Bjorn Birger

"There's gold in the stars, if you know where to look."

- Bjorn Birger

Bjorn Birger was the captain of the cargo ship, Hakon, and a salvager. He and his wife, Unn, took Rion Forge under their wing after she ran away from home.

History
Bjorn Birger was born on Earth, but when he was eighteen years old he left the planet behind him in pursuit of wealth and adventure. With him came his future wife, who was sixteen at the time. He eventually came to captain the Hakon, which he used to salvage and sell anything he could get his hands on. When Rion Forge met Bjorn while he was visiting Earth, she estimated he was in his forties. After being told to get out of a Chicago bar for being too young, Bjorn scolded the bartender and invited Rion to join he and other members of his crew at their table. Before long, she wasn't just a guest at the table, but a full member of the crew as well.

For the first few years after that fateful encounter, life aboard the Hakon was everything Bjorn had promised Rion it would be. The ship and its crew frequently dodged into and out of war zones as the Human-Covenant War raged around them. Starvation, torture, betrayal, and death were familiar sights for the hardened crew. As time passed, the nature of the work took a toll on the crew and they started to act more and more like pirates. Bjorn began to lose control over his ship and he stopped paying as much attention to Rion as well. After her twenty-fourth birthday near the end of the war, Bjorn died after having his health decline for some time. Rion helped prepare his body alongside Unn, who lost all ambition after his death and followed him a year later.

Personality and traits
Bjorn Birger was a big, burly giant of a man. His large size was accompanied by an equally large presence. He could howl with laughter loudly and when he spoke, he used his hands and entire body to communicate what he was saying. He was able to weave inspiring tales of adventure and exploration, and was also known to be a master of bartering and manipulation others. To outsiders, he and his crew could appear course looking, travel weary, and out of place, but also very capable. When Rion met him, his hair was graying. She noted then that it seemed he possessed a great amount of weight and worldliness; as if he had seen and done it all and had the scars--both inside and out--to prove it. As the years passed, he went from being very protective of her to becoming either disinterested, distracted, or simply too old to care about her any longer, at least in Rion's estimation.

Trivia
"Bjorn" is a Germanic name that means "bear".

List of appearances

 * Halo: Smoke and Shadow