Hakim Wbika

Alice Phuong
Personal
Born	9 November 2522
Died	17 August 2604
Affiliation	Rim Worlds Army Rift Republican Army
Profile
Profession	Admiral

Hakim Wbika (b. 9 November 2522 - 17 August 2604) was the overall commander of the Rim Worlds Army WarShip fleet during the Reunification War before serving as the head of a military junta that toppled First Consul Gregory Amaris.

Biography

Early Life to Head of the Rim Worlds WarShip Fleet

Born on Luanda the youngest child of a shuttle pilot, Hakim Wbika showed a talent for flying from a young age. Joining the Rim Worlds Republican military straight out of high school, Wbika also quickly showed a flair for aerospace tactics as well as he became an able Aerospace fighter pilot. Unfortunately his time in the fighter corps would be brief, after a botched carrier landing cost him his right leg and barred him from flight duties even after being fitted with an advanced prosthetic. Remaining in the military, Wbika would transfer to naval command, becoming captain of the attack DropShip RWS Durant's Pride. His talent for aerospace tactics allowing him to rise steadily up the ranks, Hakim Wbika would receive command of one of the Republic's WarShips in 2565 before being promoted to Admiral and becoming the head of the entire Rim Worlds Army fleet in 2572.

Reunification War

After the Rift Republican Army formed the Rim Provisional Government in late April 2575, Wbika and the crews of the RWA's WarShips fleet sided with the RPG against those loyal to First Consul and the approaching Star League invasion. Recognizing that his small fleet of just two destroyers and seven corvettes would be greatly outnumbered and easy prey for those of the Star League Defense Forces, Wbika would orchestrate a series of hit and run attacks rather than stand up engagement. After the loss of a lone corvette at Finmark in 2586 however, Wbika opted to bide his time and kept his ships hidden for nearly two years while he waited for the SLDF to become complacent and lower its guard. Wbika's perfect opportunity finally came when the Sixteenth Division began its capture of Newtown Square in January 2588. Tipped off by agents on-world when the SLS Rapacious (Vessel) and Alacrity moved into orbit around the planet to bring their firepower to bear against a reinforced RWA bunker complex in the Ard Ri Mountains, Wbika sent his small fleet to strike at the now undefended SLDF transport fleet gathered at Newtown Square's zenith jump point. Two regiments of infantry waiting aboard the transports died as Wbika's fleet destroyed nineteen JumpShips and twenty-four DropShips in under an hour.

Alerted to what had happened, the now enraged Alacrity and the Rapacious hurriedly conducted their orbital bombardment as quickly as possible before speeding towards the zenith jump point at maximum speed, maintaining punishing levels of acceleration in a determined effort to exact vengeance on the Republican fleet. Realizing the two heavier SLDF WarShips would reach the jump point before his lighter ships could recharge their K-F Drives, Admiral Wbika ordered the RWA fleet to enter the Newtown Shoals, a cometary debris field located in the outer reaches of the system, in the hopes of evading the SLDF ships long enough to recharge and escape. Unfortunately Wbika had not countered on the fury of the SLDF navy, the two WarShips and attendant attack DropShips hounded them ceaselessly and struck without mercy, only one corvette managing to escape with two more corvettes were disabled and captured. The remaining two destroyers and three corvettes were destroyed in battle, with Wbika himself one of the few survivors.

His escape pod picked up by DropShips from the Rapacious, Wbika would narrowly avoid a lynching after the enraged SLDF forces learned his identity. Though some in the SLDF demanded Wbika be tried for war crimes for his action at Newtown Square, Task Force MAILED FIST commander General Nathan Isaacson did not heed such calls, recognizing that such thinking could just as likely open up the SLDF and Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery units under his command to similar charges for their own equally brutal actions against the people of the Republic. Instead Hakim Wbika would be interned on the Lyran Commonwealth capital of Tharkad for the remainder of the conflict, being released and returning to active duty in the reformed RWA after it concluded. Having learned first hand the dismissive views the greater Inner Sphere held of the Republic and its First Consul during his internment, Wbika was horrified that Gregory Amaris seemed even more arrogant and self-centered than before despite his nearly two decades of house-arrest.

Coup, the Military Junta and Death

Deeming the First Counsul a threat to the future of the Rim Worlds Republic, Admiral Hakim Wbika gathered together a group of like-minded officers and made preparations to remove Gregory Amaris, culminating with Wbika himself personally shooting Gregory with a laser gun on 11 August 2599. In announcing the coup, Wbika made an impassioned speech that the time had come to overthrow the tyrant Gregory Amaris and that it would a disgrace to enter a new century with him as First Counsul. To the shock of many, including Gregory's mild-mannered son Richard himself, Wbika would also announce that to ensure a peaceful transition that Richard Amaris would be the Republic's new president, albeit under the careful "guidance" of Wbika's "hand-picked staff". Despite having fought for decades to restore him to power, the Star League chose to view Gregory's removal as an internal matter, leaving Wbika and his junta to remain the new government of the Republic, ruling behind the scenes with Richard as merely a figurehead.

While safe from external attack, unfortunately for Wbika, Richard had no intention of remaining a puppet of the junta. Though Amaris would dutifully carry out Wbika's "advice" at first, he was merely buying the time to study the weaknesses of the junta members and establish ties and support both in and outside the Rim worlds to launch a counter-coup. Focusing on Wbika's chief aide General Samuel Macao, highly capable but also petty and unable to control his often violent temper, Richard slowly engineered obstructions and miscommunications among the junta that ultimately triggered Macao to angrily and aggressively turn on Wbika in 2604. With Macao's ranting at Wbika the signal to the guards loyal to Richard Amaris to purge the palace of junta members, Richard himself would shoot Wbika and his aide, returning the Republic to the control of House Amaris.

Bibliography

• Historical: Reunification War
• The Periphery (sourcebook)