Nar Shaddaa
AEG77-Vigo Gunship, Janus

The gunship hummed quietly around them as the officers of the enclave first infantry division, third scout company gathered in the observation room on the third deck. Their commanding officer, an evocii, Captain Harok Tommel approached the holotable in the middle of the room and activated the machine before glancing at the Justicar behind him.

In his recent experience Nebael had come to realize, that there would be things the Enclave required of him, he wouldn`t be able to tackle alone, hence this meeting. He`d need help because he was in charge of the groundwork for the invasion of an entire planet, for a task such as this, one man hardly fit the bill. This company however was exactly what he needed, obedient and qualified for the work at hand.

Nebael listened to the briefing, keeping his distance as he was certain that Harok was qualified enough to instruct his men and had earned their trust in the perils the Enclave Wars had presented them so far. Nebael glanced quietly at the officers herded around the holotable of his new ship. More cannon fodder for scheme`s beyond their grasp. Nebael mused.

The captain began the briefing with a stern voice and brought up an image of the Cha Raaba also known as the Ylesia system. The second planet of the system Nyrvona being highlighted.

"Gentlemen, we have new orders to infiltrate an enemy planet and perform sabotage missions behind their lines. This is Nyrvona, the planet is a vital to the Hutt`s spice production, much of their product originates from the planet, command wants us to take down their operation and pave the way for invasion.

For the duration of the mission we have been attached a Justicar as part of our unit, Justicar Nebael, over there, will be with us on the ground."

Nebael could tell, that there was a hint of pride in Evocii`s voice, confidence that there was no challenge they could not overcome. At least he left out the part about being partially subordinated to Nebael, who had extensive discretionary powers at his disposal. A good officer knew how to upkeep morale huh?

"Sabotage the Hutt`s cash flow and chip away at their ability to wage war against us." Harok`s second in command chimed in, diverting everyone`s attention to the matter at hand, away from the armored figure by the window.

"It`s more than that, ever since we drove the Hutt`s out of Nar Shaddaa and Nal... Evocar, both sides have been sizing each other up and tried to weaken each other via indirect means."

Nebael was about to bite his tongue as he heard the native slip, using the former name of the re-renamed Evocar. The mention of subterfuge however conjured up something less amusing, his latest mission for example involving a Hutt turncoat, who had been spilling his guts to the BSA over the past few weeks, tough in the way Nebael would have prefered.

"So... The fact that we are making a move as bold as this means something has changed?" An officer inquired, fishing for the reason behind their new orders.

There was a momentary silence as the captain turned to glance at Nebael, who simply nodded as a sign of agreement. The operation was already well underway and it would not be long before they were on the ground at Nyrvona itself. Besides Nebael doubted there was anyone onboard loyal to the Hutts or willing to work with them.

"A short time ago a high ranking member of the Hutt Cartel defected to our side." Harok said as a matter a fact before continuing the briefing. "According to intel the Hutt`s have extensive defenses on the planet, which would make a direct attack costly so that is why we are being sent in to soften them up."

The holotable flashed displaying a more detailed map of the planet and three red dots appeared on the surface.

"We are going after these three targets, planetary command, the spice factory and the largest anti-air installation. These targets were chosen to create maximum amount of chaos and disrupt the enemy as long as possible. Securing and disabling all three objectives simultaneously will assure, that when the fleet arrives the Hutt`s won`t be ready for them. Each platoon will have their own objective, further details will be delivered to you once we are under way. Any questions?" Harok inquired at the end of his lengthy explanation.

"Sir, with all due respect, this sounds like a suicide mission." A human officer said without any remorse or shame. Smart lad. Nebael thought with a smirk on his face as he headed towards the table.

"I could have you shot for insubordination, does that alternative appeal to you?" Nebael said as he stopped at the edge of the table.

The officer glanced at Nebael and then at his commanding officer, whose stared was equally unemphatic to the officer`s stance. The man muttered something to the effect of `no sir` and stared back at the justicar defiantly.

"Dismissed"

Harok announced, but lingered by the table with Nebael as the officers filtered out of the room. Nebael turned to stare at the holographic image with his fists against the table, waiting to hear what Harok had to say for himself.

