asked cautiously.

“In a sense. I’m not not going to mince words, Mr. Stormbringer, since there’s no time to waste. The andulien government is planning to respond with force any time now. The minister of defense has orders to take back what they lost, no matter the cost, should the negotiations fail.”

“What?!” Revak fumed, his fist crashing onto the ambassador’s desk. “If you think I’ll just give in to threats, you’ll have another thing coming. We’re all willing to fight, and it won’t end well for the hostages if it comes to that.”

“I’m not threatening you, I’m just stating the facts.” Hiccup said calmly. “I’m on your side, Revak. I have a plan, and I need you to work with me on this, no matter how difficult it might get. We don’t have a lot of time. We’ve just obtained information about the Anduliens that voids their agreement with the Federation. It’s actually way worse than we’ve imagined.” he turned to Astrid

“Send him the data.” Astrid nodded, pressing a couple buttons, and Revak shot him another suspicious glare, before looking at the datapad in front of him. His eyes grew wider as he read, fists clenching in rage.

“As you can see,” Hiccup continued, the set of his mouth mirroring some of the same anger Revak exuded, “we’ve found the proof that the Anduliens committed a genocide against your people 207 years go, and continue to deliberately keep your planet inhospitable for their own needs.” Revak took in a breath to reply, or maybe just scream in rage, and Hiccup couldn’t blame him. He rushed to continue, as they didn’t have time for the appropriate emotional response this news warranted.

“They have broken several of the UFP’s most important laws, and are thus no longer a valid trade partner. This entire deal should never have come to pass in the first place, but that’s a different matter. Now, Revak Stormbringer, would you agree with the assessment that you are a representative of the vast majority of your people, especially once they learn of these facts?”

Revak struggled for a moment to contain his rage, but Hiccup knew he was a leader, capable of putting his own emotions aside for now, to find a solution. The Braknar glared at him, though his rage wasn’t directed at Hiccup, he hoped.

“Once this gets out, there’s not going to be a single Braknar worth the name that won’t be willing to fight against the Anduliens.” he ground out, “or against that traitor queen. I can speak for them.”

Hiccup nodded. “Then I am within my power as a Starfleet captain, to initiate the official proceedings to make Vorathos a member of the United Federation of Planets.” He could see the skeptical tilt to Revak’s eyebrows, and he couldn’t blame him. The Federation had been a willing participant in the subjugation of his people, and an ally to his enemies. And now Hiccup wanted him to sign up for membership. He was quick to move on.

“Now, whether or not you end up becoming a member is up to you and your people. I can understand if that’s not something you’re interested in. We have failed you, so far, and we didn’t look past our need for dilithium to properly check what was going on. I would blame this on Ambassador Harrington, but this was a systematic failure as well, I won’t deny it.” he paused for a moment, a small smile curling up the corner of his mouth.

“Regardless of your future decisions, being a planet in active membership negotiations grants you protection against outside aggression until the negotiations conclude. Which means Starfleet would be obligated to defend you against an aggressive neighbor, for instance. Even if you don’t end up joining at the end.” Revak stayed silent for an extended moment, meeting Hiccup’s eyes, the set of his shoulders tense. Then slowly, the flat line of his mouth turned into a grim smile.

“I see. I am willing to start the proceedings then.” Hiccup nodded and glanced back to Astrid, who acknowledged that she’d already sent the required documents. Once Revak signed, Tooth set up a video conference with all of the parties, straight from the bridge. They could have done this from the conference room, but Hiccup wanted them to see that he was ready to act, standing on the bridge of the Federation’s flagship.

The president, the queen and the minister of defense were already annoyed with him for delaying for a full day, so he didn’t mince his words as he explained the new situation, just as he had done with Revak.

“-So we will oversee a peaceful transfer of the hostages and the simultaneous release of the Braknar prisoners. The Andulien Armed Forces will retreat from Vorathos, and will cease their assault on the planet’s crust.
As a show of good will, the Braknar will agree not to retaliate against the Andulien republic in the future.” Hiccup listened to a minute or two of outraged protestations, before raising his hand again.

