Pearl
In Orbit Above K-19-12, Transistia System

"So how exactly are you planning on getting down to the station?" Nafia asked innocently. I ignored her tone, pulling my suit on tightly.

"B's gonna open the airlock once we're in position. Then we're going to jump." I said simply. Her jaw dropped. I suppressed a grin.

"Are you insane?! That station is moving hundreds of miles an hour. You'll get yourself killed." she demanded as I pulled my gloves on.

"We'll be moving at the same speed. Trust me. Karn and Zara ran the numbers. We'll be fine." I said. Karn was our on-board medic, and Zara...

We had no idea what Zara was. She didn't even know. All she knew was that she definitely wasn't any known species. According to her story, she had crash landed on Aviara fourteen years ago, spent some time in the jungle, then got arrested for seven years before meeting us.

Personally, I called bull.

"Numbers fail." Nafia snapped. I gave her a wry grin, pulling my face mask on.

"Not Karn's." I said, voice coming out muffled. I closed the main door, separating us from Nafia. I winked, turning to the rest of the hit group:

-Ivan, a fifteen foot tall Russian Severnyy (basically polar bears with human intelligence) from Karnvas, our muscle. Oldest among us at 54.

-Zara, our own unknown alien who could slow down time for herself to plan her next move or get in a few extra hits. Hates me almost as much as Nafia. No idea how old she is.

-Karn, on board medic and comedic relief. He and B are the biggest bros I've ever met. Eighteen, just like B and Nafia.

Ivan bumped my fist as I walked past, hitting the button to open the airlock.

"Alright, listen up, people! B is gonna send you the info on how to do this! It is VITAL that you follow the instructions EXACTLY. Otherwise Gigacorp'll have to scrape your remains off the pad with a spatula. And I can't bring you back from that." Karn had to yell over the wind, even with our earbuds.

Our coms pinged a moment later with the instructions, which we quickly read over.

"So don't miss. Got it." Ivan rumbled, strapping his massive hammer he had gotten from a prison break (long story) a few months back.

"Go! Now!" B yelled in our ears suddenly. As a group, the four of us rushed forwards and leapt off the edge.

I held my breath as we fell, blue smoke, rain, and lightning swirling around me in a vortex.

The platform came into sight a few moments later, hurling towards us at incredible speeds.

I angled my body for it, aiming for the landing pad. I couldn't see the rest of the group, but I could imagine them doing the same.

I slammed into the metal deck, almost sliding off from the sheer force of the impact and and the rain making the whole surface slippery.

I gasped, grabbing onto a grate as I caught my breath. The pressure of the upper atmosphere, still bearable, weighed on me like a physical force.

"Pearlo? You dead? Can I have your axe if your dead?" B said in my ear. I groaned, reaching up to my ear to open a line.

"I'm fine. Just got the wind knocked out of me." I wheezed, coming up on one knee. Ivan was already at the main door, hammer crackling with electricity. That and his silhouette were all I could see of him through the darkness of the storm. How he was even standing, I had no idea.

"Stand back. I'll get the door." he barked, getting ready to swing.

"No! Don't! You'll ruin the airlock, destroy the oxygen balance when we go in." Karn yelped. Ivan grumbled, powering his hammer down.

"How do I get in, then?" he asked in annoyance as I struggled over.

"There's a button, big guy." I said, reaching past him and pressing it.

With an alarm screaming that I could barely hear over the storm, the door screeched open to show a rundown white room, and another door just past that.

"Fine..." Ivan grumbled, stepping in. The rest of us shoved in, barely fitting in with Ivan's massive body and the axe strapped to my back.

"This is comfy." Karn remarked. Zara jabbed him in the side.

"Zip it." she hissed.

"Welcome to the Transistia Library, outpost for all the information Gigacorp has to offer! Please keep your arms, legs, tentacles, or other appendages to yourself at all times, because remember, Gigacorp will always find you if you cross us! Enjoy your visit!" an overenthusiastic female voice said over the intercom along with a happy little jingle. I immediately wanted to put an axe in her head, even if it was just an automated message.

"She's cheerful."Ivan observed. Zara refrained from jabbing him.

"I know. It makes me sick." I grumbled as the airlock cycled and snapped open with the deafening grind of unoiled gears.

"Alright, B. Talk. Where are the guards?" I asked.

"Most of them are in the break room slacking off, as they normally do out here. But there's a few wandering around, especially in the Main Hub, AKA exactly where you need to be." he reported as we piled out of the airlock.

"So we need a distraction. I can take care of that. Send me a map." I said, peeking around a corner. I motioned all clear to the rest of the group, and we pushed on.

"Yes, boss." he said sarcastically, the map appearing on my com a moment later.

"I'll come with you." Ivan said, gripping the handle of his hammer in anticipation.