"With all due respect sir, I would appreciate, if you would refrain from threatening my officers in the future." Harok said with full confidence, that his case was justified.

"Poor sap was right." Nebael said, almost chuckling at the fact.

"We have been in similiar situations before sir..." Harok protested, confident, that his men would succeed.

"Yes, yes. Exactly why I chose you for this mission, your record speaks for itself. I need not question the choices I made, after all I chose the best available because you complete the mission, no matter the cost. Dismissed." Nebael said with a tinge of sarcasm.

"I`ll take my leave then sir." Harok said, not amused by Nebael`s sarcasm.

"You do that captain." Nebael uttered as he stared at the map.

The captain saluted before leaving the room, passing Saeden Elos, Nebael`s BSA contact. Elos glanced back at the captain after the evocii had left the room and then turned to Nebael.

"Was that their commanding officer?" Elos inquired.

"The leader of my new cannon fodder?" Nebael said without a hint of humor.

"That`s a harsh way to put it...." Elos pointed out, bothered by the expression.

"Then you shouldn`t ask....now then... did you follow up on what we learned from Kern? Did the rest of his info check out?" Nebael inquired, more interested in his own achievements than Elos or the troops he was about to condemn to die.

"The rest of it checks out pretty much, tough we`ll be pressed for time, it might not take long before the Hutt`s figure what were up to." Elos said as he read through the datapad in his hand.

"That`s why we`ll be using the good captain and his men to deliver the first blow, sow chaos before the rest of our forces swoop in." Nebael said as the holographic imagery shifted and several red arrows, signifying invasion forces moved in on the image of the planet.

"Do you think the consul will be pleased, if you lose an entire company of the best troops in the Enclave?" Elos asked as he placed the datapad on the table.

Nebael glanced at Elos and actually chuckled at the comment, to Nebael the consul never struck him as the kind of man, who would be bothered over a few losses. In the larger scheme of things, this operation would be a launching point for further invasions into Hutt occupied space. The masses, who clamored over their new found `freedom` and nurtured their hatred of the Hutts, would practically throw themselves at a chance for payback.

The Enclave Wars had begun with an uprising and the rest would be bloody campaign of destruction, which would dismantle the rest of the cartels, one by one until only the Enclave was left. In the face of those goals, what really was the fate of one company? Martyrs for the sake of propaganda.

Ylesia System
AEG77-Vigo Gunship, Janus,

As they entered the Hutt occupied space, Nebael stood quietly on the observation deck of his new ship. The AEG77-Vigo gunship, had been in frequent use by the Black Sun as transports and escort ships. Modified to meet the former bounty hunters requirements, the ship was heavily armed and cargo space had been sacrificed at the expense of weaponry. The ship was inhabited by four other crew members, each handpicked by Nebael, while the rest of the ship was run by droids. Nebael wanted little to do with the actual day-to-day operations of the ship, he only cared, if the ship performed according to his expectations.

Janus was being flanked by two other ships, transporting the initial invasion force, meant to strike at key locations on the planet. Nebael was confident that the plan would succeed, but doubted the odds everyone else had surviving this mission. Yet that was exactly why he was being sent along, was it not?

He was a Justicar, a special agent of the Free State Enclave charged with tackling the most challenging missions. The irony of the title was that most of the Justicars were former professional killers, mercenaries and bounty hunters. All you had to do was change the label and people started saluting him as tough he had earned it, it was not a matter of loyalty or pride, it was survival.

The Hutt`s had been sent reeling with the loss of the center of their power, but that did not mean that the outlying planets would not put up a resistance once the Enclave arrived at their door step. However thanks to an unforeseen defection, all they needed to do, was apply sufficient pressure in the weak spots and watch the cartels scramble for their lives. That was the idea, but somehow it didn`t seem all that simple.

A male twilek officer by the name of Joeran approached Nebael with a report of the ships performance, Nebael took the datapad and skimmed over the report with icy calm. Finding the results satisfactory, he handed the datapad back to the officer.

