"This is colony Bravo-3 Romeo-Kilo, Berk.
It's 12 light-years galactic north of hopeless and a few wormhole gates south of irradiated-to-death. It's located solidly in the Misery Veil Nebula.
My colony. In a word, sturdy. It's been here for three generations but every single habitat and building is new. We have xeno-fishing, wolf beetle hunting and a charming view of the trinary star sunsets. The only problems are the pests.
See while some colonies have Giant insects or Cylons we have..."
He closed the door as a spray of kerosene gel ignited just seconds from impact. The heat partially bled through and he cringed. "Dragons"
The dragon dived down spraying the gel all over a line of hydroponics pods, cooking them to a crisp. Another dived down and grabbed one of the protein synthesizers attached to a small array of solar collectors.
"Most colonists would leave. Not us, we're humans, that means we have stubbornness issues. My name's Hiccup. Unfortunate name I know but it's not so bad. The Systems Alliance advertises that a well diversified colony can help increase tourism. As if our apparently intimidating accents didn't do that already".
Hiccup flew backwards as a fireball exploded nearby, sending dirt and singed grass flying through the air. The impact didn't hurt to much, but one of the colonists yelled a battle cry as he brandished a TF-12 coilgun rifle in the air. "YAAAAAAAH, mornin'", he said with a slight eastern European accent.
Hiccup picked himself back up and continued dodging the various people running around, all holding some sort of advanced weapon as fighters tear overhead.
"What are you doing here".
"Get inside"
"What are you doing out"
"Get back inside".
The blue body of a Nadder dipped into view as a beam if pure energy caused multi-coloured sparks to lift into the air. "Hiccup!". He was grabbed by his collar by an absolutely huge person, "what is he doing o- what are you doing out. Get back inside". He threw Hiccup forward towards a building.
"That's Rear Admiral Stoic the Vast, director of the colony, they say when he was just 8 he cracked open a dragons head with a high-powered laser cannon. Do I believe it?".
Stoic looked around brooding, before grabbing a single-shot plasma cannon. As he pressed the trigger, a small mass of ionized hydrogen shot out at relativistic speeds, crashing into a gronkle, and melting it. "Yes I do".
He turned back round to a soldier who was speaking into a communicator, "What have we got?". The soldier waved the small handheld device.
"Gronkles, Nadders, Zipplebacks. Oh, and the DRaDiS picked up a monstrous nightmare". A gronkle flew overhead, firing a pure napalm shot towards a habitat, setting it alight, and sending melted pieces of thermoplastic in all directions. "Any night furies?".
"None so far". He brushed off a small flaming piece of wood. "Good".
As Hiccup dashed between the streets. Men began wheeling DEWDROP laser cannons out. Several Trident assault fighters roared over head, chasing a small group of Nadders. The ground split open in several places to reveal several Surface-to-Air missile batteries which immediately extended their DRaDiS antennae and began firing missiles towards the mass of creatures.
Several soldiers slammed on a set of search-lights which highlighted dragons for the laser cannons. Hiccup finally reached the supply shed and threw off his jacket. A slightly stocky man stood attaching a coilguns to the cooling racks. "Nice of you to join the party, I thought you'd been carried off". He picked up a spare battery cell and pushed it into the wall brace.
"Nah I'm way too muscular for their taste, they wouldn't know what to do with all this". He gestured to himself, as thought to make a point and the master-at-arms replaced a bionic attachment on his arm with a sprayer linked to a tank of liquid nitrogen, "Well they need toothpicks don't they?". Hiccup threw open a serving window and started handing out ammunition clips, before grabbing an overheated coilgun mount and dragging it to a cooling unit.
"The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber, I've been his apprentice since I was little. Well, littler". Hiccup fixed the coilgun into the unit, watching as the coils began to slowly stop glowing.
Meanwhile, in the thick of the battle, Stoic slammed another power cell into a laser cannon. "You guys head down to the lower defences, we counter attack with the Fusion lances". Another napalm charge struck a habitat, causing the carbon enforced foundations to melt onto the pathway, spilling towards a small micro-fusion reactor. "See. Old colony, lots of new habitats".
