Jigunna
Besadii Kajidic city
Day 10 of Enclave Invasion
Notho Besadii Virunde was besides herself with rage over the invasion of Nal Hutta. Most of the Hutt Grand Council had been but their forces were becoming stretched thin. The Enclave Military was a ruthlessly efficient which seemed to match the methods of their Praetor who dared to call himself Xim. Notho was the reigning head of the Besadii Desilijic, having ascended only with the aid and permission of Plurga Desilijic Tiure who had come to dominate Hutt politics. All of the Hutt clans save Desilijic despised Plurga for they viewed him as the willing puppet of others.
That initial enmity had come from the mysterious backers who had seen to slaughter the last Besadii clan head who had been challenging Plurga. Following that had been a suspiciously fortunate series of unfortunate events that had lead to the Desilijic Kajidic cementing its dominance as the most powerful clan. It was terrifyingly like having Jabba around again only Plurga was obviously in league with others, cementing lucrative trade deals with other powerful syndicates while they ignored or squeezed the other Kajidics hard for money. It was blatant economic warfare and admittedly all perfectly legal under the rules of Hutt Tradtition.
Admittedly if it hadn't been Plurga was in the position to say what some of those rules had been but he had never dared to turn upon the other clans like this. Now their 'Glorious Jewel' was being soaked in the blood of Hutts and their various agents and servants. What's worse was reports leading to whole detachments of Evocii militia being brought in fully trained by the Enclave to help secure Nal Hutta. Likely trained and fed by the Enclave to butter them up and ensure their loyalty to the cause. Admittedly the message of reclaiming Nal Hutta for the Evocii was incredibly upsetting, enough so that every Hutt Cartel ship and soldier not under Plurga's thumb was being pulled into try to stop it.
That damnable Estro Sabrino was the true puppeteer behind these events, Notho was sure of that. Plurga had dealings with the Jutraalian Syndicate which Sabrino had been known to run before he disappeared from public view for a number of years. Now the mysterious and dangerously influential Jutraalian was making his move on the galactic scene it seemed. Hutt Cartel trade routes were being harried and harassed by pirates claiming to be Free Captains of the Enclave. Smugglers were refusing to do business with them, preferring to unload their goods on Nar Shaddaa whose market was booming due to the influx of refugees many of whom were now being employed in various new industries created to feed the needs of their new government.
"Damn that piece of Bantha Fodder!" Notho cursed allowd and slammed her fist on the pedestal by her side, scattering a platter laid with large grubs to the floor.
"My lady, Jigunna is still holding, we have a chance though we have taken the necessary precautions," replied Moil Lo, her Twi'lek majordomo and Jigunna's actual governor.
"Ah, my yacht stands ready? Have the shields been boosted enough to hold off the firepower from those damn warships Sabrino managed to scrounge up with all our stolen money?" Notho said with a snarl.
The Hutt Cartel, or more the portion still loyal to the Hutt Grand Council and not Plurga was enraged over the Enclave's willful plundering and seize of Hutt assets. What was worse were the slicer attacks that were siphoning off even more funds. Its seems Sabrino had wasted little time in recruiting every criminal element he could and finding some means to make them part of his new society. Various slicer gangs on Nar Shaddaa were said to have flocked to Sabrino's offer of public amnesty for serving the cause of the Enclave. Even more so the Slicers were allowed to keep ten percent of any wealth they stole from those who were deemed enemies of the Enclave. Sabrino had used the ship of state to literally convert normally criminal activities into acts of patriotism that were heavily lauded by the Enclave Holonet. He had that scum, Maximillian Vertigan harping away at how such actions were truly acts of service to the people of the Enclave. The worst part was, most of the Enclave listened and agreed.
"Indeed, mighty Notho. Admittedly the Praetor has been pressing our position hard. I do not know how much longer we have before he breaches the walls of our great city. What is worse is the Evocii are marauding and sabotaging our factories. Never enough to destroy them but enough to make them useless in our current situation," Lo noted with irritation.
"Of course now, Sabrino and his Enclave want to preserve the industries for themselves and the Evocii scum. I would burn it all to spite him if they were pinning us within our own cities," Notho grumbled in anger as she moves to look over a table displaying of Jigunna and the battle raging around it. Praetor Xim's forces were being patient, waiting for the Evocii militias to do their sabotage and weaken the Hutt positions.
"Have we heard from Sobol? Has Bilbousa managed to withstand the attacks?" Notho asked in annoyance.
"I fear Xim had breached the defenses there. The fighting has broken out into the streets. Enclave Marines and battle droids are flooding into the city and the shield generators are failing. I fear Bilbousa will fall soon," Lo noted with a grim tone as he rubbed his wrist some.
"Bah, we have lost here then. Order my yacht to prepare to leave. I shall not be taken here by these scum!" Notho bellowed in rage as she shoved Lo aside and moved to climb onto her repulsor skiff to make a speedy retreat to her hanger.