"Good, any signs of Hutt vessels detecting our approach?" Nebael asked as he crossed his arms behind his back.

"No, so far we have been able to avoid contact and should arrive at the target in approximately two hours." Joeran estimated before looking nervously at his superior regarding another matter entirely.

"And explosives assigned to the demolition teams?" Nebael wanted confirmation, that his fail-safe was in place.

Joeran looked at the report in his hands, obviously bothered by the very nature of the orders he was faced with. "The munitions officer reports, that the explosives have been rigged to be detonated with the code you instructed. If I can interject sir, shouldn`t we inform Captain Harok of these procedures?"

Nebael turned to look at Joeran with disbelief, but for all the twilek knew the justicar might have been smiling beneath the helmet. "This is an insurance policy lieutenant, every op you are involved in, every order you take under my command is not going to be cut and dry. Unforeseen circumstances may force my hand, regardless of the circumstances we must neutralize the targets to secure a swift victory."

The twilek simply nodded without another word and returned to his post. Nebael changed his balance from one foot to another as he glanced at the ship beside his. He felt uneasy leaving the other targets in the care of ordinary soldiers, gifted and devoted true, but that alone would not merit Nebael`s trust in their abilities.

Even his failsafe was hardly guaranteed, if the explosives were lost en route to the targets. Their goals was to disrupt the enemies ability to respond, which meant that even damaging the Hutt installations would be qualified as success. The explosives would be only powerful enough to destroy the command post and disable the other two targets. After all command wanted to capture the factory and anti-air defenses relatively intact.

Nebael turned away from the window and headed for his personal quarters to prepare for the task ahead, there were still matters he needed to take care of before they arrived at their destination.

Nyrvona
Landing Site 1

The approach in and of itself could have gone better, the gunship was faced with heavy anti-air fire, suffering a direct hit, that dealt serious damage to the ship weapon systems. Hopefully we won`t have need of them in the short term future Nebael thought to himself as he descended the ramp onto the icy ground. The cold breeze immediately froze his breath and that moment deserts of Tatooine, an extreme he had grown accustomed to, seemed like a welcome prospect.

The gunship had landed in a natural dig, where it was hidden from sight, but the Hutt`s would have an idea of it`s general location via their sensor readings. However the night of the tundra planet afforded them sometime to move under the cover of darkness and avoid detection.

One more reason to give the Hutt`s something else to be concerned over. Nebael glanced at the human lieutenant, whose name he had not bothered to learn, in charge of the first platoon.

"Lieutenant, get your mean ready, we are moving out. We need to reach the city before sunlight."

The Lieutenant snapped a quick salute and scurried off to gather his men, Nebael stared out into the darkness and changed his helmet`s sight into night-vision. As luck would have it they had not suffered any casualties in the descent all tough he could not guarantee, that the other platoons had been equally fortunate.

The comm crackled into life and the captain`s voice filtered through.

"Justicar, this is captain Harko with the second platoon. We have successfully landed, our craft suffered minor damage and one of my men was wounded in the approach. We are leaving him behind at the craft with the pilot and heading for our objective... but..."

"What about the third platoon? Have you received word of their status?" Nebael felt a cold chill run down his spine and it was not because of the cold.

"Their craft was shot down sir, only six survivors and a couple of functioning droids. They got too close to their target and the enemy anti-air fire shredded their craft." Harko said, his voice filled with concern.

"Will they be able to take their objective?" Nebael demanded to know with his stress level rising.

"They are pretty much looking at a suicide run, but they will get the job done." Harko said, but his voice was lacking the confidence he had back on the observation deck.

Nebael had to agree with his assessment, third target seemed to be slipping out of their grasp. The target could pose a serious threat to any forces trying to land on the planet`s surface and the transports coming in the next wave would not have the luxury of stealth. Nebael didn`t feel confident enough in abandoning his original target, but knew that the third platoon was undermanned to complete their objective. He would just have to improvise then.

"Tell the third platoon to hold tight, I am sending half of the first platoon to back them up." Nebael reasoned, that the numbers would make up for the losses suffered in the crash. He also had more confidence in his own abilities than those of the soldiers around him.

