Alright, I am back from the dead. sorry this one took so long. I hope you'll forgive me for that. Enjoy!

"Alright troopers, lets get this underway. Today we'll be talking about the enemies you'll be flying against." Major Belch said, letting out one of his namesakes as a token of his breakfast. A press of a button brought up a craft that was long and thin, with what looked like doors along the side. "This is the Shrike. It's basically a light transport. It's fairly fast, and it's head-on profile makes it a hard target. But if you get above or below it, it has a much larger profile, and become a relatively easy kill." Gobber continued talking about the types of enemy craft as Hiccup sketched on a spare set of A-7 blueprints. He had already studied up on the types of enemy craft, and was well acquainted with all of them. The only real concern among them that he had was with the Green Death, their capital ships. A few of those could easily ruin his day. His attention was caught as Gobber opened up a question. "So can anyone tell me what the danger of the Thunderdrum is?" Corporal Ingerman called out.

"Sir, the danger of the Thunderdrum is it's sonic cannon."

"Exactly! If ya get in front of it, brace yourself because your heads gonna blow. Now, the Timberjack uses it's wings as weapons, be extra careful about this one, you never know when it's going to go kamikaze on you. Now, continuing on." Hiccup tuned the Majors voice out again as he went back to the blueprints. He had already found a method to increase the number of shots for the Fenrir cannon, and was working on the Wolfshirt machine guns. His musing was interrupted by a small hand slapping down on his desk.

"Not paying attention Haddock?" Jason looked up to see sergeant Hofferson standing over him.

"I've already studied up on the enemy craft and the only real concern I have are their capital ships, ma'am." Astrid narrowed her eyes as she looked at him. Large bags rested under his eyes indicating a lack of sleep.

"Report to your bunk Haddock, get some sleep. I don't want you making a mistake due to exhaustion." Jason looked up at her as her voice took on a much softer tone. A look of concern had taken over her features, and her eyes had lost a bit of their steel. He nodded as he folded up the blueprints and stood up. Turning he walked through the doors and made his way down the hall to the bunks.

/

Major Craig Belch stood next to the command tent as he watched the army return from their assault. As General Haddock stepped out of his VIKING, Craig signaled for the mechanics to take the suit to the machine shed.

"I trust you at least put a dent in their defenses?" James brushed past him.

"Not even close. I hope you had better success, Gobber." the Major finger his mustache.

"You can stop worrying Stoic. Your parenting troubles are over." Stoic looked at him.

"What do you mean? He's not dead is he?" Craig rolled his eyes.

"The kid's an ace Stoic. He's already the best damn pilot I've ever seen. And he's acquired the rating to use most of the weapons in the arsenal, he just needs the final approval." Stoic looked at the ground. His thoughts were racing through his head at a pace that made him dizzy.

"Set up the final tests, we did manage to find out when their next raid is going to be. We have three days to graduate the kids before their tested in actual combat." Craig nodded.

"Yes, sir. Right away sir." he said as he turned and jogged off to get everything set up.

/

The test proceeded rapidly, each pilot acing their craft, not doing so well on those craft and weapons that they hadn't tried to qualify for. The only all-rounders in the group were Sergeant Astrid Hofferson, and Private Jason Haddock. As the group of graduates stood at attention in front of the commanding officers, general Haddock stepped out in front of them.

"Men, I'm proud of you. You've proven yourselves today, some more than others. Two of you must receive a rank equal to your qualifications. Sergeant Hofferson and private Haddock, step forward!" Jason and Astrid stepped forward and snapped back to attention. Stoic pulled two small cases from his pocket.

"Sergeant Astrid Hofferson, you've shown yourself more than capable of leading men into combat. As the leader of a new squadron, it is only appropriate that you possess a rank deserving of your skills. Your promotion to captain has gone through and been approved, congratulations." Astrid straightened even more, if it were possible, as the general pinned the captains insignia onto the shoulder of her uniform. She returned his salute with one of her own as he stepped back and turned to Jason.

"Private Jason Haddock, for years you've been keeping yourself unnoticed, your temper and tendency to be irrational preventing your advancement. Now today you stand here to receive a well deserved and long overdue promotion. It prides me to see you receive your lieutenants stripes." Jason didn't move until Stoic had pinned the lieutenants stripes to his shoulder, and then he gave a stiff salute. Stoic stepped back and took in the whole of the unit, pride evident in his features.

