HISTORY

Leung San-Chih was born on 12 January 2084 in Hong Kong, China. Leung's family was poor and had few connections. Consequently, Leung was frequently hungry and sick as a child, a fact he has never forgotten even in his adulthood. Fortunately, the excellent Chinese education system offered him the chance to better himself. Leung threw himself into his studies and did well enough. Unfortunately, Leung's self-importance and haughty demeanor (perhaps a side effect of his family's poverty) earned him few friends. He was tormented by the other children and got into many fights. On at least one occasion, he was nearly expelled for fighting, but his teachers took pity on him and allowed him to remain in school.

Leung was particularly good at geometry and other forms of spatial mathematics. He seemed to possess an intuitive sense when it came to the relationship between physical objects. Indeed, he could almost “see” these relationships in his head in a way that gave him insights others lacked. For instance, by looking at a map, he could immediately recognize minute errors and mistakes. More importantly, looking at a properly drawn map was, for him, the same as looking at the site it represented. Leung had an almost photographic memory when it came to physical locales. This talent quickly brought him to the attention of the Chinese military.

At the turn of the 22nd Century, the militaries of the world - including the Chinese - engaged in a race with the corporations to establish stable space facilities in orbit around Earth. To successfully accomplish this goal required men and women capable of executing building instructions within the weightlessness of orbit. Although humans had been accustomed to zero-g environments for over a century, there were still a limited number of people whose spatial sense was good enough to perform complex maneuvers. Leung San-Chih was just such a person.

Leung was approached by the Chinese Army to oversee some of the work teams that were constructing their space station. In return, he was given a commission and all the privileges that went with it. For a man like Leung, who had lived his early days in crushing poverty, the offer proved far too easy to accept. He had long dreamed of finding some way out of his predicament and the Army offered him one. Leung accepted their offer with relish and proved to be even more adept at zero-g operations than anyone had anticipated.

However, the Chinese military had enemies among the corporations. One of them, KarrDex Designs (a Korean company), attempted to resolve its dispute with the Chinese by force. In 2108, they sent a small squad of commandos to sabotage the Chinese space station and kill everyone aboard. The KarrDex team caught the Chinese by surprise, blowing holes in the station's hull and decompressing several key modules.

Though frightened, Leung (an engineering specialist aboard the Chinese station) reacted quickly. He instructed several of the soldiers under his command to draw their weapons and follow his orders to the letter. Drifting through the wreckage of the station, he and his underlings stalked the KarrDex squad and picked them off one by one, forcing them to retreat.

Leung's actions saved the station, and brought him to the attention of his superiors. They soon realized that Leung's talents were ideally suited to the instruction of troops training for zero-g combat. His insights, they reasoned, would provide valuable information to Chinese military personnel throughout the solar system. Leung was promoted and began training Chinese Special Forces troops - assigned to “peace-keeping” duty with the Coalition - in zero-g operations.

Leung excelled in his new position and soon found himself propelled to heights within the Coalition. The highest levels of the organization sought his advice on tactical matters. In short order, he had become something of a “celebrity” and he found this newfound status to be to his liking.

When the Second Lunar War erupted in 2115, Leung was instrumental in advising Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Sherman on his portion of Coalition forces. Despite the losses it would engender, Leung advised Sherman to land Coalition forces on Luna. His gamble seemed to have paid off and Coalition troops were now in position to launch a strike against the secessionists. Sherman, however, was obsessed with defeating the Lunar rebels in a single massive assault. Leung cautioned him against this, arguing that such a foolhardy plan of attack would be unlikely to succeed. In fact, Leung argued that a massive attack might prove disastrous should the secessionists have prepared for their arrival.

Sherman would not listen to the master strategist. Instead, he launched a major offensive in May 2116 - with calamitous results. The Coalition forces were killed almost to a man and the few survivors were forced to retreat to the safety of an orbiting warship. Leung himself was badly wounded and nearly did not survive Luna. After months of slow, painful recovery, Leung managed to recuperate.

During his convalescence, Derek Fisk assumed command of the Iron Coalition and began an extensive reorganization of its forces. In examining precisely what went wrong on Luna, Fisk uncovered evidence that Sherman had failed to heed the advice of one of his advisors, Leung San-Chih. Fisk had long heard of Leung's almost-miraculous powers of foresight in tactical matters. and eventually offered him a position on his general staff. Although battered and bruised physically, Leung's mind (and ego) were as strong as ever. He accepted Fisk's offer without hesitation and has served him since that time.

Leung has since proven vital to the Coalition's successes in combat. His tactical sense remains as acute as ever. Indeed, age seems only to have improved his remarkable abilities. His wounds have weakened him physically, but Lieutenant Colonel Leung still leads his troops into battle. (As his strategies have become more sophisticated, it has become more difficult for them to be executed without his actual presence.)

He does not relish serving in front positions, but accepts it, as Fisk has enabled him to distance himself even further from his poverty-stricken childhood (and, indeed, Leung lives rather well for a military officer); in addition, Leung is strongly ego-centric, and is convinced that, without his direct supervision, the “frontline grunts” will botch a critical component of his plans.

Some of Leung's critics within the Coalition suspect his loyalty and wonder whether or not his greed and self-aggrandizement could not be exploited by GigaCorp or other enemy. While there is no evidence to suggest the truth of this charge, Fisk nevertheless keeps a close eye on his master tactician.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Lieutenant Colonel Leung (who places his family name first in the traditional Chinese fashion) is an Asian man in his mid-50's. He has a full head of hair, worn in a non-regulation, rather long style. Unlike General Fisk, Leung is genuinely vain and believes that his physical appearance is improved by a less severe hair style. He can often be seen running his fingers through his hair and grooming himself.

Leung is, at first glance, an unlikely Coalition officer. He is short (168 cm tall), thin to the point of emaciation, and frail. His vision is poor (after a near flash-blinding during a raid on a pirate enclave), and he walks with a pronounced limp. These traits are offset by stubborn determination and an iron will; those who have followed Leung into battle have no doubts about his ability to get the job done.

His dark eyes are set widely on his round face and dart about constantly, rarely staying focused on a single object. This makes him appear nervous, even skittish, to those who meet him for the first time. Similarly, he rarely sits still for long. Leung commonly fidgets in his seat, gets up, walks across the room, walks back, and then sits back down. This behavior infuriates most people who attends staff meetings with him, but few comment upon it for fear of stirring his famously short temper.

Leung prefers to wear his most formal uniform when at all possible. He keeps it crisp and well pressed, covered in his numerous medals and citations. His fastidiousness toward his own appearance sometimes transfers over to those who serve under him. While in the throes of edginess, he may take notice of imperfections (dust, lint, etc.) on others' uniforms and seek to rectify the situation himself.