As the bloated Hutt finally vanished form view with her entourage in tow, Lo was the only one left standing in the palace commander center. He sighs and pulls out a communicator to tap its activator. An image appeared of a strongly built man in black combat fatigues and a leather jacket with a blaster pistol and vibro sword as his hips. Few wouldn't recognize the image of Praetor Xim now after his open demand for the Hutts to surrender their 'stolen' world. The rsponses had be rather vulgar even by Hutt terms.
"Is the deed done?" Xim asked as he looked on at Mori Lo.
"Yes, Praetor. I will get amnesty for this, correct? That was our deal," Lo said in an almost desperate tone.
"I am a man of my word, Lo. So is the Consul in matters like these. We might even give you a medal, but none the less you will be allowed to remain the head of Jigunna at least until elections are held. However the Consul has assured me the Moderates will back you for election, a likely win for you. Welcome to the Enclave," Xim said with a cold smile as his image vanished.
Mori Lo sighed in relief as he walked out to look at the hanger where Notho the Hutt was preparing to make her escape. It was her or him and Notho never really liked her that much in the first place. Too many threats of personal injury and the overbearing Hutt arrogance typical of the speices had gnawed away any attachments of loyalty long ago. He taps in a few commands into the console, first locking Notho out of Jigunna's systems and then lowering the city's shields.
"Notho! What's going on! What are you doing?!" Boomed the image of Notho the Hutt as it appeared behind him in the room's holoprojector.
"Whatever do you mean, mighty Notho?" Lo asked with a now cruel smile.
"You have lowered the shields! The damn Enclave forces are starting to breach! How dare y-"
Notho's verbal explosion was cut short by the more literal explosion of bombs dropping on Notho's hangar. The small mushroom cloud generated from the ordnance being dropped was beautiful in a grim sort of way. It marked the end of Hutt dominance on their own homeworld and more so Hutt Space. Mori Lo could tell which way the wind was blowing and had jumped ship to join the Enclave on its rise to power.
Gladius
Geosynchronous orbit over Jigunna
Xim watched with savage delight as Notho the Hutt's hanger erupted into a hellish storm of smoke and fire as her ship detonated. She was but one target out of many as the Enclave moved to ruthlessly decapitate the Hutt Clans. Every major clan head not willing to surrender was to be killed, those were direct orders from the Consul himself. Admittedly the deaths were to be made to look like coincidental collateral damage as the Hutts 'went down fighting' but in truth is was deliberate targeting and assassination.
"So, Mister Vertigan, are we providing sufficient war footage for you?" Xim asked as he turned his head to face a man in charcoal suit and grey hair with glasses.
Maximillian Vertigan was a man with an agenda and generally that involved rabble rousing. He'd been a pioneer of the failed Galactic News Network and had been forced to flee his home when the Cree'ar invaded. The man now had turned his interest towards operating the Enclave Holonet which was being slowly established. For various reasons it was to as much create a separate network simply so the Empire or Republic couldn't go spreading their propoganda in Enclave space easily. On a more defensive level it was to inhibit communications trickery which might draw Reavers though admittedly the Enclave was determined to engage that pestilence and destroy it.
"Hmmmm, yes. Its definitely going to be quite some juicy data clips," Vertigan said with a wide grin. He was a man who loved sensational stories and the advent of the Enclave was as sensational as you could get. Admittedly some believed Vertigan was drawn in by Sabrino's more sober and calculating methods as Consul in establishing a new player in galactic politics. Vertigan obviously wanted to be their recording and reporting all of it.
"Hah, I figured you'd say that. What shall we say for Notho? She went out in a blaze of glory?" Xim asked with a wicked grin.
"Ah! An excellent play on words, Praetor. One I think I might just use to describe it actually. I mean she obviously intended to trying to engage our forces with her yacht to hold onto Jigunna. Seems her greed got the better of her," Vertigan noted with delight as he already considered how to spin the news of the deaths of the various Hutt Clan heads. Admittedly he didn't need much help considering some would be said to have died while trying to flee. The Enclave was making no apologies about willfully targeting Hutts for assassination.
"I see the Consul found the correct man to head the Enclave Holonet. I understand you'll even be heading a news program yourself?" Xim asked as he tore himself away from the various battle reports pouring in. Nal Hutta was falling, it would just take more time to complete the endgame as the Enclave's soldiers and droids swarmed over the planet.
"Oh yes, we'll be calling it Spiral News. I hope to make quite the impact as we begin our first galaxy wide broadcasts," Vertigan noted eagerly.
Xim simply nodded at the media mogul's delight which he couldn't blame him. The man had been given authority over the Enclave's man communication network and his own news show to operate on. He would be quite the useful little propagandist as the Enclave began its expansion beyond the reaches of Nal Hutta's home system.
"So then, do you have time for an interview?" Vertigan asked jokingly with a wide grin as he moved to look down at Nal Hutta as well.
"Another time, Mister Vertigan. The Consul wants the campaign seen to completion quickly and effectively. After all, the sooner Nal Hutta falls, the sooner we can begin reactivating its industries in the name of the Enclave. More so the Evocii will have their world back. That should be quite the public interest story for you and an excellent opportunity to show the Enclave is for true justice," Xim noted as he tapped in commands to begin the full occupation of Jigunna.
