Hello there, this is my first story and I hope that you'll enjoy it. Now, before we begin, I'd like to warn that this story is definitely not for everyone. The story, although it will contain characters from HTTYD, it will not focus on them most of the time. In this story there are and will be themes some readers may find disturbing. Some readers will also find the story to be ridiculous, but I ask you to give it a chance and leave me honest and constructive feedback. Enjoy.

The Search: Prologue

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Isaac knew that it was no mistake he had been selected for this retrieval mission. The director knew he would try harder than anybody else during this particular mission, because it was his brother, Erich, he needed to retrieve. However, the director's plans were stifled by the brass for a little over a year. The brass wanted Isaac to perform in operations against the Horde. Thankfully, the director had finally convinced the brass that this would be a great mission to test the stealth capabilities of Isaac and his suit, or rather if he was even capable of stealth with the suit. Besides, by now Paladin operatives may as well be obsolete thanks to the success of Project Guardian. A Guardian operative could do everything a Paladin operative could do and more.

So, the brass relented and assigned a ship to Isaac to be used for the duration of the mission. First, Isaac had to make his way to Darep Prime, some 5,000 light years from Earth, where he would receive the mission briefing and be equipped with everything they thought he would need. Isaac had never heard of the Darep system before now and when he got there it was about what he expected. A near barren rural world on the edge of controlled space. It happened to be only about 100 light years from where the frontline was. The system he needed to go to was even closer. Vhallas, yet another system new to Isaac, was only 10 light years from the front. It was why his brother was sent to the planet. Erich was supposed to inspect the planet for signs of Horde infestation and report if it needed immediate action. An infested world appearing behind the frontlines could spell a major danger for all forces in the sector. It didn't help that there were primitives on the world as well. Surprisingly, they're human primitives. The brass speculate that they must have originated from one of the Ark ships from the 23rd century crisis, but that was about 400 years ago.

Any number of things should have killed off these survivors before they even reached the Vhallas system let alone land on a habitable world. Especially given the near panthalassic nature of the planet. It's massive ocean was only broken up by a series of archipelagos and a few larger islands. If they did land they probably landed in the ocean. None of this would matter if the planet turned out to be infested. If it was to a high enough degree then the brass would most likely order the system's star to be collapsed. It's much easier to destroy an infested world than to send ground troops to clear it out.

Now it would be Isaac's mission to inspect the world and to also retrieve his brother. He hoped Erich was alive. They had already lost their eldest brother, Tom, in the war with the Mazakken Empire. It was the last star nation in the galaxy besides the Union. There was a big victory parade back on his homeworld, Korinth, when they won. The war had begun in the latter half of 2,762. Isaac was born in the year 2,799 only 37 years after the war began. The Union was already fanatically militarist. Everyone in the Union was forced to go through basic military training in the last two years of Lower Education and then they were admitted into the reserve military when they graduated Lower Education. During a war this militarism is amped up even further. Isaac decided to join the active military as soon as he graduated so he could support the war effort. As any good citizen of the Union should do. Erich, however, decided to enroll in Higher Education in pursuit of a commission to be an officer. Erich graduated from Higher the same year that Isaac graduated from Lower in the year 2,817. By that time the war was already nearly over, and it was very clear who was winning. The Union never abided by the rules of war. If they won they took all.

Some may call the Union's actions brutal, and they certainly were. The Union feared any and all integration with all non-human intelligent life. So, the Union exterminated all non-human intelligent life they found within their space. There couldn't be any integration if there was no life to integrate with. By 2,821 the war was over. The Mazakken Empire collapsed with the capture of their homeworld. In those 4 years both Erich and Isaac were selected for the Paladin program. They both performed exceptionally well with Erich outperforming Isaac. It was in the last year of the war that their brother died. Tom was 29 years old and a decorated Major. Isaac and Erich were reassigned to different units so that if their unit was lost one of them would still live. They were further divided when Erich was selected for the new Project Guardian, and Isaac was left behind in Project Paladin.

Project Paladin is directed by Scott Brown. The project developed combat exosuits for many years before the war even started. Director Brown was excited that his operatives could finally be tested in real combat, but he was disappointed when they didn't turn out to be the game changer he had wanted them to be. They still greatly outperformed a regular ground team, but nonetheless they still left much to be desired. This is where Project Guardian comes in. Directed by Piotr Adamik it is essentially Project Paladin pushed to the extreme. Heavy amounts of irreversible augmentations are made to individuals selected for the project, but the result is unbeatable. In a live fire combat exercise, a single Guardian operative defeated 6 operatives of Project Paladin. So, much of Paladin's funds and operatives were reassigned to Project Guardian. It was around this time that the Horde arrived.

The Horde as they've been called are an existential threat to all mankind. They arrived only a few years after the Mazakken war had ended, in 2,823, they devastated many worlds before the Union got a handle on the situation. They still lost ground over the next 2 years before the Union started making offensives and retaking some territories including the system that Isaac was now in. Finally, we pick back up in the year 2,825. The year our story begins on Vhallas Prime. Isaac must retrieve his brother and determine whether the planet is infested after the system was recently cleared of the Horde. Tune in next time.

So, that may have been a lot to get through, but I appreciate that you took the time to read it. You may have some questions and firstly, where is Berk? Berk is on Vhallas Prime. I know some people will not like that Berk isn't on Earth and that's okay. For the sake of my story, it isn't on Earth and the Vikings are descendants of survivors of the previously mentioned Ark ship. Secondly, this story takes place right after the second Dragon's movie and diverges from there. I appreciate any honest reviews, criticism, and tips. Thanks for reading.