From Rosie's files on the crew of the Unbroken

Ivan Strongwinter:

Ah yes, Ivan. Our favorite Space-Viking-Polar Bear-Thing with an electric hammer. Heavy hitter and overly poetic. Has anger issues.

Ivan's village was destroyed by a group of Severnyy-gora, brown-furred Severnyy who despise their northern cousins, when he was only a few months old. A group of Severnyy-mir, the Severnyy who look like polar bears, saved him and took him in.

After a slightly troubled childhood, Ivan joined the military and met his first shield family along with the Severnyy who would become his wife. They spent years fighting Gigacorp, but Ivan made a wrong call that ended up killing everyone in his Shield Family (aside from his wife, daughter, and unborn son). He was soon banished from Karnvas for his failure (if you're wondering, no he didn't pay much attention to it and kept coming back to Karnvas as sort of a big middle finger to the chairman). But years later Xisuma found him and helped him out of the darkest spot of Ivan's life. Ivan found purpose again.

No word on his family.

——————

BigB
Karnvas System

The moment we cruised out of FTL, Gigacorp started shooting.

What was the deal with getting shot at the second we get somewhere? It was almost like we were some of the most wanted criminals in the Galaxy or something.

Oh, wait.

Anyways, back to getting shot at.

The disrupter beams blasted by silently, the force behind them rattling the Unbroken as I pulled us through tight maneuvers. Karnvas itself was a blue and white mass of snow and ice below us, a massive fleet of cruisers, destroyers, and carriers drifting above the atmosphere. Fighters swarmed from the closest destroyer like wasps from a nest.

Nafia and Zara were both cussing up a storm, panicking. Ivan was simply strapping himself in, looking extremely calm. Karn was already strapped in.

Pearl put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"I trust you." she said, quickly sitting down at the weapons station.

I smirked, flicking my aviators out and putting them on.

"Alright, listen up! This is about to get messy, so strap yourselves in and hold on! I'm talkin to you two, Nafia and Zara!" I barked. Nafia was immediately in her chair, but Karn had to grab Zara's sleeve and shove her into her chair.

My smirk only grew wider as the fighters converged on us.

We shot forwards, curving around the edges of the swarm and effectively surprising them. Pearl held down on the trigger for the weapons system, blasting at the fighters along the edge of the swarm.

The swarm split off, giving chase.

And I had an amazing idea.

"Hey, Pearl! I have an idea." I yelled over my shoulder as I weaved between fighters.

"Oh no. Well Maneuver?" she asked casually. I grinned wickedly.

"Stop chatting! This is life or death!" Zara snapped.

"Remember to turn off Ship Grav this time." Ivan suggested. I sighed in frustration.

"One time!" I sighed, shooting up and through a gap in the swarm. Fire bloomed silently behind us.

"And that one time left us unconscious in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean." Ivan shot back.

I turned off gravity.

"...what's he doing?" Nafia asked, slightly nervous as her hair started floating around her head like a halo.

No one answered her (poor girl) as I made a break for Karnvas. I flipped us upside down as we hit the atmosphere, the fighters still giving chase. Slowly gravity started returning as the ship rattled like a can.

The Unbroken jerked suddenly as we got caught in the planet's gravity well, arcing down slightly. We could faintly hear the deafening sound of the disrupter beams.

"Ivan?" I called over my shoulder.

"Giving chase! They're already losing control!" Ivan jeered. Pearl let out one of her iconic crazed giggles as she let go of the trigger.

Nafia sat in a worried silence.

"C'mon baby... you can do it..." I muttered, voice drowned out by the ships violent shutters as if awestruck by the sheer strength of the planet below.

We blasted through cloud level a moment later. The fighters behind us was loosing control, rocked by explosions as they fell like flies under engine failure.

"There! To Clearwater Village!" Ivan ordered suddenly, a light flashing on console-side map. A small, serene village lay on the horizon, smoke drifting from the squat, brick and ice igloos peacefully.

I flipped us right side up again (poor engine), and an alarm immediately started blaring.

"Right side thruster gone!" Nafia screamed.

Well, shit.

I pulled up again, letting the Unbroken climb as high as gravity would let it before shutting the engine down.

"...B!" Nafia trailed into a scream as we nose dived at the ground again. I slammed into the back of my chair, the feeling of a thousand-pound weight against my chest. Black dots swam across my vision as I fought to keep consciousness.

"Trust." was all I could hiss out over the G-Forces.

I managed to flick the engine on again, quickly pulling up. The drag slowed us down again, the ship letting off a scream of protest as we did.

"Cmon, baby... you can do it." I hissed.

And I shut the engine off again as we repeated the process again. Climb, drop. Climb, drop. I'm pretty sure everyone but Ivan and I passed out at some point.

And on the third climb, I barely managed to level us out as we screamed over the snow-dusted pines.

"Brace for impact!" I screamed as we slammed into the tree line.

