Part 5

Hiccup took a deep breath and then opened his eyes. He was not in the meditation room anymore. Around him stood a lush green field with several mountains in the background. The wind blew across the field and the grass rustled along calmly.

"Where am I?" Hiccup asked aloud. He wasn't sure if he was even going to get an answer but he raised a brow when a man with greying hair stood before him suddenly. The man stood tall and wore a regal white armor with a golden trim. Hiccup sensed that something was wrong with this person. Unconsciously he took a step back. A hand rose up to stop him from retreating and the man said "You have nothing to fear from me Guardian."

"You seem to know what I am." Hiccup stated as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on edge. 'This man was dangerous.' his mind supplied "Yet I have no idea what you are."

"What instead of who." The man chuckled. "Your senses are good if you are wary of me, but be at ease. I shall do you no harm."

"Why did you appear before me suddenly?"

"You asked where you were, did you not?" The entity chuckled.

"And you know?"

"Of course I do. This is a representation of my, sorry, my former host's homeworld." The man said as the scenery changed. The grassland turned into a large swamp with massive overgrown trees.

"Host? So you aren't human." Hiccup mumbled.

"I was once." The man stated with a pensive look. "My original name was Tenebrae. I had many names during my lifetime. One was Lord Vitiate."

Hiccup looked at the man with a raised brow. He sensed that there was much more to this man's history but he wasn't going to push further. "You said that this was the homeworld of your host?" He asked instead.

"This is the planet Zakuul. I took over the body of a human from this world named Valkorion and established this planet as the capital of the Eternal Empire."

"Eternal Empire?" Hiccup asked curiously. "How come it isn't in the archives? I doubt this had anything to do with the Jedi."

"The history of my empire, and anything related to it, was purged long before your civil war started."

"Why?" Hiccup questioned with a frown. "Why would anyone want to make it seem like you never existed?"

"Fear" Vitiate growled. "Both the Old Republic and the Sith Empire feared the might that I had accumulated. It escalated after my host's death at the hands of his own son. My children were not worthy to command the Eternal Fleet."

"What happened?" Hiccup asked as he watched the man suddenly look older.

"War" Vitiate growled. "A war that nearly wiped out all life. It only stopped when Scorpio defeated Aries years later."

"You know of Aries? And who is this Scorpio?"

"You will know all in good time." Vitiate told him. "It seems that we will have to cut this conversation short."

"What! But I have so many more questions now." Hiccup shouted as the man started to disappear.

"Seek out the old droid that made your weapon Guardian." Vitiate stated. "Now it is imperative that you BLOCK!" Hiccup's eyes snapped open and in a lightning fast move he ignited his lightsaber to block and deflect the blaster fire that had been aimed at his head. Throk was shocked that someone had found them and quickly ducked as more people fired through the hole that Hiccup had made. Hiccup stood up and dragged Throk with him towards the hole.

"Why are we going towards the ones trying to kill us!" Throk shouted.

"It's not like I can cut another hole now." Hiccup muttered as he kept deflecting blaster fire. Once they were directly above the hole he told Throk to grab on.

"Grab on to what!" Throk shouted before Hiccup used the Force to jump up while holding onto the back of Throk's robe.

"AAAAH" Throk shrieked as he was yanked into the air. Hiccup made swift work of the guards that had discovered them once they got through the hole.

"JEDI!" One of the guards managed to shout over his radio just before Hiccup knocked him out with the back of his saber.

"Oh great." He grumbled as he could sense a flurry of guards heading to their location. "We have to go now!" Hiccup urgently said as he and Throk took off running for the exit.

Several guards rounded the corner and immediately started shooting at the duo. "Why are they shooting at us!" Throk huffed as he picked up his pace.

"They are Imperial troops. They think we're Jedi! You do the math!" Hiccup shouted as he deflected more blaster fire. He reached into his robes and took out a commlink. "Astrid are you there?" He asked over the comm.

"Is that blaster fire I hear?!" Astrid shouted causing Hiccup to hold the commlink away from his ear. "Hiccup who did you piss off again?!"

"I'll explain la-DUCK!" Hiccup shouted as he pushed Throk down just as a large blast sailed over their heads and impacted against one of the stone columns. Debris fell down as Hiccup looked up to see a very muscled man holding a large blaster rifle under his shoulder while laughing maniacally. Several more men joined the large man and aimed their pistols at not Hiccup but Throk.

"What the?!" Hiccup asked as they dove for cover.

"Get out here ya lily livered stowaway!" The large man gruffly shouted. "I'll teach ya not to mess with me and my crew!"

"Space pirates Throk!" Hiccup groaned. "You just had to have space pirates after you!"

"I can explain!"

"You better!" Hiccup spoke into the comm. "Astrid where are you?"

"I shoved Heather and Fish in the ship. We're coming to your location right now."

"Let's go." Hiccup told Throk.

"Go where?"

"Out of here or we'll be pinned down from two sides." Hiccup stated as he dove from their cover and lit the place up with Force lightning, blinding and shocking most of the people in the vicinity.

"Gah! Get back boys!" He heard the pirate shout. "This one's dangerous!"

"Come on!" Hiccup singled for Throk to follow. They had nearly reached the entrance way when the burly pirate stood in their way.

