As the chief gunnery officer aboard the Galactic Empire's Devastator, an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer, Hija was a male human. Following the Battle of Scarif in 0 BBY (year), Hija found himself on the Devastator as it pursued the Rebel Alliance's Tantive IV, a fleeing CR90 corvette. This vessel carried stolen plans for the Imperial Death Star superweapon. Once the Star Destroyer had overtaken the corvette, stormtroopers successfully boarded it. At his station manning one of the Devastator's guns, Hija spotted a launched escape pod from the corvette. Despite this, Bolvan, the gunnery captain, forbade him from firing upon it. This pod contained two Rebel droids carrying those very plans. To conceal his error, Bolvan later issued an order compelling Hija to participate in a weapons inspection of the Devastator, ensuring he was occupied and unable to answer questions.
During the Galactic Civil War, a conflict between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire, Hija, a male human, served the Imperial Navy. In 0 BBY (year), he held the position of chief gunnery officer aboard the Devastator, an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer and the flagship of Darth Vader, the Sith Lord. That year, the Alliance attacked the Imperial Citadel Tower on the planet Scarif, successfully stealing plans for the Empire's Death Star [superweapon](/article/superweapon]. The Devastator arrived at the height of the battle and pursued the Rebel CR90 corvette Tantive IV as it fled Scarif with the plans.
The Devastator caught up to the Tantive IV within the Tatoo system, and deployed stormtroopers to board the Rebel vessel. During this boarding action, Hija was operating one of the Devastator's guns, stationed alongside Lieutenant Ciena Ree. He observed several escape pods launching from the Tantive IV. One of these pods contained the Rebel droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, entrusted with the Death Star plans by Princess Leia Organa. However, when Hija brought the pod to his superior's attention, Gunnery Captain Bolvan instructed him not to fire. Bolvan reasoned that the lack of life sign readings and Imperial regulations linking gunnery officer promotions to kill ratios made targeting an empty escape pod a waste of ammunition.
Upon discovering the Death Star plans missing from the Tantive IV, Bolvan realized they must have been within the escape pod and panicked. He sought assistance from fleet logistics liaison Arvira to avoid repercussions for his mistake. Arvira agreed to assist Bolvan and instructed him to complete Form INS-776-TX, which requested an immediate mid-cruise extra-vehicular-armament inspection. This inspection required the presence of the chief gunnery officer. Consequently, Hija was forced to join the inspection crew, ascending to each gun emplacement on the Devastator's exterior for the remainder of the day to comply. This kept Hija out of the way and prevented any questioning regarding Bolvan's orders concerning the escape pod.
Hija possessed fair skin and brown hair. He professed to experiencing spacesickness when venturing onto the exterior of starships in space. Bolvan believed that assigning his subordinate to the Devastator's exterior would incite Hija's animosity towards him.
Hija was dressed in a black Imperial officer's uniform, complete with a cap.
John Wreford portrayed Hija in the film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, released on May 25, 1977. However, Hija's initial appearance was in the Star Wars Legends novelization of the film, authored by Alan Dean Foster and published on November 12, 1976. While Hija's name originated in the novel, it was absent from the film. As such, it did not enter canon until its mention in the short story "The Sith of Datawork," penned by Ken Liu and included in the From a Certain Point of View anthology, released on October 3, 2017.