And everything went black.

. . .
Pearl

I gasped awake in an orchard. Again. This time the goat-man and I both sat on blanket, a set of fine white china next to him. He held a tiny tea cup, taking a sip as I watched.

I shot up, reaching for my axe. But it wasn't there.

The man stared at me with a dull expression.

"Who are you? What do you want?" I hissed. He stood, casually brushing the dust from his dress pants. He reached up, plucking a shiny, golden apple from the tree.

"Take my apple." he said, extending it to me. I slapped it away.

"Answer the damn question." I growled. He frowned, as if disappointed by my response.

Then Ivan shook me awake.

. . .
Ivan

I shook Pearls shoulder lightly, head pounding. She muttered something about a "damn goat" before shooting up with a gasp.

"Wha-where-!" she stuttered before realization crossed her face.

I nodded, making sure she was ok before walking over to BigB and slapping the side of his head.

"Wake up, Mladshiy-brat. We crashed." I said sharply. As to be expected with him.

B jerked up, looking around in a daze before his cocky grin settled back on his face. Already.

He slowly stood, adjusting his sunglasses as he did. Zara, Nafia, and Karn were stirring behind us.

"Another successful landing by yours truly." B said dramatically. I half expected him to take a bow.

"We crashed. I wouldn't call that 'successful'" Zara grumbled.

"We're all alive, right? And the ship is in good shape? I would call that successful." B countered cheerfully.

Pearl shot me a look, meaning clear: "Kids, am I right?"

I snorted, striding up to my station. I slapped the monitor with a growl. It lit up, displaying a map of the area.

And in the top right corner, Clearwater Village.

Home.

And we were in the middle of the woods just outside, the sun going down unbelievable fast.

"Grab your stuff and let's go. We need to get to Clearwater before nightfall." I said, prying the door open with the butt of my hammer.

"Can't we just camp here for the night?" Nadia wondered. But her breath was already coming out as steam.

"The nights here drop below freezing within thirty minutes of the sun going down. I can survive it, Pearl and Karn maybe, but there's no chance that you and B are getting through it. And the wolves won't help..." I barely muttered the last part, but the reaction was instant: fear.

"But don't wolves try and avoid intelligent species? They do that on Earth." Karn said. I snorted.

"I'm not talking about the little rats on Earth that you call 'wolves.' No, these are Oberwolves. Ten feet tall at the shoulder and the Severnyy's greatest planet side threat. Trust me, they will not hesitate to run us down if they catch us." I explained, a phantom pain echoing through my leg. Pearl scratched the wolf tattoo on her neck.

"We can come back and grab our stuff later. The most important thing is to get to Clearwater as soon as possible. Just get weapons." she said, standing.

The rest of the crew quickly rushed out, cursing and metallic clangs following. I chuckled, following and stepping to the bent airlock door. With a grunt I put all my weight against it.

With a scream of metal the door fell, taking me with it.

My hands landed in the snow, and I froze.

Birds flew overhead, their songs combining with the creak of swaying pines in the wind to create a melodic chorus of order. A cold breeze drifted through the air like an iceberg, ruffling my fur. The surrounding woodland let off the fragrance of pine, sap, and decaying leaves.

A small smile formed on my lips. I was home.

. . .

We stumbled into town about an hour later.

B and Nafia were half clinging to each other, both about to fall from frost exhaustion. Pearl had her arms folded to keep in body heat, while I had wrapped my reindeer fur coat around Karn and Zara.

Severnyy gave us startled looks as we stumbled in, especially at me and the brand on my neck.

"My old house is just down the street. It'll be empty if we're lucky." I muttered assuringly to B and Nafia. They didn't respond, nearly collapsing.

I scooped them up, tossing them both over my shoulder as we quickly walked down the street.

"Hold! What is your business?" one Severnyy guard yelled after me.

"Making sure my Shield Family doesn't freeze to death." I yelled back.

The Severnyy around us immediately recoiled. But they let us through.

I stopped in front of my old house. It was built with bricks held together by ice in the shape of a large igloo, with a crooked chimney drooping on the top.

Pearl immediately rushed up the steps and tried the door.

"I have the key still." I rumbled, fishing for the necklace.

I stepped up to the door, and with a deep sigh, stuck the key in and turned.

"Get them some blankets. Pearl, see if there's anything warm for food." Karn ordered, all serious. Pearl nodded, quickly heading into the kitchen.

I gently laid the pair on the couch, ripping a reindeer skin blanket from the love chair and draping it over them. They immediately huddled together in their unconscious state, much to Zara's delight.

"Make sure they keep breathing." I told her, rolling my shoulders.

Then something, something my size, tackled me from behind with a roar.

Growling, I planted one foot forwards and spun them around into the wall.

The Severnyy growled back, but her features gave way to shock.

"...Ivan?" she whispered. I froze.

"Masha?"