A little while later, the side ship - that´s how the 12 smaller space ships that the Mehandor´s station was carrying with it were called - had reached the main station and docked onto it. Erin had told the vikings and their dragons to follow her for some basic medical tests before they would be led to their room, the Naats were directly led to their temporary homes.

'So this is really how you want to part ways with us?', Caso asked. The four Naats had gathered around a table to discuss their next steps.

'But the arconides are going to ask questions. They know that there are four Naats missing, not three.'

'Think of something. Tell them that I died in the crash or that I tried to run away and got killed in the process somehow. And make sure that the Mehandor keep their mouths shut, too. That planet´s inhabitants are probably not listed in any of the arconide´s databases - and they´ve hopefully got more important things to do than send a scouting mission to confirm that whatever you tell them killed me really exists. Find a way to make me fall through the cracks of the system.', Tarkan solicited.

Caso signaled his approval by stomping the ground with his right foot. 'Okay. We will respect your decision, even though we cannot understand it. But how will you get around? You won´t be able to live off military funds anymore, and if you want to go into hiding, it would be unwise to access your private banking accounts.'

'I will find a way. I´ve already got Erin to give me a booth that´s further away from yours so the Arconides won´t noticed anything when they get you', Tarkan reassured them, full of confidence. After a while, he added: 'This will be our goodbye then.'

'Yes. Farewell, Tarkan.'

'Farewell.'

Erin led Hiccup, Astrid and the two dragons through seemingly never-ending, huge corridors. As they walked, they could feel the gravity decreasing - it felt like a weight was slowly being lifted off their shoulders - but the change was rather slight.

Every now and then, they passed other passengers. And it was just like Tarkan had told them: There were dozens, if not hundreds of different species on board. Some walked on two legs, some on four, some on six, some on even more. Some filled almost the whole hallway, some others were so small that Hiccup had to be careful not to accidently step on them. When they arrived at the medical station, Hiccup wasn´t even sure whether they had come across any species twice on the way there.

Inside, Erin asked them to stand, sit, and lay inside or in front of a plethora of strange machines whose purpose Hiccup and Astrid couldn´t even guess. But they and their dragons obeyed Erin without objection - they had no real choice anyways. Luckily, none of the examinations involved undressing, which was a huge relief to the vikings. The Mehandor seemed to have a rather... strange relation to covering their bodies: Since she had taken off her space suit, Erin had been walking around naked except for a strange hood covering most of her head, exposing green skin with bronze speckles all over her body. Hiccup was unsure whether those speckles were some kind of body paint or tattoo or whether they were natural. However, because he feared Erin might be offended by either his lack of knowledge or his bluntness, he did not dare to ask. And who knew, maybe what he thought to be her skin was really just some kind of tight clothing.

After what felt like an eternity, all the tests were finished. Neither Hiccup and Astrid nor their dragons had been ranked as a threat to the station, so they were allowed to stay. Erin led them through some more corridors, then they were finally shown what their home for the next three months would be.

It was a very functional and plain booth, seemingly made completely from one blueish, metallic material. It was perhaps five meters long and four meters wide, with a table and two chairs in the middle. To the left and the right, there were what seemed to be two beds, though there were neither mattresses nor covers nor pillows in sight, just two smooth, elevated areas large enough for a human to lay on. At the foot ends of these beds were two hollows, apparently for the dragons to curl up in.

'There will be three meals during the time you are used to as a 'day' and your work will be scheduled to fit the sleep rhythm your species is used to', Erin said. In the meantime, Astrid had received a pair of translating glasses as well, so Hiccup did no longer have to relay every word she said. 'You will have your first day off so you can get used to living on the station and explore it a bit. After that, you will have every 5th day off to relax. Any questions?'

After a moment of hesitation, Hiccup asked: 'Yes. Erm... Where are we supposed to... you know... defecate?' Jumping from one leg to the other, he added: 'Because I kind of have to right now...'

Erin flailed her arms around again, apparently amused. After a few seconds, she went into a the booth and touched a hardly-visible button on the back wall. Suddenly, a crack formed in the back wall and began to grow wider and wider, revealing a smaller, entirely white room with a sink, a toilet and a shower cabin. 'We tried to design it in a way that your species will be able to use intuitively. If there´s anything else you need, you can just call me by - ' Erin was interrupted by Hiccup rushing past her, searching for the button to close the wall and doing so as soon as he found it.

