The Invasion of Leogard

2000 short story by Jonathan Hicks

Thirty-five years after Episode IV – A New Hope

As of this recording I’m fifty-two years of age and I’m an ex-scout. I was born on Wennicas, in the Setnin Sector and I’m the second of two. My older sister died when I was in my teens. She was a deep space explorer.

I guess that’s why I joined the scout program. Oh, most kids my age had a thing about space travel and how wonderful it would be to fly around in huge starships and discover new planets, but considering the rigorous training course that most applicants had to go through it was almost impossible to join the exploration core. My sister had applied and was chosen from over fifteen hundred students to join a five strong crew on a survey vessel. The vessel had only just cleared Galli Station spacedock when a fault with the main hyperdrive vaporised the ship. Well, it was only natural that I should follow in my big sister’s footsteps.

My parents were devastated when I handed my application to the program. They didn’t want me to go because they were afraid of losing their last child. It took me a few days to convince them that this is what I wanted to do, and that it would be a fitting remembrance to my sister if I continued what she started.

What a pile of crap. I’d have said anything to get into the program and keep my parents happy at the same time. I’m a smart man, I did quite well at school, but I didn’t want to get a job supervising labour automatons or working on a site. I wanted some adventure, and it was my sisters' death that got me into space. The bureaucrats in the program were only too willing to give the younger brother of a deep space explorer a chance to carry on his sister’s work. It did wonders for their publicity, showing courage in the face of despair and how travelling in space could be a family thing.

Actually, things didn’t quite turn out the way I had planned. I flunked most of my initial tests and did awful in the training sessions. I suppose that somewhere at the back of my mind I could imagine the wave of energy flowing from the hyperdrive engines and atomising my entire body as the containment chamber buckled, just like what happened to my sister. That was one fate I didn’t want to share. I completed the training program, failed (much to the delight of my parents), and was assessed. I was told I would serve the program better if I joined the Setnin Military Core, keeping peace and order on the worlds of the sector. What a joke. I subconsciously aimed to fail my tests, because I was scared of ending up like my sister, and end up being given a job where I could get shot to bits by a crazy with a blaster.

And that’s where I ended up. In a Trouble-shooter Squad.

Now, being in a T-Squad is not like what you see on the vidflicks. We don’t get dressed up in power armour or run around toting guns bigger than a baby dewback. We generally dress smartly, and when we come across any trouble we slap a few wrists and say ‘would you be so kind and stop being naughty?’ The weaponry only really comes into it when we want to show off a bit, and even then we just stand at such an angle the person we’re making the point to sees the pistol hanging from the holster.

I think the best place to start my story is on board the Galactic Alliance warship Divine. I was in a group of eight, just one of two teams. We were on our way to the Leogard System to sort out riots over the water shortage. Apparently the colonists were having trouble with re-boosting the planet’s eco-system after extensive mining and they didn’t have enough water. Or something like that. Hell, I’m not a xenometeorologist, if that’s the right word, so I’m not too well versed on the ecological differences between planets. To cut to the chase, we had been assigned to an administrator to sort out the problem. Yes, it was a diplomatic thing, but sending a few well-armed personnel could only be a good thing, as far as the Setnin Council was concerned. Their loyal colonists beating the crap out of each other was not doing much for their public image, so I suppose they wanted the situation dealt with quickly and quietly.

I have to admit, I found it pretty strange the way the Galactic Alliance decked us out with full equipment and popped us in a warship. Fine, back then I thought nothing of it, I just thought it was cool to have so much firepower at my fingertips. In retrospect, I’m a bit annoyed at myself for not thinking of that before we made planetfall.

The warship was standard, which meant it came with sixty orbit-to-surface tactical high-yield concussion warheads and short-range assault blasters. Isn’t that a lot to calm down a bunch of struggling colonists who only want better conditions? The Divine was a nice looking thing. The drive and command section was smooth and long with a long boom to the engine section. You know the Nebulon B Escort Frigate? Well, half it's size and smooth out the lines and you've got the Nebulon S Fast Attack Warship, built as a trading agreement between Kuat Drive Yards and Setnin Sector designers as a symbol of peace between the Galactic Alliance and the Setnin Sector. Strange how this symbol of partnership was only manned by Alliance personnel, but, hey, if I was a politician then I'm sure I'd have moaned about it.

At the time we all sat in the mess room talking about how great it was going to be to drop into the centre of the town and walk off the shuttle in full dress, scaring the pudu out of the civilians. Bran, one in my group, kept going on about how he hoped there was going to be an armed uprising so that he could plug a few terrorists.

A lot of the people in my group had been on other missions, but this was my first. I can remember thinking how embarrassing it would be if I wet myself as soon as a gun went off. The only fight I had ever had in my life was when Snorky Simes had tried to bully me out of my food money in the third semester of school. I lost then, too.

