Liu Han

Liu Han was a Chinese peasant who became a test subject of the Race, and then a leading member of the Communist Party.

Liu Han's village was bombed by the Japanese, an attack that killed her son (her husband was killed by the Japanese in a prior attack). However, the Japanese occupation of the village was short-lived as the Race's Conquest Fleet attacked shortly after, forcing the Japanese out.

Liu Han was taken up in one of the Race's starships and forced into a study of human sexual behavior. She was forced into several pairings. However, Liu Han unexpectedly made a connection with American baseball player Bobby Fiore. They began a monogamous relationship. Once Liu Han became pregnant. they were both returned to China for the birth. During that time Fiore attracted the attention of the Communist party with his pitching skills. He was coerced in to leaving the camp and becoming a grendedier. Fiore was shot dead in Shanghai.

Liu Han was left alone for some time before learning Fior was dead. When Liu Han gave birth to her daughter, Liu Mei, the child was taken by Race psychologist Ttomalss as part of a project to begin integrating humans into the Race's empire. Liu Han sought revenge by joining the Communists; at first simply providing information, but later, with the help of Nieh Ho-'Ting, she joined in strategizing against Race. She hit on the idea of using animal trainers (a talent that fascinated the race) to carry bombs into Race buildings.

While becoming an ardent Communist, Liu Han refused to give up on getting her daughter back. She and Nieh Ho-'Ting became lovers, and Liu Han climbed gained a reputation as a gifted guerilla fighter. Her position gave her leverage in negotations between the Party and the Race. Liu Han's baby became a central part of the negotiations and in the end she was able to get her daughter, Liu Mei, back from the aliens. In gratitude, she officially joined the Communist party.

Liu Han realized that the Race would attempt to take another child to study, and thought that it would be another Chinese one. When Ttomalss, the researcher that had abducted her child, came to China to take another infant, she had him captured. After holding him prisoner for some time, she released him, ostensibly to show the Race that the Communists were both unpredictable and in total control. But she had also come to realize that some of Ttomlass had not intentionally sought to harm her child.

Liu Han continued to rise through the Communist Party over the course of the war. In the years after the fighting, Liu Han remained an effective guerilla fighter and devoted party leader.

In 1964, Liu Han and Liu Mei travelled to the United States to draw attention to the situtation in China. One of the dignataries the pair met was Sam Yeager, a former baseball player and America's expert on the Race. By a happy coincidence, Yeager had been a teammate of Bobby Fiore's before the Race invaded. He gave a picture of Fiore to the two. It was the first picture Liu Mei had seen of her father.