Looking at her dumbfounded expression, Astrid couldn´t help but giggle. After a few seconds, the Mehandor joined in. Then she pointed to another area of the wall and continued: 'As I was saying - you can call me by pressing this button'.

Astrid nodded and thanked her. With a chuckle, Erin commented: 'Oh, you can talk too? I was starting to doubt that...'

The young viking lady blushed violently and tried to punch the Mehandor´s side, but the latter evaded the blow swiftly, and both laughed again.

Then, Erin left. Astrid fetched the dragons, which had remained outside the booth up until now, and led them in, showing them their sleeping hollows. They seemed uneasy at first, but as soon as Toothless stepped into one of the hollows tentatively, he seemed to become more confident and curled up in it completely - apparently it was quite comfy. Stormfly followed his example.

Since she didn´t know what else to do, Astrid closed the front door and sat down on the bed on the right side. It was surprisingly soft, and she nearly lost her balance as she sank into the surface. Curiously, she traced the surface with her hand. The wall seemed perfectly solid, only the rectangular space of the 'bed' was flexible.

At that moment, the crack in the back door reappeared and Hiccup stepped out with a relieved expression on his face.

'What are you doing?', he asked.

'Trying to figure out how this material works... For some reason, it´s extremely hard in some places but really flexible in others...' Hiccup´s eyes began to gleam as he ran over to the other bed to investigate this effect. 'Fascinating...', he whispered.

Astrid laughed. This childish excitement was exactly what she loved about him. He was always looking for something new, something he didn´t yet understand so that he could examine it and acquire new knowledge. Still giggling, she stood up, walked around the table, and placed a peck on Hiccup´s cheek.

Hiccup´s face turned to the approximate color of a tomato, causing Astrid to burst out into laughter once again. 'Awwww... You´re so adorable', she gushed, pulling him into a hug and merrily messing up his oh-so-majestic hair.

But she could tell Hiccup was enjoying it. A wide, content smile formed on his face as he closed his eyes.

Right at that moment, the front door opened and revealed Tarkan standing outside. Or, well, about half of his massive body. The door was way too low and too for him to walk through even on all fours. Taken aback by the two Vikings' positions, he took one step away from the booth´s entrance and asked: 'Is this an unfitting moment?'

Astrid and Hiccup backed away from each other, both chuckling. To Hiccup´s surprise, Astrid took the lead and said: 'No, not at all. What´s up?'

Tarkan seemed confused by the question. 'Umm... the center of the station?', he grunted.

Astrid took a moment to understand what he had meant, then chuckled and explained: 'Oh. That´s just an expression. It means something along the lines of 'Is there anything you want to tell us about?'

'Ah, I see. I actually did want to talk to the two of you.'

'Why?'

'I just talked to my comrades and they agreed to report that I got lost on the mission. That means I´ll be free to go where I want now! I´ll never have to fight for the army again!', Tarkan exclaimed, his voice growing louder with every word until the Vikings and even the Dragons had to cover their ears, the deafening grunts echoing and seeming even louder in the confined space they were in.

When Tarkan was finished, they all cautiously removed their hands from their ears again.

'Congratulations, but... could you please try to keep your voice a bit lower next time?', Hiccup asked.

Apparently, Tarkan hadn´t even realized how loud he was being. 'Oh, I´m sorry... I´ll try to not do that again.'

'So what exactly are you planning to do now?', Astrid asked, taking the lead again.

'Isn´t that obvious? I´m going to stay with you! I know my way around the universe a lot better than you, and you definitely have a lot to learn before you can even think about getting involved with politics.'

Slightly taken aback, Hiccup and Astrid looked at each other for a while, both searching for a response in the other´s face. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Hiccup slowly agreed: 'Well, I don´t see why not.'

'Me neither', Astrid approved.

'Great!', Tarkan exclaimed. 'Are you ready for a tour of this station?'

'Definitely', the two vikings responded simultaneously, both smiling widely.

Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long to post the final chapters ^^;;; I am already working on a sequel though.