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The ex-prison planet is a harsh and gray<br />
one. Clouds hover low overhead at nearly<br />
all time, and sunlight rarely ever manages<br />
to break through to shine down on the<br />
planet’s barren fields or its grime-covered<br />
city streets. The hopelessness of ever seeing<br />
the sun seems to have taken its toll on<br />
Luches’ people. The suicide rate among the<br />
ranks is extremely high, even now after<br />
nearly two hundred years of fascist dictatorial<br />
rule.<br />
Still, those who are on top no doubt feel<br />
differently. Life is good for them, and they<br />
have managed to even extend Luches’ influence<br />
to encompass several neighboring<br />
planets over the years. Through ruthless<br />
political maneuvering and the savage use<br />
of military force, the powerful of Luches<br />
have managed to steadily expand their<br />
sphere of influence.<br />
The Withdrawal<br />
When the Hatchlings came, the leaders<br />
of the resistance movement on many of the<br />
province’s planets—known as the Underground—saw<br />
their chance and led revolts<br />
against their oppressors. One planet was<br />
entirely destroyed when the Luches loyalists<br />
were caught between the Hatchlings<br />
and the Underground. Refusing to fight<br />
their battles on two fronts, the Luches government<br />
made the decision to cut their<br />
losses.<br />
The fascists pulled out of three of their<br />
populated systems, taking all weaponry<br />
with them and abandoning the insurrectionists<br />
to the Grubs. In the weeks that followed,<br />
each of the planets was entirely<br />
cleansed of human life by the Hatchling<br />
scourge.<br />
The remaining members of the Underground<br />
soon fell in line, reluctantly but<br />
fully supporting the Utopia’s totalitarian<br />
government. The revolutionaries simply<br />
chose the lesser of two evils. They realized<br />
that with the Hatchlings, they had no<br />
chance of surviving at all. By continuing<br />
under the Luches government, at least they<br />
would be alive.<br />
The province took heavy losses during<br />
the war. Unable to adequately defend all of<br />
their systems, the Luches withdrew further,<br />
choosing to make their final stand in their<br />
capital system. There they finally managed<br />
to stave off the Hatchling hordes.<br />
The Boss is Back<br />
After several months of intense labor following<br />
the war, the Luches managed to reclaim<br />
their lost planets. They then began<br />
an intense new colonization program, realizing<br />
that they couldn’t possibly hope to<br />
hold such a large amount of territory without<br />
a correspondingly large population in<br />
place. For a short while, the governmental<br />
abuses of power let up as the Luches government<br />
tried to work with the Underground<br />
members that had supported them<br />
during the war.<br />
Unfortunately, real change was slow in<br />
coming, and the ranks of the Underground<br />
soon swelled again with people ready to<br />
challenge the government’s hold on its<br />
people. In the end, not much has really<br />
changed for the Utopia’s people. Now that<br />
they’ve been shown that the government<br />
can be damaged (albeit mostly only by the<br />
Hatchlings so far), they have taken heart,<br />
and the Underground’s support is even<br />
greater than ever before.<br />
To combat these problems, the Luches<br />
government has allied itself with the<br />
Draconians. Once the Primates found out<br />
about the Utopia’s human rights abuses,<br />
they refused to associate with them. The<br />
Draconians, however, were not quite so finicky,<br />
and they stepped forward to lend the<br />
Luches fascists a hand. Still, the Utopian<br />
government is treacherous, and the Utopians<br />
have been known to raid even their allies,<br />
disguised as pirates.<br />
Jocko knew that it<br />
was only a matter of<br />
time before his luck ran<br />
out. Maybe it would<br />
happen on this run,<br />
maybe the next, but<br />
there was no doubt that<br />
it would happen.<br />
Disguised as a band<br />
of pirates, Jocko’s<br />
squadron was on a<br />
raiding mission against<br />
a Draconian outpost on<br />
the edge of Luches<br />
space. The Lizards had<br />
set up a fairly profitable<br />
mining operation on an<br />
airless hunk of rock.<br />
An unending stream<br />
of slaves spent their<br />
days scratching what<br />
they could out of the<br />
rock, waiting for the<br />
day when they would<br />
displease their masters<br />
enough that they would<br />
be summarily replaced.<br />
For those that were<br />
forced out of the mining<br />
bubble’s only mildly<br />
protective skin, death<br />
was painful but quick. It<br />
struck Jocko that his<br />
fate wasn’t so different<br />
from those slaves.<br />
“This is Captain<br />
Zamyatan,” came a<br />
voice over Jocko’s radio.<br />
“Target moon is within<br />
range. Begin attack run<br />
immediately upon<br />
reaching the far side.”<br />
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