"... I understand sir, I`ll set up a rendezvous between the remains of the third and the reinforcements." Harko did not seem to disagree with Nebael`s assessment of the situation, this was the best they could do all tough Harko was not entirely privy to all of their resources.

Nebael turned off the comm and looked at the lieutenant, who was flanked by the rest of his platoon.

"Take half of your men and head for the rendezvous point, that the captain will designate. The rest of you, follow me."

Nebael commanded and could not help, but notice the concerned looks the soldiers exchanged with one another regarding the newest development. Quite frankly, Nebael could not blame them, being split up and forced to take orders from a former bounty hunter did not exactly come across as ideal. Yet the galaxy would keep on turning and dealing out crap to each and everyone of it`s denizens long after the bodies of these soldiers had turned cold.

Nyrvona
Nyrvona City

"Report! Report in soldier!" Harko barked over the comm as the soldiers scattered to take cover.

The initial plan was facing some difficulty, the Hutt`s had mobilized a handful war droids and they were clashing one half of the first platoon as they were attempting to gain access to the hutt compound. The compound was in fact a mansion, which had been converted into a makeshift command center of sorts and defenses had been set up to ward of any attackers. Nebael ignored Harko screaming over the comm and returned fire at the droids.

The droids were covering the entrance to the compound, which was surrounded by high walls, providing only one entrance. Nebael looked up at the wall before grabbing the closest soldier, a houk sergeant, by the shoulder.

"Hold them off for a while!"

Nebael roared over the blaster fire before firing a metal dart with a wire from his wrist armor, that sunk into the wall. He began scaling the wall with both hands on the wire, obviously the mansion walls had never been built with actual attack in mind, merely meant to keep undesirables from trampling on the grounds.

Upon reaching the top Nebael found himself staring at four Hutt thugs pressed against the wall, on both sides of the entrance. Before none of them could react Nebael fired his blasters, catching them off guard and killing them with precision shots. With a leap, Nebael landed on the ground and ran for the entrance. He flanked the droids and charged right at them with force pike in his left and blaster in his right hand. He decapitated the first droid with a quick blow before spraying the next one with blaster fire. As the rest of the droids turned to face the new attacker, some of them were picked off by the soldiers they ignored.

Nebael lunged at the last droid and threw the force pike, akin to a javelin, piercing the droids chassis. As the last droid ceased to function, Nebael reposessed the force pike and turned to the soldiers catching up with him.

"We need to reach the heart of the building. Split up, sergeant your group will look for another way in and flank the enemy, while my group draw`s their attention at the main entrance."

Nebael said as they headed inside the walls, where they moved to the mansion without interruption. With the outside perimeter suppressed every thug inside was probably feeling trigger happy, ripe with fear of whatever was trying to get in. Nebael smirked at the prospect as they moved along the walls to the entrance. The comm crackled again, the sergeant reported in.

"We found a side entrance, we are currently bypassing the security lockdown..."

Nebael didn`t say a word as they themselves were faced with the same problem, a heavy security door. Instead of taking the time to hack the door, Nebael decided to apply a bit of shock and awe to distract the hutts. He planted a remote explosive on the door before looking at a human and evocii soldiers crouching on the other side of the door.

"Deploy smoke once the door is open."

Nebael instructed before taking cover and blowing the door apart with shards flying off into every direction. The explosion was, however followed by another, from behind the compound and Nebael could only assume the worst. The two soldiers threw their grenades into the entrance and Nebael followed them by throwing in two thermal detonators once the smoke had filled the lobby.

There was a moment of utter chaos as screams, explosions and blaster fire rang out across the compound. Nebael charged in with weapons in hand, emerging on the other side of the smoke, finding a disoriented rodian stumbling onto his path. The force pike ripped the rodian`s chest open before the thug could react.

Another hutt soldier charged Nebael with a vibroblade, which Nebael hastily blocked. Nebael was forced to take a step back as he fired his blaster in the soldiers gut. The man keeled over in pain, holding his gut, and Nebael merely stepped over the dying man as he scanned his surroundings.

