Disclaimer : Dreamworks owns everything.
"A single spark of courage, can ignite the fires of hope."
Chapter Seven : A Message of Hope
Time Skip : 3 months (Don't worry, not much has happened.)
It's been a few weeks since their last serious run-in with the Empire, they mostly had been running supplies from planet to planet. The gang was discussing what their next mission should be.
"What we need is massive destruction…" Tuffnut began.
Ruffnut finished his statement. "Like blowing up a star destroyer, or something big." She mentally drooled at the massive explosion.
Astrid placed her hands on her hips. "What do you think?" Looking pointedly at Fishlegs, Hiccup, and Heather.
Fishlegs replied immediately, "I don't want to go against a star destroyer." His eyes were wide with fear.
Snotlout returned from the lavatory (bathroom) and listened to the conversation, then spoke up. "Empire Day is a week from now. Maybe we could do something then?"
"Something lucrative…" Tuffnut trailed off, attracting the attention of the others.
Ruffnut continued, "something devious…" the two twins shared a look.
"Something Loki would have to admire!" They finished together.
Tuffnut approached Hiccup, and pushed him by a finger, causing him to back slowly in a wall. The twins each put an arm on either side of him. The male twin spoke first. "Say, Hiccup, what was your message plan?"
"A great way to stick it to the Empire!" the female twin answered.
Hiccup glanced at both of them, then at Astrid, who smirked and shrugged. "I-uh, on Empire's day? Wouldn't a lot of security be around? And I didn't expect you two to remember that, I mean, that was a few months ago."
"Of course! That makes it all the more fun!" Ruffnut exclaimed, ignoring the shocked expressions from the rest of the crew. She looked Hiccup in the eyes, and began to pinch at Hiccup's biceps and torso.
"Uhh… What are you doing?" Hiccup asked, very suspicious, and could feel jealousy emanating from Astrid through the force. Huh, that's odd.
Tuffnut must've read his sister's mind. "Sis, this is a brilliant plan!"
Ruff backed off a tiny bit, and pulled Hiccup and Snotlout to stand next to each other. "Uh-huh...yup… Just as I thought."
Snotlout and Hiccup shared a glance, and Snot nervously asked. "Just as you thought what?"
She ignored his question and turned around to Fishlegs. "Alright, Fishy, write this down." She received a short glare from Heather, and Fishlegs complied and readied his hands at a keyboard. "Okay, we need two sets of stormtrooper armor, two stun blasters, a terminal accessor, one microphone, and finally one Hiccup, one Snotlout, and one Toothless." Ruff finished. Toothless warbled, as if to say, 'you're kidding, right?'
Tuff snapped his fingers. "Oh, and the holo-blueprints for the communications tower on Lothal."
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Heather whispered to Astrid.
Astrid leaned over to Heather. "What, the twins planning something, or your brother impersonating a Stormtrooper."
"Hiccup has no trouble with impersonations." Heather stated, glancing at Hiccup and earning a questioning look from Astrid and Fishlegs. He looked at her oddly, trying to remember what she was talking about. She continued, "He impersonated a separatist admiral, and ordered the entire crew to abandon ship." Hiccup grinned, and nodded.
"That's actually pretty impressive." Fishlegs said, rubbing his chin.
000 Timeskip to Empire Day (Midnight) 000
"Hiccup, I can't believe this. Why do we have to wear the armor again?" Snotlout asked, he was very annoyed with his part in the plan.
"Because, 'Lout, we're going to waltz through the front door, get Toothless here to patch us in, and you," Hiccup looked at him, and righted a shoulder guard, "are going to cover our backs." Toothless warbled, agreeing. He strapped the final pieces on of the white vambraces and shin guards, making sure to connect them to the boots.
"Couldn't Astrid be in this armor?" Snotlout asked, assembling his 'donated' (stolen) E-11 blaster carbine, setting it to stun. "I mean, she would probably fit, form and all."
Hiccup narrowed his eyes, irritated by the burly man's comment, no time to lose though, and he'd rather see Snotlout get ripped a new one from Astrid herself. "The imperial army doesn't allow women in the stormtrooper corps. They only serve as officers in the navy or as spies."
"I guess that makes sense." Snotlout replied, putting on his the helmet. "I can't see anything!" He grumbled.
"You forgot to readjust the visor settings." Hiccup said, while adjusting the commlink in the helmet. He placed his 'Shadow' helmet in a knapsack, and clipped it to his back.
"Thanks." Snotlout twisted a small knob on the chin of the helmet, activating the heads up display. "By the way, do you know where Ruff got these suits?"
Hiccup was tightening his right glove. "Tuff said something about getting them from Dantooine, something about a routine job?"
