Part 7

The sleek silver ship soon came out of hyperspace and approached the familiar desert planet. Fishlegs sat in the co-pilot seat this time and looked at the radar. "It seems like nothing really changed here except for the sulfur geyser going through an intense period of activity right now." He mumbled as the computer gave him a readout of the surface.

"Well then let's head for...." Astrid stopped mid-sentence and leaned forward slightly while narrowing her eyes.

"What's the matter?" Fishlegs asked.

"I sense Snotlout on the planet. It's faint but it's definitely him."

"Wait...... why have you memorized Snotlout's Force signature?" He asked perplexed.

"In case he ever tries to sneak up to me to surprise me with one of his sleazy pickup lines." Astrid grumbled as she cracked her knuckles. "Best to be prepared I always say."

"Right" Fishlegs mumbled, not at all surprised by that. It certainly wasn't the first time he's seen Astrid clobbering Snotlout while Hiccup just facepalmed. "At least they made it here safely."

"I wouldn't say that." Astrid grumbled before activating the comms. "Hiccup I think our friends are in trouble. How's that weapons system coming?"

"You know that this ship wasn't made to originally carry an armament right?" Hiccup mumbled over the comms before shouting "AAAHH Heather!! My foot!!"

"Sorry" Astrid and Fishlegs heard Heather say sheepishly.

"What happened?" Astrid asked as she steered the ship. "And think you can have something for us in about five minutes?"

"I accidentally dropped the small Ion reactor on him." Heather explained as they could hear tinkering in the background.

"Astrid what's the situation precisely?" Hiccup asked now.

"I'm sensing Snotlout and three other signatures fleeing from a large number of force signatures on the southern hemisphere. I sense a lot of anger from that group." Astrid explained as Heather asked "Who did they piss off this time?"

"I don't know but we are going to have to pick them up. I'd rather not go in there unarmed."

"I think we're good to go." Hiccup suddenly said. "While the J-type 327 doesn't carry weapons I did manage to configure the ship to emit an Ion pulse charge, but it will be at the cost of our deflector shields for now. At least until I can get a suitable replacement power source installed."

"Hiccup the last time you build an Ion weapon it exploded!" Fishlegs shouted while Astrid was already entering the atmosphere. "My eyebrows grew back slightly crooked from that!"

"It was one time Fish! One time!" Hiccup grumbled over the comms.

"Fish, don't worry. Windshear looked it over. She says that there is nothing to worry about.......... In theory." Heather tried to soothe her boyfriend.

"Oh great......." Fishlegs deadpanned.

"Remember our deflector shields will be dangerously low." Hiccup reminded.

"Don't get hit. Gotcha." Astrid stated as they neared the location where she sensed Snotlout. The sleek silver ship swerved past the sulfur geysers with precision and entered the rocky valley where Astrid and Fishlegs could now see the hoard that was following them.

"Are those Jawas?!" Astrid frowned as blaster fire could be seen. Snotlout, Eret and the twins came into view and it looked like they were being pinned down. "Let's see how good this thing is." She mumbled as she held her finger over the trigger button before positioning the ship between the two groups. With a click of a button a purple energy field started forming along the ship before firing at the Jawas.

Meanwhile, the events leading up to this for the other group were less than pleasant. It all started with trouble on Mandalore. Snotlout now grumbled from his bunk bed as Eret's loud snoring filled their cabin. They and the twins had been flying in shifts in a derelict freighter that they managed to 'borrow'.

The comms beeped and Eret let out a yawn and groan before answering. "Yes?"

"We have good news and bad news......" Tuffnut could be heard over the comm. Snotlout got up and that as Eret asked "What's the good news?"

"We've reached Florrum." Ruffnut's voice came over the comm now.

"And the bad news?" Eret asked as they quickly grabbed their gear and started making their way to the bridge.

"We seem to be out of fuel."

"Kriff!" Eret cursed before starting to speed up. He skidded onto the bridge and Snotlout nearly ran into him when he suddenly stopped. "What do you mean we're out of fuel!"

"Tuffnut who was stroking his bogwing, Chicken, just shrugged and said "I guess the man we borrowed this from hadn't refuel yet."

"And.... it's not like we could ask him." Ruffnut trailed off. "Well we could but then we'd probably be shot, of course after he woke up from you knocking him out."

"Haha" Eret grumbled. "So what now?"

"Well.... We could wait in orbit until the others get here." Ruffnut suggested as Chicken gave a yip in agreement.