"No. I need you to slip around with the rest." I responded simply. He grumbled, but didn't argue.

"I can try and slow it down for us too." Zara offered. I craned my neck as we walked, raising an eyebrow.

"Since when can you do that?" I pressed. She shot me her iconic nasty look.

"I don't know if I can. That's why I wanna try, smartass." she said. I shrugged.

"Go ahead. Not my call." I said.

"Damn right it's not." Zara snapped. Ivan suddenly raised a hand to stop us, sniffing the overly sterile air.

"Shut your yap, ladies. Someone's coming." he hissed, pushing us back.

"...and I told them, noooooo, you can't just poke a Severnyy like that. But you know what they do?" a voice drifted around the corner.

"Do you ever shut up, Gary?"

"He poked the Severnyy anyways! Madness, I tell you!"

They turned the corner, coming face to face with Ivan. They both froze, but the one on the left grinned ear to ear. Ivan's grip on his hammer tightened as he moved his body to block the rest of us.

"What're you doing over here, Dmitri? I thought you were covering Sector 3 today!" the chatterbox one said cheerfully. Ivan hesitated, confused.

"We have a Fuzzy on station? Since when?" the other complained. I could practically hear Ivan's blood boil at the derogatory term.

"Dmitri graduated with us, lugbrain!" the other, Gary, sighed.

"No? I would remember if one of THEM was in our class." the other spat.

Ivan lashed forwards, driving the sharpened butt of his hammer into his chest so hard he drove it into the wall.

Gary gasped, backing up as he raised his gun. I jumped around Ivan, grabbing the guards gun arm, pushing it away, and driving my elbow into his face. His head snapped back, a trail of blood arcing from his nose. I swung my leg out as he stumbled back, tripping him and letting him slam his face into the wall and knock himself out.

I turned around, where Ivan had shoved his face into the other guards, who looked absolutely terrified and revolted at the same time.

"You a Hunter?" Ivan growled. The guard grinned, blood leaking from his lips.

"Proud of it. Killed more of you... Fuzzies than I can count." he laughed. Ivan twisted the hammer with a sickening crunch, the guard letting out a small cry.

I stepped forwards, drawing my axe and slamming it into his throat with enough force to crack the wall behind him in one fluid motion.

Surprise crossed his face for a moment, blood flowing freely as his head fell to Ivan's feet. I spat on his body, reaching up and putting a comporting hand on Ivan's shoulder.

"Sorry you had to deal with that. Hunters are the biggest scum in the galaxy. He had it coming." I said. Ivan grabbed the necklace of bear teeth around his neck, pulling it off and slipping it around his own neck, over a bunch of identical ones I hadn't even noticed.

"As much as I hate them, I have to respect their warriors souls. Worthy opponents of the Severnyy." he said hollowly, holding the new one in his paw as he studied it emotionlessly. He narrowed his eyes.

"This one has no honor. He didn't deserve a warriors death." he said softly. The necklace was filled with oddly small teeth. No adult ones.

I grabbed Ivan's massive arm, motioning to the side.

"C'mon, big guy. You can take it out on some guards."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Severnyy lived in an isolated peace for half of their existence, unaware of the other species beyond Karnvas.

In 2508 CEY (common era year), Gigacorp made contact with the war-like species, seeing first their arts and culture, leading to Gigacorp's original belief that they were a peaceful species. Which they weren't then, and they still aren't.

A centuries-long war between Gigacorp and Karnvas united the Severnyy Clans into an alliance, turning the divided armies of the species into one massive war machine that almost single- handedly destroyed Gigacorp's military capabilities in the Outer Rim. But King Josef the Foolish of the North Sea Clan, the chairman of the Severnyy Alliance, made a relative peace agreement with Gigacorp, leading to the 70-30 division of Karnvas, leaving the majority of the planet under Gigacorp management.

However, the 22 Division of the Gigacorp Military Corps had a deep hatred for the species, breaking away peacefully from Gigacorp and established the Hunter Corps, a rouge group of bounty hunters who's sole goal was to completely eradicate the Severnyy from existence. They still work closely with Gigacorp, which have yet to outlaw the killing of Severnyy within their ranks.

Since then, the Severnyy and the Hunters have been locked in a fierce underground war, stuck in a stalemate for the past thousand years, the two immediately fighting to the death whenever they see each other. There is currently a large push from the crown princess Nafia in the Empires's Congress to outlaw Hunting entirely in an attempt to forge an official alliance between the Crown and the Chiefdom, which had been gaining major support in the public sphere. Her disappearance this January has thrown a major political wrench into the movement, but it is slowly gaining momentum once again after rising artist Gem and the Scott's showed their support for the bill by flying the Severnyy flag at their concert in Three Rivers City.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(From now on, I'll try and put little information tidbits at the end of each chapter to try and explain the Galaxy and the world building behind it a little better :) )