The lobby was littered with dead or wounded criminals, beyond that, the hallway seemed eerily quiet. Nebael motioned two of the soldiers to stay guard the lobby and the remaining two to follow him. The group moved to the end of the hallway without incident, finding themselves at a makeshift command center filled with monitors and a table at the center.

The room was abandoned save for a slave covering in the corner, the soldiers spread out to secure the room and Nebael headed for the back entrance. Suddenly a corpse was flung into the room with it`s neck snapped and the houk sergeant emerged from behind the corner, wounded, but alive.
Nebael moved to the side entrance and looked at the scene of carnage with calculating eyes. It seemed that the group entering through the side door had ran afoul a booby trap and then some Hutt soldiers, leaving only the sergeant alive.

The houk was currently being patched up by one of his fellow soldiers, the best they could, but the robust alien would need better care, if he was to survive. They had seized their objective with relative ease and Nebael had an inclination as to why, he had not seen a sign of an overbloated worm, which explained the light defenses here.

"Excellent."

Nebael uttered as he stared at the carnage before returning to the command center and starting to bark orders at the soldiers.

"I want a clear sweep of this place, extract every bit of information we can out of these consoles and take care of any survivors. You have five minutes before I blow this place to dust!"

Nebael said as he turned to the soldier with the demolitions, as tough on command the man began deploying the explosives around the mansion. Blowing up the mansion was not really practical, but it would send a message. To the hutt`s and to the people of Nyrvona, liberation had arrived.

Five minutes later

Nebael took a certain enjoyment in watching the mansion go up in a fiery explosion and feeling the blast wave, heat the air around him. The surviving soldiers, a total of five, and Nebael surveyed the scene from a safe distance. All they had to do, now was disappear to the tundra and wait until the invasion began.

The comm came alive and Harok`s voice came through, but something wasn`t right. His breathing was heavy and ponderous.

"Harok, what`s your status?" Nebael demanded, feeling worried over the new development.

"Most the platoon... gone, we managed to infiltrate the factory... but the hutts have us pinned down with some heavy weaponry. Well... there is one piece of good news, third platoon succeeded thanks to the reinforcements you sent, they are currently making their way to your ship. What about your end?" Harok explained with a heavy voice, wincing in pain.

"I am watching the command post burning, right now." Nebael said as he walked away from the soldiers so that they could not hear the conversation.

"What about the rest of first platoon? How many alive?" Harok`s concern for the rest of his men was admirable, even when he himself seemed consigned to die.

"Half" Nebael stated it as a matter of fact.

"That`s good, well... two out of three wasn`t that bad..." Harok said, relieved, apparently having expected a far worse outcome.

"Do you have the explosives with you captain?" Nebael asked as he glanced towards the soldiers, who were staring right back at him.

"Yes... why do you ask?" The confusion was apparent in Harok`s voice.

"Because I am giving you a choice, carry out your mission and retain your pride, or I will detonate those explosives and do your work for you." Nebael said with icy calm, having very little qualms about what he was about to do.

There was a heavy silence on the comm, the captain fully comprehended how ruthless Nebael was willing to be just to achieve his goals.

"You son of a bitch, you want us to suicide bomb this place, just you can have your moment of glory?" Harok said, not believing that he was on the same side with someone so callous.

"You`d be surprised how little I care about fame captain, I get the job done, that is all I care about. I am a professional and I don`t make mistakes. We both know that facility, if left alone, could be turned into a fortress and hold out for a long time. A lot of men, time and effort would be needed to break through. Besides command wants the place intact." Nebael knew he had to play Harok`s consciousness against him, hoping he would recognize, that this was going to happen whether he liked it or not.

"And that justifies the deaths of my remaining men!?" Harok yelled over the comm.

"They are already dead." Nebael said as he unintentionally glanced at his wrist armor, thinking of inputting the code and going trough with his threat.

The connection broke off and Nebael sighed, reaching for his wrist, starting to input the detonation code. However before he could finish, a light went off in the panel, showing that the second explosive had gone off. Nebael chuckled at the moment as he stared at all three lights and checked the time, only an hour before the invasion force would arrive.