"Or you could just leave the landing to me!" Snotlout boasted as he shooed Tuffnut out of the pilot's chair. Chicken gave an indigent squawk at that. Snotlout cracked his knuckles and set the ship into a landing orbit before anyone could stop him.

"Snotlout you idiot!" Eret shouted as they started to shake violently.

"What's happening?!!!" Snotlout shrieked.

"We're out of fuel you idiot!" Eret shouted. "The inertial dampeners won't work and our shields are out of commission! We'll be lucky if we don't burn up in the atmosphere!!"

"WHAT DO I DO!!"

"You said you knew how to land!"

"THEORETICALLY!!" Snotlout shouted back. "Remember I crashed our last ship as well!!!" Eret let out a groan as he gripped the controls. He ordered the twins to man the other consoles and try to manually stabilize the ship. "Hang on. This is going to be a very bumpy ride!"

"UGH" Eret groaned as he woke up. He sat up slowly and looked around to see Tuffnut having somehow landed on Snotlout, who had fallen out of his chair. Chicken was squawking on the floor while Ruffnut lay upside down over one of the consoles.

"What a ride!" She muttered as she came too and righted herself, her braids looking a bit frazzled. "Tuffnut get your behind out of my face!" Snotlout's muffled grunt was heard followed by a yelp from Tuffnut as he was shoved off.

"Well at least we made it." Tuffnut mumbled as he shot a glare at Snotlout. "No thanks to you!"

Eret was looking at the damaged nav computer before groaning and getting up only to slap Snotlout on the back of his head. "We're in the wrong hemisphere!" He shouted before leaving the wrecked ship. The others gathered up their stuff before also following out.

Once outside they grimaced at the damage to the ship. "Well this thing isn't flying anytime soon." Ruffnut commented as she watched one of the engines fall off with a loud clang. A dark trail of smoke streaked across the sky showing their entry into the atmosphere.

"I don't think this thing will be flying ever again." Tuffnut amended as he held up what looked to be part of a metal door. Hey what's that?" He suddenly asked upon seeing a large dust cloud heading straight for them. Eret had his binoculars with him and peered through them only to start cursing more.

"I suggest we run." He muttered before taking out his blaster. "We have to get out of here."

"Why?" Snotlout now asked.

"Our landing clipped a sandcrawler which fell onto another one next to it. We got about four minutes before we are swarmed by two clans of very pissed off Jawas! Need I say more?"

"Running, gotcha!" Snotlout said as he and the twins quickly followed after Eret.

They ran and ran but the engines of the hovercrafts belonging to the Jawas was getting louder, as were the war cries. Eret made a tactical decision and pointed to a valley. "We go in there!" He said. "It will limit how many can pass through and I'd rather we not get surrounded!"

They took refuge behind some large boulders but Eret cursed as he had miscalculated. The Jawas had abandoned their hovercrafts at the valley entrance and rushed in on foot. Their faces were covered by the hoods of their distinctive brown robes but their pale yellow eyes showed anger. They, being a race of small stature, could fit much more of their people into the valley on foot than in vehicles that needed to be navigated carefully. Once the Jawas rushed inside they started firing their blasters at the boulders Eret, Snotlout and the twins hid behind.

"How long do you think we can keep this up?" Ruffnut asked as she was firing back.

"How long do you guys want to live?" Eret questioned.

"Good point." Tuffnut muttered as he returned fire as well.

The Jawas were steadily advancing as the four began losing ground. Eret had to duck as a blaster shot came to close to his ear. He looked at the valley entrance when he spotted something coming towards them. "What is that?" He now asked and Snotlout yanked the binoculars, which were still around Eret's neck, up to his eyes.

"Oh my stars!" Snotlout suddenly exclaimed. "That's a J-type 327 Nubian starship! I've only seen those sleek designs in holopictures!"

"WHAT?" Eret rasped out as he yanked back his binoculars to look for himself. He indeed saw the ship now and it appeared to be heading straight for them. "Whoever is piloting that thing is crazy!" He uttered as he watched the ship deftly avoided the large sulphur geysers that were active at irregular intervals.

The ship rotated in a wide arc above the valley and then turned to face the hoard of Jawas. A purple energy could be seen forming along the ship's body. The purple energy shot towards the hoard and the were flung backwards as their weapons were rendered inoperable.

The ramp at the back of the ship opened as it descended and the four could see Heather standing there with her arms folded. "Who's responsible for all this!" She shouted. The twins and Eret immediately pointed towards Snotlout who groaned.