The members of the other team weren’t really well known to me. Suselow was nice, but the others were a bit... how can I put it... overbearing. They’d been on quite a few dangerous missions, and wouldn’t let us forget it.

Between leaving our staging satellite and arriving at Leogard, we had to prep all weapon systems and ready the landing craft.

I was lumbered with seeing to the landing craft, which was an orbit-to-surface vehicle with no armour or armament. I had to check the computer and guidance systems, which was a long boring job going through a checklist and making sure all the systems worked and everything was where it was supposed to be.

Anyway, lets speed things up a bit.

The Leogard system slowly grew to a large brown-ish ball as we entered orbit. I tell you, it’s quite a view when you’re looking down on a planet that you’ve never seen before. I’ve orbited my own homeworld loads of times, so gazing at the shining curvature and watching as whole continents fly by is no big deal. Looking at somewhere new, however... It’s heavenly. Literally. The planet was a kind of smeared browns, if you can imagine such a thing, and it was covered with smatterings of grey, which I assumed were continents, or at least land masses.

The shipboard scientist had already warned us that the air was breathable but we would need to carry small oxygen cylinders and masks to get healthy doses of air until the local atmosphere or whatever took to our systems. I suppose if I’d paid more attention in biology I would have understood exactly what he was saying, but as far as I was concerned it meant taking two or three snorts from the tube every half hour. I knew that Bran wouldn’t bother with the cylinder- he would just take as many deep breaths of the local air as possible and suffer it until he got used to it. He was strange like that. I never quite understood what he was trying to prove to us, unless he was trying to prove something to himself.

It was briefing time when it happened. We were all sat in our regs with equipment at the ready when a klaxon went off. Red strobes started flashing down the corridors and we heard shouts out in the corridors. The officer in charge went nuts - I can't tell whether he was annoyed at the interruption to his briefing or what, but he slammed his datapad down on the desk and walked to the door. We just sat there bemused. Hell, we weren't ship crew, what did we know about emergency operations on a starship?

Anyway, just a few seconds past and he came barrelling back in, shouting for us to lock and cock and get the hell to the main airlock access. Of course, we were a little peeved and being told that you were running to the main access hatch meant two things; we were going down or we were about to be boarded.

It's weird how you can have a thought and then it seems that thought takes form and you really aren't surprised by it. As we're legging it down the central thoroughfare the whole ship squeals and bucks, nearly throwing us to the deckplates. Something hit us. Something powerful enough to make the lights flicker and the walls to vibrate fit to bust wide open. The deck crews are going crazy, and who can blame them? So were we!

Another hit and then we pile into the hangar. Nebulon S vessels are only small and so only have a fighter, usually an X-wing, and a drop shuttle, that shuttle being meant for us, but we're told to suit up and ready weapons by the main airlock access hatch. The blast doors on either side of the hangar are closed but the yellow shimmer of the atmosphere shields light the area in case the doors are blown off.

Now, the commanding officer is giving his orders crisp and clear with absolute certainty and with no sense of having to muddle through a suddenly unfathomable situation. He was either really, really good at what he did or he had been prepared for this. I ready my weapon and take a deep breath.

It wasn't me who noticed this it was Bran. He nods at the officer and whispers it to me and I start to get a little worried. What were we here for again? Riot control? Unless the colonists had suddenly got hold of a warship that could attack a Nebulon S then I didn't think so.

Another hit. Whatever was scoring those hits was pounding the Divine good and proper - a shower of sparks and an explosion down a corridor denoted a severe hit and we all get ready for the decompression alarm. Which never happens. So we breathe out again and wait to die during the next hit.

We're suddenly told to get on the drop ship. We clamber into the small vessel, which is cramped and has an annoying hum that gets in your ears, and stare out the portholes as the great blast doors wind open and we shoot out through the magnetic shield.

What a sight! The Divine is badly scored and is leaking gas from its rear engine section but is still chucking out bright beams of turbolaser fire. She turns as we move away, the small ship diving down to Leogard.

Then we see what the problem is. Two other ships, about half the sizes again as the Divine, are throwing all sorts of energy at our ship. They're long and flat with raised rear sections that must house command and control decks. They don't appear to have their own hangar decks so there's no fighter action, which is a shame because that's quite a sight to see.

The one enemy vessel is exploding all the way along her bow as the Divine piles shots into her. The other vessel has broken combat and, even though she's badly damaged, is starting a descent on the same vector as us.

The shuttle lights up as the exploding ship is finally consumed in a huge fireball, parts of the ship casting out into the void as the engine core ruptures and explodes violently. Result.