Nyrvona orbit
Lorko`s yacht

It was all starting to seem like a bad joke for the Hutt crime lord, Lorko Besadii Diori. Yesterday he had to depart late from his mansion upon learning the news, that a handful of enemy ships had landed on the planet. His lieutenants had assured him they would have the matter dealt with shortly and the rest of their forces would be on full alert.

He had decided to go on an impromptu inspection of his hidden spice operation and on arrival only to find the facility under attack. Once the enemy had perished in fiery blaze of glory, more bad news started filtering in, his mansion had been blown up and the most vital anti-air installation had been disabled. The scale and precision of these attacks signified, that there was much more going on here than the occasional resistance attacks.

Just as the Hutt had reached the safety of his yacht and it had joined the rest of the Hutt vessel on orbit, the Enclave fleet dropped out of hyper space. Led by a Providence II destroyer, the fleet consisting four Recusant II light-destroyers and two, curiously enough, Talon Escort Carriers. The last piece of the fleet being a small contribution to the fight from the Free Captains of The Free State Enclave.

They had known that an attack was imminent, but no one knew when or where. There had been growing concerns ever since the debacle with Kern on Ilos and his disappearance, because no one on their side had actually witnessed Kern getting away. Worst of all, no body exactly knew how much information Kern had managed to soak up during his time in the organization. Yet now it was all starting to add up, Kern had known too much, enough to make him dangerous in the wrong hands.

The location of the spice factory and the anti-air defenses, had not been common knowledge, only an insider could have pointed The Enclave at those targets. The fact that Lorko was the first target of those unfortunate series of events, made him only more furious than he already was.

"All ships open fire!"

The Hutt screamed in a fit.

Nyrvona
Snow Fields

The people in the city had either fled to the shelter or those few brave enough to stay, remained outside to watch the sky illuminated by the fleet`s engaging above. Nebael stopped ascending the ramp of his ship and turned to look at the sky. For some reason he could not help, but smile when the first troop transports pierced the clouds.

He glanced at the soldiers around him, equally fixated on the sky at the sight of the transports. The planetary anti-air systems opened fire on the approaching craft, but considering a key piece of the network had been knocked out their effectiveness had been reduced considerably. A number of the landing craft touched down near them and troops poured out to assemble on the field.

For what it was worth, Nebael actually felt he had achieved something for once, something more than a payday. It was the satisfaction of knowing he had helped bring this about, bring about `liberation`. That and knowing there was a crime lord somewhere out there seething with rage over what happened today, was a satisfying notion.

He was certain, that this whole affair would be widely reported on the holonews, `Daring raid on Nyrvona!` `Heroes Of The Free State Enclave!`. Nebael mused as he pictured the news in his own head, he only had to make sure his name wasn`t included in any of those reports.

He was a professional killer, there was nothing moral or admirable about what he did for a living. These men however did deserve all the glory and Nebael content in letting them have it, he`d hold onto the credits.

Nebael turned around and headed inside his ship, ascending to the bridge via the elevator. At the bridge he was greeted by the ship navigator, a female devaronian.

"Welcome back sir, Commander Ribalt of the First Infantry Division sends his regards for... `softening up those damn, slimy bastards` to quote him exactly."

"He`s thanking the wrong man." Nebael said without a shred of compunction.

Nebael sat in the captain`s chair and brought up a view of the reports, detailing the progress of the battle. Slowly, but steadily the Hutt`s were cornered into pockets of resistance and wiped out one by one. The initial clashes street to street, house to house in the city proved problematic, but in the end the Enclave had the upper hand and pressed home their advantage.

The battle in the orbit ended with the Hutt fleet limping away from the battle, leaving behind a cruisers and three destroyers as space junk. The Besadii yacht was one of the first to escape the battle and abandoning command. The Enclave had lost one of their Recusant light destroyers in the battle and two other ships had suffered damage, overall the situation developed promisingly after the initial losses.

Nebael simply dreaded to think the amount of trouble, the Hutt`s could have given them, if they had been fully aware and prepared for the attack. Nebael turned from the world burning around him to patching a report for the consul, who, Nebael surmised would be pleased with the results.