"Oh yeah, I remember that. They blew up the entire facility with ten thermal detonators."
"Impressive." Hiccup pulled his stormtrooper helmet on, and gave his lightsabers to Toothless for safe keeping. He picked up his stolen E-11 and set it to stun mode. "You ready?"
"Yeah, the others should be in position right now." Snotlout replied, clipping a commlink to his wrist guard.
The two entered the streets, leaving Fishlegs and Heather in the ship, and Astrid was with the twins in the city plaza, watching fireworks and setting up their own diversion. They borrowed a speeder bike to travel to Lothal's communication tower, and parked it in the tall grass surrounding the tower.
Hiccup dismounted first, withdrawing and holding the blaster in a casual form, and Snotlout adopted the same stance. There were other guards around the small platform, and Hiccup motioned for Snot to keep moving. Toothless rolled to a stop in front of them, waiting for one of them to open the door. Hiccup opened the door, and Toothless rolled inside and connected to a terminal.
"Alright Bud, find the control room."
Toothless warbled, and projected a small hologram.
"Oh, great, it's at the top of the tower." Snotlout whined.
Hiccup rubbed the astromech's dome. "I had a hunch it'd be up there, come on." They walked past a few more guards, and stepped into an elevator. After selecting the floor destination, he clicked a button on his wrist guard, signalling Astrid and the others that they were in position.
The elevator doors opened, revealing a small cluster of communications officers working and typing on their holoboards and computers. Toothless rolled over and connected to a terminal, and shut off the alarm systems. Hiccup sent a quick nod to Snotlout, and they began blasting the imperials.
A small scuffle broke out, and soon ended with the imperials unconscious, and luckily, a distant explosion caught the attention of the rest of the guards outside. Probably the work of the twins. A second explosion rang out. Definitely the work of the twins.
Snotlout got behind a terminal, and pointed the blaster at the door.
Astrid's voice came over the commlink in the helmet. "Hiccup, it's time." He took off the stormtrooper helmet, and slid the 'Shadow' helmet on.
"Alright Bud, patch me in."
Toothless gave two short blips, and a beep.
"Shadow, you're on the screen." Astrid stated, using Hiccup's alter-ego name.
000 The city plaza 000
The screens on the walls fizzed and blacked out, then the image reappeared, displaying Hiccup in his mask. Many of the humans and other aliens around Astrid began whispering and murmuring to each other in awe.
The twins flanked her sides, and the three of them watched the screen together.
With his mask on, Hiccup's slightly nasally voice dropped into a calm but dark pitch. "Today… is Empire day. The big day for celebrations, but what are we celebrating? An Empire built on lies? For the past few years we have suffered at the hands of imperials. Have you heard of the genocides of Geonosis? Of Lasan? Or perhaps the Jedi Purge. The Empire has built itself on the toils of others, exploiting entire systems for people, wealth, resources."
Hiccup continued. "People across the galaxy have called us terrorists, with no reason... no understanding of our position in the galaxy. They were fed propaganda, spreading lies about us, and those of us with similar goals, and drag our names in the streets. I assure you, my friends and I are not terrorists, we are freedom fighters, patriots, brothers and sisters in arms!"
Many head nods, and a few fist pumps in the air, the crowd was receiving the message well.
Hiccup continued. "Do not allow the Empire to continue ruling over your lives! Resist and take back what is rightfully yours!" His voice turned grim. "I am not saying this fight will be easy, the road ahead of us will be difficult." The sounds of lightsabers whooshing in the background grabbed everyone's attention. A green and purple blade flashed behind Hiccup, blocking two red blades. "Ryker, Viggo. How lovely to meet you." Everyone watched in awe, a few of them shouting 'he's a jedi!' They traded strikes, parrying and blocking, and lashing out or counterattacking. Another figure stepped into the screen, brandishing a vibroblade knife. Snotlout began to attack Ryker, allowing Hiccup to focus on Viggo.
Astrid quickly spoke into the commlink. "Fishlegs, new rendezvous point, meet us at the comm tower, Snotlout and Hic are in trouble."
Tuffnut snickered behind her. "Hic? What is that, a new nickname for your boyfriend?"
Astrid blushed, and promptly punched him across the jaw. "He's not my boyfriend!"
"Not yet!" Ruff teased.
Hiccup shouted from the comm tower. "We have the will to fight! We have the will to win! The Empire can no longer silence us! Resist and unite for freedom! Unite for peace!" Viggo destroyed the transmitter, cutting off the words had an effect on the crowd, and cheering erupted, giving Astrid and the twins to slip away and steal imperial speeder bikes.
Upon arriving, they saw Toothless burst out of the highest window, using his leg thrusters to land safely. Shortly after, they saw Snotlout sprint out of the front door, blasting a stormtrooper on the way out.