And then we hit the atmosphere of Leogard. The ship bounces in the upper torrents and we ride the ride, hanging onto handgrips and cargo netting as we rush to the surface. I don't know what the other enemy ship is doing, I get the impression we're racing her down to the surface, but the Divine isn't built for planetary insertion and so can't follow.

Then there's a bump and we're down. The rear door opens, we pile out with weapons hot and ready.

We've landed in the largest population area of Leogard and we're met with the sight of several thousand colonists on a bleak world turned brown and nightmarish by decades of strip mining. A few plants are sprouting from reconditioned soil, there are several fields of food stretched out, but other than that it's just habitat domes and tall comm antennas. We don't have time to introduce ourselves as the enemy ship comes roaring from the heavens.

It lands heavily, one landing strut buckling and giving the ship a slight slant, but it's intact. There's someone on board, we know, as the engines wind down and the exterior lights come on, and this is confirmed when the forward ramp drops and troops start heading down onto the surface.

The officer gives the order and we move forward. He shouts something about us being a Galactic Alliance T-Squad and that they should lay down their arms.

I take the few seconds to look at the design painted on the hull of the vessel and at the way the apparent enemy is dressed. They're from the Ki-Ki Sector, I'm sure of it. The emblem on the hull and on the chest plates of the troops is the pyramid-shaped logo of the Prime Lord, the guy who runs the Ki-Ki Sector and who declared war on the Setnin Sector a few weeks ago. But we'd been told it was all bluster, all empty threats and roars of nothing.

Right. So, attacking a Galactic Alliance ship and landing troops on a Setnin Sector world is empty of danger, right? Of course it is. That's why they open fire and waste our officer. It don't mean nothing.

Things, technically speaking, go to frecking hell. Up come our weapons and we open up, blasting away at the troops who look, for want of a better word, quite unorganised. I don't think they were expecting this kind of trouble and, after all, they didn't have the other ship to back them up.

We're well prepared for the assault and we keep shooting, then one of our guys, the one with the uplink to the ship, starts shouting at us. Something about how the Divine had detected two other ships heading in of the same configuration as the first two. Damn.

When a troop transport starts rolling down the ramp of the enemy ship we take the initiative and I'm thrown a proton launcher. I nestle it on my shoulder and with a squeeze of the firing stud and a bright light the transport explodes right on the ramp. If I'd known what the result of that was going to be I'd have checked my fire because then the whole starship erupts, already badly damaged and not liking the major explosion on it's boarding ramp. Bits of vessel start to fall from the sky and it's over.

That is, until the guy with the uplink starts shouting down his microphone. The Divine isn't answering our hails. In fact, there's no signal at all. We're all looking up into the sky to see if we can see any tale-tell signs of anything burning up in the atmosphere but there's nothing.

Looking up into the bright blue sky like that was pleasant until the two newly arrived enemy vessels started bombing the town.

This is the part where I'm going to leave what happens next to your imagination. I don't really want to remember, don't want to have to remember. Just imagine small points of light, each one exploding like a small sun, totally blanket bombing an entire town. It was a massacre. We just stood there and watched. We were on the outskirts; there was nothing we could do. Buildings erupted, masts fell, plants and people burned. It was like the hand of some nameless god had reached form the sky and slammed its palm down on the constructs. Five minutes later and it was all craters and rubble.

And that's that. Leogard falls to the Ki-Ki Sector.

I didn't know at that time what had happened to the Divine. I don't know why I'm recording this, to be honest. All I know is that we're trapped on this ball whilst the whole place crawls with Ki-Ki troops. We spend most of our time fighting and running, stealing what we need and trying to keep the soldiers off our backs. I guess that I'm afraid that if I get killed then people will forget what happened here. A whole colony town wiped out in less than six minutes. Every man, woman and child wiped away because the Ki-Ki troops wanted to make their landing with no trouble. How can anyone justify that? We know that the old Prime Lord blamed Setnin for the instability of his own sector and the death of his daughter but he was dead, so why the sudden attack? Was the new Prime Lord of the Ki-Ki Sector, the dead Prime Lord's son, carrying on his father's revenge? Was he trying to avenge his sister?

I'm not going to pretend to understand it. Its war and I'll shoot whoever I'm told to shoot. At this moment we're shooting Ki-Ki troops, and until someone tells us to stop we'll just keep shooting.

But as soon as we're off Leogard and we get ourselves a starship we're going to make them pay for what they did.

We're going to make them pay.

The Invasion of Leogard

2000 short story by Jonathan Hicks

Thirty-five years after Episode IV – A New Hope

Histories – The grime and destruction of war, told from an unknown soldiers point of view. This Jonathan Hicks tale shows the actual Ki-Ki invasion of Leogard from the ground up, and the cost it extracts from the men who fight, and those who are left behind.

Cast of Characters

Bran