"I'm not so easy to take down!" The man sneered and lifted his blaster rifle to shoot the pair at close range. Hiccup acted quickly, igniting the lightsaber and slicing the gun in half. He took a hold of Throk and used the Force to jump over the flabbergasted man, using his face as a stepping stone.

"Boss!!" Someone shouted as the large man fell backwards.

"AAHH!!"

"Will you stop screaming!" Hiccup cringed as it had been right in his ear. They were now on the walkway out of the palace, below them bustled an entire city. He picked up his beeping commlink. "Hiccup 10 seconds!" Astrid said.

"Got it." Hiccup replied as they kept running.

"Hiccup!" Throk pointed in the direction that they were running to. At the end of the path a blockade had been formed by Imperial vehicles and troops who had their blasters pointed at the duo.

"I saw." Hiccup said as they kept on running right at the blockade. "They take possible Jedi threats way too seriously. Too bad we're not going in that direction."

"Wait what?"

"4..... 3...." Hiccup counted and grabbed Throk's wrist before jumping off the side of the walkway.

'2.... 1' Hiccup mentally counted while trying to drown out Throk's girlish screams. They did not fall into oblivion as a sleek silver ship sped towards them, rotated sideways and caught them mid fall.

"Yes!" Astrid shouted from the cockpit of the ship as she turned to Heather. "See I told you I could do it!"

"Why did I let this mad woman drive?" Heather muttered under her breath as she got up from her seat to check on their passengers. She found them squishing Fishlegs to the side of the ship. Hiccup was in the middle while Throk had wrapped his legs around him and still had his eyes closed while shivering.

"Well doesn't this make a pretty picture." Heather sighed while she crossed her arms.

"Are we dead yet?" Throk whimpered.

"Where to Hiccup?" She asked while Fishlegs started helping Throk not be a nervous wreck anymore.

"Back to Florrum. We have a certain droid to question." Hiccup told her before they jolted forward.

"What was that?!" Fishlegs squeaked.

"Probably the Imperial garrison that we'd been trying to avoid." Hiccup told them. "They seem to think we're Jedi."

"And you didn't dissuade them from that notion?" Fishlegs asked.

"We were kind of busy not trying to die." Hiccup dryly stated.

"Hiccup I have several TIE fighters inbound. Where are the weapons on this thing?!" Astrid shouted from the cockpit.

"There aren't any!"

"What the frick do you mean there aren't any!"

"How did you think I got this ship so cheap!" Hiccup shouted back. "Shuttle wreckage doesn't go for much! I still needed to install the weapons array that I sent Fishlegs out to buy!"

"Next time buy the weapons first!" Astrid shouted before pulling up sharply. "Hang on. This will be a bumpy ride!" Hiccup and the others strapped themselves in as Astrid deftly avoided the weapons fire from the TIE fighters. They made it out of the planet's atmosphere and Astrid engaged the hyperdrive and put the ship on autopilot before heading into the other area to find out what Hiccup and Throk learned.

Meanwhile somewhere on a mountainous world a black shuttle had landed. Heavy rain fell as a cloaked figure made his way out and to the waiting transport vessel that had parked not so far away. The ramp of the vessel opened and the cloaked figure quickly stepped inside.

"Greetings Lord Dasty"

"Ossidious" Dagur stated plainly as he lowered his hood. Some of his hair was singed from the previous firefight that he had been in and Ossidious tried to not comment on it.

"My I introduce my business associate Mr. Helister." Ossidious gestured to a balding smarmy man.

"Greetings. It is such a pleasure to be in the presence of a Sith Lord of your magnific-" Helister was cut off when Dagur stated "Cut the chit chat and show me the merchandise. I have a schedule to keep."

"Yes... right away." The man hesitated for a moment before going into another area of the vessel. He quickly returned dragging a squirming sack behind him.

"I didn't mean that the package literally had to be a package." Dagur grumbled. He didn't want this person to die otherwise he'd have to search for a new candidate. "Are you sure they are Force sensitive?" He asked. Either these people were going to cheat him or this person was extremely good at cloaking their Force-presence.

"Oh she is." Helister smirked as he untied the bag causing Mala, still bound in chains, to tumble out.

"Mala!" Ossidious shouted in surprise "What.... How...."

"You know her Ossidious?" Helister asked as he now looked at his business partner.

"She's my niece."

"Well your niece just sent me back months. She liberated several shipments of merchandise and blew up a part of my installation." Helister complained.

"Your shipments were children!" Mala spat as she glared at the man and then at her uncle. "This is a new low for you. Those children were going to be made into mindless soldiers."

Ossidious flinched back from his niece's glare. Dagur paid them no attention and instead watched Mala with interest. "She'll do." he told the two men.

"We're glad that you're satisfied." Helister sucked up. "If you ever nee-CHA" He stopped talking when Dagur started Force choking him. Helister twitched and tried to struggle but soon fell dead upon the cold metal floor.

"What.... What did you do!" Ossidious shouted as he took a step back from the Sith lord.

Dagur regarded the man as if he was a mere bug not worth his attention. He ignited his red lightsaber and then pointed it at Ossidious' quivering form. "This isn't personal. I'm just tying up loose ends." Dagur told him in a neutral tone before he struck. Once he was done he turned to Mala and dragged her back to his shuttle.