With the extreme heat at risk of melting the reactor casing, the red light immediately went off. WARNING: FIRE DETECTED. Nearby, a VTOL transport touched down on a landing pad, and a small group of teens began grabbing hoses off of the main water tank.
Fishlegs, a wider but quieter teen ran past, struggling to hold his own hose steady. Snotlout dragged his own hose after them, but was too busy throwing arrogant looks back at the craft. Ruffnut and Tuffnut, a pair of twins with the most aggressive rivalry I've seen since Admiral Adama and Admiral Cain ran for president against Adar. And...
The fusion reactor exploded despite the small amount of water which managed to reach the pod. The force sent the hose flying back, but the person holding it simply turned back round. The bright flare of the explosion cast a stunning flow across long blonde locks of hair, and
"Astrid..."
The light from the explosion was punctuated as a set of energy repulsors lit up, repelling the potentially dangerous neutrons as the other four joined Astrid in what was literally a cliché scene from every movie in existence. "Their job is so much cooler".
Hiccup leaned out, trying to see what they where doing next, but a mechanical pair of tongs grabbed him by the uniform. "Oh come on, let me out please? I have to make my mark". He poked Hiccup's chest with the bionic attachment. "You've made plenty of marks, all in the wrong places".
He was pushed back from the window slightly, "Please, 2 minutes I'll kill a dragon, my life will get infinitely better, I might even get a date". Gobber began listing off on one remaining good hand, "You can't lift a Gatling gun, you can't handle the recoil of a plasma lance, you can't even throw one of these", he said, gesturing to one of the gravitational field manipulation devices, which increased the mass of a small, localised section of space time, making the dragons unable to fly.
As if to punctuate, a pair of strong hands grabbed the 'Bola' and threw it towards a gronkle. The light was momentarily diffracted as the space-time collapsed into a tiny singularity, and the gronkle nose-dived into the soft ground of the colony.
Hiccup picked up one of his machines, a small electromagnetic catapult equipped with an advisory AI (Not sentient) which would take into account everything. Wind, Gravity, Distance, Speed, Acceleration and even dragon dodging preferences. "This will throw it for me". The catapult fired, sending the un-armed bola at a nearby soldier who collapsed from the impact.
"Ya see, this here is what I'm talkin' about", He shrunk under the gaze of his mentor, "Mild calibration issue". Gobber stopped, "No, Hiccup if you ever want to get out there to fight dragons, you need to stop all... this". He gestured to Hiccup.
"You just gestured to all of me", he said, having had this conversation so many more times.
"Exactly, stop being all you".
Hiccup pretended like he hadn't heard this speech a million times. "Ooooohhhh".
"There we go".
"You sir are playing a dangerous game, keeping all this raw. soldier-ness contained", He looked unfazed, even more so when Hiccup declared there would be consequences.
"I'll take ma chances, Plasma Cannon, cooling, now". He grabbed the huge weapon and jammed it in a tank of water, since it was somewhat cheaper than having to use the cryogenic freezer to make liquid nitrogen.
One day I'll get out there, because killing a dragon is nearly everything round here.
A nadder head would get me at least noticed.
Gronkles are like walking frigates, taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend.
Zippleback, Exotic, Two heads, twice the status.
On top of a fusion lance turret, Stoic watched as Chemical AA defences began to light up the area. "They found the protein synthesisers". He turned back to where a group of Nadders had surrounded several solar-powered protein creation banks which converted water, sulphur and a mixture of other elements into meat products. "Concentrate fire on the lower banks". The barrel began to light up as powerful magnets began to rotate, "FIRE!".
The gun spoke, and a beam of helium-3 and deuterium lanced out with the fury of a newborn star. The explosion eviscerated the Nadder instantly, leaving a faint purple mist and scorching the ground below it.
And then there's the monstrous nightmare, only the best soldiers go after those.