"Where's Hiccup!?" Astrid shouted, withdrawing her blaster pistol.
Hiccup jumped out of the tower, followed by the two inquisitors.
Hiccup landed using the force to soften the landing, and threw off the stormtrooper helmet and put his Shadow helmet on. He withdrew his sabers, activating the blades to engage the inquisitors in combat. A dropship landed nearby, and Agent Eret stepped out, flanked by stormtroopers.
"Hold them off, I'll handle these two!" Hiccup shouted, lunging at Viggo.
Ruff and Tuff immediately threw thermal detonators at the imperials, causing them to scatter. Astrid fired her blaster, injuring a few stormtroopers. A firefight broke out around Hiccup and the Grimborn brothers, and occasionally they deflected a blaster shot off to the side.
The Deadly Nadder flew over them, and Heather used the bottom turret to destroy the dropship before gaining speed again to loop around. Fishlegs landed the ship behind a short wall, giving some amount of cover for the gang.
Viggo gained the upper hand on Hiccup, and forced him back towards the stormtroopers, separating him from the crew. He knew what was happening, and as long as the others made it out… he'd be okay. He didn't want them to see him in a few moments. He lost his balance, and his lightsabers were knocked out of his hands while trying to block an endless onslaught of attacks.
Ryker gut punched Hiccup, causing him to fall to the ground, and kicked him, surely breaking at least two ribs. Viggo held his saber to Hiccup's neck. "Yield, Shadow, you've lost."
Behind the mask, Hiccup's eyes turned to slits, and with a force push he rolled away from them, giving himself some space. He pulled his lightsabers back to him, and activated them when the stormtroopers turned their blasters to him. From the ship, he looked like a blur of green and purple, slicing and jabbing, up down left right in and out, he slashed his lightsabers, twirling them in nearly every direction as he deflected the shots of the stormtroopers and parried the inquisitors' blades.
As he continued slashing with the lightsabers, he formed plasma blasts around his hands, giving him a deathly aura as he attacked everything in sight. Lightning and plasma arced from his wrist, empowering the lightsabers and striking the closest objects as the lightning became irregular and began jumping around him. The Grimborn brothers jumped back, letting the stormtroopers try to gun him down.
The gang watched in awe as he jumped into the air, curling in on himself and surrounding himself in an orb, and then releasing the energy, vaporizing the stormtroopers nearest to him and throwing everything outwards from him. Noticing that agent Eret was unconscious and the two inquisitors' armor were steaming, he took a safe bet and sprinted towards the ship, and jumped aboard as Fishlegs lifted off the ground.
Heather and Astrid met him in the cargo bay, where he blacked out.
"Ruff, get Hiccup's bed ready, we're bringing him up." Heather stated into the commlink.
Her voice came over the commlink. "What happened? Is he okay?"
Astrid ripped the armor off of him, and listened to his quickened heartbeat and shallow breaths. She pressed two fingers around his chest. "He's got three broken ribs, and an abnormal heartbeat. He passed out from overexertion."
"Alright, the room is ready, you can bring him in, Tuff and Snot are bringing a stretcher." Ruff stated.
After Snotlout and Tuffnut moved Hiccup to his room, Ruff patched him up, and connected an oxygen mask to him, and after a few breaths he began breathing normally again.
Astrid had taken the controls once again, allowing Fishlegs to monitor communication data from the surrounding systems. Heather was in the copilot seat, keeping an eye on the scanners.
"Do you think it worked?" Heather asked quietly.
Fishlegs looked up from his monitor. "I think it did, I'm reading reports of citizen unrest in the Archipelago system, as well as other smaller systems. And I'm hearing that nearby rebel cells are also helping the cause."
"That's nice and all, but we need somewhere to stay until Hiccup recovers, I don't want him in the field with his injuries." Astrid said, her mind flashing a picture of Hiccup's battered body.
"Soon enough, we'll have the Berkian fleet to assist us, and we won't have to run away from a fight. I just hope that day comes sooner than later." Fishlegs admitted, feeling a bit uneasy with how often they've run into the same enemies.
"There's no doubt every imperial in this sector will be looking for us, how about we go back to that one planet… Maridun? We can rest there, and by now the imperials are probably gone." Heather said.
"Fishlegs, what do you think?" Astrid asked.
"I think that place is our safest bet, not much was on that planet, so we'll have to be careful with transmissions." He replied.
"Alright Heather, set course for Maridun." Astrid stated, readying a hand on the hyperdrive lever.
"Course plotted, ready for jump, Astrid." Heather looked up from the controls, and saw the stars around them shift into a continuous blue blur.