“Please understand, these terms are non-negotiable. The Braknar people have suffered terrible losses at the hands of the andulien Republic, and the Federation has failed to protect them thus far. I will not let this atrocity continue. You can either agree to these terms, or you’ll risk an open conflict with the UFP. We’ve already called for additional ships, which will guard Vorathos against any aggression. As for the Queen-” Hiccup turned to the female Braknar who was currently glaring daggers at him “it is part of the deal that Revak Stormbringer will guarantee your safety, if you step down voluntarily.”

The shouting match lasted for a good hour, in which Hiccup had to repeat himself for what felt like a dozen times, but eventually, they begrudgingly agreed to his terms. Tough Hiccup had a feeling that it would require a lot more haggling and shouting matches before everything was settled.

Tooth cut the feed, and Hiccup sank down into his chair next to Jack, carding a hand through his hair and letting out an exhausted sigh. He didn’t need to pretend to be at the top of his game right now, and now that the tension had been lifted, his exhaustion caught up with him. He just wanted a shower and a good night’s sleep.

He glanced over to Jack, who didn’t look much better off, though his blue eyes shone with warmth.

“We really did it.” the first officer said, leaning back as well. Hiccup nodded.

“Doesn’t undo what happened here, but it’s the best we could have achieved.” he paused for a moment. “And we couldn’t have done it without you, commander Frost. I’m glad to have you aboard.” he smiled.

Jack shook his head slightly, though a smile played around his lips. “No need to flatter me, captain, I’m sure you’d have figured it out without me.” Hiccup turned back to the viewscreen, watching the last bit of sunlight disappear behind Vorathos.

“Maybe. But it wouldn’t have been as much fun.”

The next few days weren’t as filled with life threatening action, but they were nonetheless exhausting. Hiccup had to explain the same thing over and over again, first to multiple braknar warlords, then to the andulien senate, several Starfleet admirals and the Federation council. Meeting after meeting after meeting left little time for anything else, as the Enterprise maintained its position in orbit over Vorathos. They were soon joined by two additional Starfleet ships, the USS Calvin and the USS Markow, which eventually allowed them to leave, knowing Vorathos was safe.

After overseeing the hostage exchange and the peaceful transfer of power on Vorathos, they were ready to finally embark on the mission that should have started a week ago. It would take centuries for the Braknar to fully recover what was lost, if that was even possible. And it would take many years to fully work out and embrace a democratic system. But things were going in the right direction, and Revak had the full support of the Federation, which would speed things along.

Hiccup met with Revak one last time, in the former royal palace, which was to remain the seat of government, though the new one was still forming. Revak grinned in satisfaction, towering over Hiccup

“You surprised me, Captain Haddock. I didn’t think a Starfleet captain would actually take our side. Getting the Federation involved was a long shot in the first place.” he said, and Hiccup could only smile as he shook his hand goodbye.

“They say my trusting nature is my worst quality. I'm just glad the people of Vorathos had you as their leader. Things might have turned out differently, if you hadn't given us another chance.” he said, and Revak nodded grimly.

"It's not like the Federation deserved one, after blindly trading with the Anduliens. But sometimes a little good faith goes a long way." he said, raising his chin slightly.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Hiccup said, stepping away from Revak to be transported back to the Enterprise.

“I'll come around in a couple of years. I hope things will turn out well for your people.”

Revak jutted out his chin “I’ll see to that myself.”

After a full week, Hiccup looked around the fully staffed bridge, standing with his hands loosely folded behind his back.

“All stations standing by, Captain.” Astrid’s voice announced, and he nodded to her.

“Course laid in, warp core ready to engage sir.” Sandy added. Hiccup glanced over his shoulder, and Jack gave him a nod, his eyes shining with the same excitement Hiccup’s probably had.

“Let’s Fly.” he said, and the inky black of space gave way to the blue swirl of the warp bubble once again as the Enterprise left the dual planetary system behind.

“Captain’s log, Stardate 42069.5: Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no human has gone before.”