Below the gun tower, a slew of flames spilled out through a wooden walkway, and a vicious red head burst through the lower walkway. "Recharge, I'll take care of this". He retrieved a gravity hammer.
They have this nasty habit of secreting pure Kerosene through their skin and setting it alight.
Stoic swung the powerful weapon, making a crack of sound as it made connection with the tough hide of the dragon. He hit again, but the dragon was only momentarily fazed as it lashed out with razor sharp jaws.
But the real prize is the dragon no-ones ever seen.
A faint whistle made itself known from the skies, the swooshing of air over wings, and the sonic boom created by an extremely quick being.
We call it the...
WARNING: NIGHT FURY DETECTED
"Take Cover!", A dark blue projectile slammed into the fusion cannon. The explosion melted the couplings and caused super-heated helium-3 and deuterium vapour to spill out as a silhouette leapt through the camp at ludicrous speeds.
This thing never steals food, never shows itself, and...
The whistling began again, as another plasma bolt intersected with DRaDiS tower, tearing it down with an ear-splitting crack.
Never misses, No-one's ever killed a night fury, that's why I'm going to be the first.
Gobber attached a Tachyon lance to the attachment point on his arm, while strapping a power cell to his back, "Man the fort Hiccup, They need me out there". As an afterthought, he turned round before leaving, "You. Stay. Put. Here. You know what I mean". Then with a loud battle cry that would make a Viking proud, he leapt into battle.
Yeah Right
He grabbed his bola launcher and began wheeling it out, dodging around other Vikings. "HICCUP!". He threw out a quick apology, before wheeling the gun to a good vantage point. He quickly activated it, a set of braces dug into the soft earth at the edge of the sea, the barrel leapt up, and a small radiator extended as he slammed in a bola and activated the more out-dated LIDAR detection system. "Come on, give me something to shoot at, gimme something to shoot at", he chanted, and like magic, the distant stars where blotted out by a vaguely dragon shaped object as a slight screech leapt into the night. The distant sounds of battle where already dulled by the distance. The LIDAR did it's job much better than the DRaDiS scanners at the colony, marking the dragon.
He slowly twisted the gun round.
Range: 800 meters
The shape disappeared slightly, as it turned back towards the colony, its smallest silhouette visible.
Range: 600 meters
The whistle of it's wings began to pick up again, creating an eerie screeching sound as it neared a still-cooling fusion lance.
Range: 400 meters
The whistle built up in volume till an almost ear-splitting roar shook the night, and he saw a blue bolt materialise from the shape
Range: 200 meters
The fusion lance exploded much the same way the other one did, but a slight sillhoutte emerged from the smoke and flames, still too fast to make out with the human eye.
He fired, and another roar shook the night as the now-armed singularity appeared near the elusive dragon's tail, and the faint light of the singularity left a slight tracer as it shot into the woods near Raven's Point. The recoil sent him flying backwards but it didn't matter, he had shot down a night fury! Not even the boys in the Tridents could claim that.
He turned round, "Yes I hit it, did anyone see that?". Hiccup was interrupted when he heard a crash, and turned round to see a monstrous nightmare crushing the delicate computer and the LIDAR dish.
"Except for you".
DUH DUH DUUUUUUUUUUH, Well we've all seen this. As for the story, I plan to continue this through RTTE and HTTYD2 and 3 aswell, depending if I can be bothered to rewatch RTTE.
Anyway, I'm canning mass effect for a while because I've lost inspiration for what Sci fi to do, I've actually got about 20 different drafts. I have Halo, BSG, star wars even one crossed over with HTTYD (which I will likely complete for the OPness since some people like that)
Anyway, make sure you have a cup of tea, because a story like this can only be handled with a decent cuppa'
As always (Or never as the case may or may not be) I don't need any reviews to keep going, views are fine so don't feel as though I'm screaming at you to review. also if you want to moan, stop reading, I honestly couldn't give two teabags what the moaners think. I'm a computer scientist not a writer, I do this to keep me sane. If you don't like it stop reading.