After Jackunzel Week, I promised a follow up to the story I wrote for day three – a sci-fi story with Jack as a space pilot, and Rapunzel as a princess he, Hiccup and Merida had "accidentally" save from Empress Gothel. The idea was a lot of fun to write, and several people expressed interest in the follow up/expansion. So, here you go. This story could also be called "How To Rescue A Princess By Accident". But I think "Among The Stars" works better.
I do not own Rise of the Guardians, Tangled, Brave, or How To Train Your Dragon – they are each the property of their respective owners.
This is dedicated to Eva Maverx, who didn't let me rest until this was done.
Among The Stars
Chapter 1
Imperial Center consisted of two planets, both orbiting the same sun, with three moons between them.
One, Pallash I, was all business – departments, the senate building, the palace, and everything else you would expect in a capital. It was so eaten up with skyscrapers, air traffic and ship dockings, that no one could really remember what kind of habitat it had been.
The second, Pallash II, was lush and beautiful, covered in the sprawling grounds and mammoth houses of the highest ranking officials in the Empire.
Pallash II had only three cities on the entire planet (one on each continent), mainly for the purpose of supplying the houses with necessities and luxuries – mainly the latter.
He and Merida Haddock stood in the town square of the largest town square, waiting for Hiccup. Neither he nor Merida would argue that her husband was the only one of them really capable of handing the business end of their work. Merida's temper was too short; Jack didn't have the necessary attention span.
His hands were buried deep in his pockets as he looked up and down the street with thinly veiled disgust. He had seen too much poverty and suffering in the Empire to be all right with the sickening greed of its higher officials.
Beside him he heard the familiar crack of Merida biting into an apple. When he glanced over, he saw her looking up at the statue of the empress that stood in the center of the square.
It was the same statue that had been raised in the capital cities of every planet in the Empire. She wore a wide smile, a long burgundy dress, her hair in tight black curls. Her arms were open, and it was probably supposed to look motherly. But it always sent a shiver down Jack's spine.
"Don't ya think it's creepy how she never gets any older?" Merida asked, accent thickened by the chunk of fruit in her mouth.
"She spends everything on beauty treatments," he said. "Money that should be spent on improving the lives of the citizens she claims to care so much about."
A nearby door opened, and they both glanced over as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III came toward them, his face too grim for Jack's liking.
"Please tell me they paid us," Jack said, dread unfurling in the pit of his stomach.
"They did."
"Then what's wrong?" Merida asked, wariness creeping into her tone.
"The entire planet is on lockdown," Hiccup said. "If we want to leave, we have to get a pass from Air Traffic Control."
Jack withdrew a hand from a pocket to push hair from his eyes. "Pallash II is on lockdown?"
Pallash I would be impossible to lockdown, with all the ships coming and going at all hours of the night. But a lockdown was to keep something in, and Pallash II kept such tight control over who came in, it was impossible to imagine the need for a lockdown.
It wasn't as bad as Jack had thought (the passcode wouldn't be too hard to get), but it wasn't good, either.
Even so, he couldn't bite back: "I told you we shouldn't have taken this job."
"It was this, or mortgage the ship to par for the repairs," Hiccup reminded. "After often as we're short on money, that didn't seem like a good idea."
"And I seem t' recall ya bein' the one that made that point," Merida reminded, looking at Jack.
Sometimes Jack wished he didn't work with his two best friends. They knew him too well – including that even he would admit this job had been the lesser of two evils.
Merida's expression didn't let up until he had nodded – acknowledging that she was right. He tried not to let her satisfied smirk grate his nerves too much.
The three started toward Imperial Tower, the single skyscraper on the entire planet. All government business took place there – air traffic control, sanitation, health, etc. It also served as the planet's prison. All in 120 stories of durasteel and transparisteel.
It was a short walk, mostly silent aside from merida finishing off her apple.
When they reached Imperial Tower, the transparisteel door slid open, and Jack grimaced. He buried his hands in his pockets, to hide they were clenched until his knuckles were white.
He had hoped to never enter another imperial building as long as he lived. So much for that.
The smell was sterile, the walls smooth blue-white, the floor highly polished marble. The one thing he could say for it was that the cool air was just the temperature he liked. Though it was probably there to make people uncomfortable.
"Please hand over all weapons and electronic devices." A bored official droned. "Then fill out the form on the datapod on the other side of the body scanner."
Hiccup went first – by unspoken rule – dropping his blaster and vibroblade on the tray without any visible sign of reluctance. There was reluctance when it came to his commlink, the security remote for the ship, his datapod and other devices.
Merida, glaring all the while, dripping in the two blasters from her belt, the small blaster she kept in her left boot, the vibroblade from her right boot, the dagger from her belt, and the throwing knife strapped to her left forearm under her long sleeve. Her commlink was thrown in as an afterthought.
Jack supposed the horror on the faces of both officials offered him enough amusement to make this trip bearable. And everything Merida had thrown in was nothing compared to the arsenal in the hidden compartment behind her closet.
She glanced up and looked at the official with mock innocence that almost sent Jack into a fit of laughter.