"To all of you, you will be the first line of both offense and defense. The vanguard in attack, and the rearguard in retreat. You are the elite, the favored few that will spell the beginning of the end for the skinny's. I know you will all live up to my expectations. Good luck to all of you." he gave the group a salute, which was eagerly returned. "Dismissed."

/

Jason stood underneath the Night Fury, tinkering with the Fenrir cannon. A set of modified blueprints rested on a table nearby, weighted down by the pistol he usually carried. He was so occupied by what he was doing that he didn't notice the slim figure of now captain Hofferson step through the hangar door. As he continued tinkering, Astrid walked over to the table with the blueprints. As she examined his changes, she could see why Major Belch had let him get away with them during class.

"When did you get here?" Jason's voice made her jump, though the tone was somewhat lighter than usual.

"Just a minute ago." Haddock gave a bit of a nod as he picked up one of the components on the table and turned to focus on installing it on the cannon.

"What is that?" she asked. Jason didn't answer immediately, but made a 'wait a minute' sign with his free hand. Astrid watched as he became completely engrossed in the details of the installation of what looked like a miniature satellite dish with a torpedo on the back.. Finally he stepped back and picked up a small hand towel from the table and wiped his hands on it.

"That is an oxygen scoop. It increases the Fenrir cannon's power." Astrid raised an eyebrow.

"Wouldn't that overload the cannon?" Jason shrugged.

"Not with the adjustments I've made." she glanced at him as he turned away from her to pick up the blueprints that covered the table.

"You know, you're not exactly what I expected." Haddock didn't even glance up at her.

"So?" he asked. She glanced back at the Night Fury before answering.

"It's not a bad thing. I just keep finding out that there's more to you than meets the eye." Jason shrugged again.

"It's not a good idea to judge a book by its cover." Astrid watched as he walked out of the hangar, the blueprints and several small components grasped lightly in his hand. Glancing back at the A-7, she noticed something odd about the cockpit. It was too long for a single pilot. Climbing up the ladder, she noticed that there were two seats, one behind the other. The rear seat was set higher and had no controls other than observational equipment. The front seat had all of the usual fighter controls. Glancing across the hangar at her Nadder, she recalled the same kind of setup in her cockpit. One seat for the pilot, and one for an observer. This placed the Night Fury in the Scout and Command class of vehicles. As she looked around the cockpit she heard voices approaching.

"So ya want ta take yer bird up for a test flight eh? Well that sounds like a good idea. You can't get a handle on how she'll fly unless you actually fly her. Permission granted. I would suggest that you take your Nadder up too, Astrid." Major Belch said as he and Jason walked up to the Night Fury.

"Yes sir." she said as she climbed down. As she passed Jason, she noted that he had changed in the five minutes that he had been gone. He now wore a full flight suit, complete with the fifty caliber desert eagle at his hip. His flight helmet hung from his fingertips as he approached the ladder leading up to his cockpit. As she made her way to her Nadder, Astrid couldn't help but admire the way he moved. The way he walked portrayed confidence and calm, instead of the anger that he had possessed as a boy. But her musing was interrupted by a loud klaxon and the flashing red lights around the base.

"Red alert! Red alert! All pilots to their craft! All pilots to their craft!" Astrid jumped for her Nadder, barely managing to grab her helmet as she went. Major Belch jumped off the ladder as ground crews rushed the craft.

"Do what you've trained for Haddock! Don't let me down lad!" Jason didn't respond, opting instead to slip the flight helmet over his head and link into his Night Fury's system. As he fired up the engines he heard the voice of the Captain come through the radio.

"Wolf pack, this is Valkerie, all units report." Jason waited as the squad ran through its usual attendance check.

"Snoutlout, ready to ride!"

"Fishlegs, all systems go."

"Tuffnut and Ruffnut, ready to roll."

"Hiccup, I'm ready." as engine throughout the hangar fired up, the squad heard their captains voice again.

"Alright Wolves, let's give em hell!" Jason grinned as he guided the Night Fury out of the hangar and onto the runway.

"Time to show them what we can do." he whispered as he pushed the throttle forward, and the craft thundered down the strip.

Cliffhangars! we love to hate them. But anyway, the troops have their charges and their orders. how will their first shot at actual combat go? find out in the next chapter. Please Review.