"It's a dangerous galaxy, boys," she said, and he could tell she was pushing her accent on purpose. "A girl's gotta be careful."
Jack bit back a complaint as he handed over his blasters, commlink, knife, code cylinder, data drive, datapod, and his comm-jammer. That got a raised eyebrow, and he had a feeling he wouldn't be seeing the device again.
He started toward the body scanner.
"Sir, your gauntlet," the official said, no longer looking bored.
Jack held up his left arm, on which was the silver gauntlet, a snowflake design pressed into the front. "Does this look like a weapon or a device?"
With a sigh, he was waved through.
There was no response from the scanner, and it was hard not to smirk. On the off chance he ever went back to Warren, he really would have to thank Tooth again. Some people just knew how to give the best gifts.
Air traffic was on the forty-seventh floor, and all four of the lifts were in use or somewhere else, so the friends ended up waiting in hall.
The indicator light above one of the lift door lit up, and they headed toward it, waiting for the door to slide open. A moment later it did so, revealing two officials in what appeared to be a heated conversation.
"It's not your job to question an order - especially not one from Her Majesty. If those-"
The speaker realized he had an interested audience and immediately fell silent. Both officials exited quickly, with a disapproving glance back, and the three friends stepped into the lift.
"Somethin' ain't right," Merida murmured, as soon as the door had shut and the lift had started moving.
"Don't say that," jack groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. "Just don't."
"Are ya sayin' ya don't feel it?" Merida asked, tone scathing.
Jack gave a non-commital shrug.
Merida looked at her husband, but Hiccup held up his hands hand defense.
"Hey, I'm not the one with all the... ya know," he waved his fingers. "You guys are the ones with the- the sixth sense, or whatever ya wanna call it."
Merida rounded back to Jack.
"Of course I feel it!" he snapped, keeping his voice low. "But every time you say that, we end up running for our lives! I'm not really in the mood at the moment. Not on Pallash II."
#
By the time Hiccup had their pass from air traffic control, Merida's words had eaten a hold through Jack's resolution to ignore the nagging sensation at the back of his mind.
He followed the couple out, thinking as he did. The moment the door of air traffic control had shut behind them, he touched their shoulders and nodded down a side hall, rather than the way back to the lift.
"What are ya doin'?" Merida hissed.
"If we die, it's your fault," was all the response he gave her, glancing back to make sure there was no one else around.
They turned down a few more deserted halls before Jack found one that had what he was looking for.
"Jack, what are you doing?"
Jack stepped up the the computer terminal embedded in the wall. "merida's right."
He lifted the metal plate from the top of his gauntlet. From the hidden compartment, he withdrew a transparent red computer card, the Inperial crest emblazoned on one corner.
"Is that what I think it is?"
"Schoolboy secret," Jack smirked.
Hiccup shook his head, covering his eyes with his hands. "You two are crazy."
Still grinning, Jack slid the card into the terminal, and watched the lines of characters sliding down the screen as the card hacked into the system.
Hiccup, the computer savvy one of the group, couldn't resist his curiosity, and eventually stepped closer to watch over Jack's shoulder.
"How far in are you going?"
"I can't get full clearance, but it should be-"
Access granted blinked across the screen.
Jack touched the screen, navigating through pages of orders and information, eyes skimming the words in search of anything that might explain what was going on.
He finally found something out of the ordinary.
"Merida, have you heard of Corone?"
"Aye. It's not far from DunBroch – they're one o' our trade partners."
Jack frowned, fingers hovering over the tab for the next page... his eyes fixed on the words. "What are their loyalties?"
"Technically they're part o' the Empire, but they aren't afraid t' undermine Gothel when they can. Why?"
"Princess Rapunzel-" He couldn't resist. "What kind of a name is that?"
Merida shrugged.
"She's here," he said. "Scheduled to be executed tonight... unless her parents agree to a new trade agreement." He looked back. "Any idea what that means?"
"Corona's a farmin' planet," she said. "They trade food t' the poorer planets at reasonable rates. I'm guessin' Goth doesn' like that."
"Apparently," Jack muttered.
"They can't excute her over that," Hiccup said. "Gothel's blackmailing her parents."
"And when have we ever been the kind to overlook blackmail and corruption?" Jack sighed.
The other two didn't need to answer that.
"Level 70, cell 1138." He pulled up the card menu, hit scramble to hide his tracks, and withdrew the card. There was no question what they were going to do.
He looked at Hiccup. "You're the captain."
Hiccup considered, running a hand through his already tousled hair. "It won't be easy. All three of us have to check out through the front door – and they're not going to let us waltz out with a prisoner."
"It's not about easy," Jack murmured, recalling the phrase North had repeated to him so many times. "It's about if it's worth it."
"We can't not do it," Merida said.
Hiccup nodded. "All right."
Jack sighed inwardly.
They were going to end up running for their lives. He just knew it.
Oh my gosh, it's done? It's just the first chapter, but still! There were a couple points where I thought I wasn't going to get this done!
Not to mention this is my second post today! I promise I will be getting to Dragon Guardian VERY SOON! But I wanted to get this first chapter up sooner than later.