Mauldron the Virtuous. Grand Admiral Desaria smiled tightly to himself as he recalled the face of his most bombastic ancient-studies professor at the Academy. Set under Raltiir’s four sons, the classes had been held outside where the rather corpulent man could see his own shadow gesturing through the air. More often then not, then Cadet-Desaria had found himself being shaken awake by a friend. The man’s face not unlike the bust of his favorite subject, an ancient warrior who turned his life from soldier to cleric and made a five-light year pilgrimage to forgive his most hated enemy.


“ Sir?”


Desaria turned about, greeted by a bemused look on the face of his flag-captain. He had obviously thought aloud. “ Mauldron the Virtuous. Are you familiar?”


“ No, Admiral, I am not.” Looking suddenly puzzled, Vorran shot a glance at the Baron. “ Should I be?”


“ He was an ancient warrior who changed professions and then forgave the general that had bested him on a dozen fields and been guilty of the worst atrocities of that war. A veteran of their war, angered at this reconciliation, incinerated them both in an explosion that wiped out an entire village.”


“ I see.” Captain Vorran returned to his datapad, reviewing more casualty rosters from the Toydarian adventure. Now not looking up, he busily scribbled with a digi-stylus. “ How does this relate to our present situation?”


“ Captain, I would an honourable man but virtuous - - that is a bit of a far cry I think. We have in every system conquered during this campaign encountered para military forces commanded by one group – the Hutts. I can see no other logical solution than to deal with this problem before moving onto another assault.”


“ You mean to chastise the Hutts?”


“ No Captain – I mean to eradicate them. How I am insure, but I will think of something. In the meantime, let us waste nothing. Set a course for Nal Hutta.”

Nal Hutta
Palace of Plurga the Hutt

Plurga the Lesser despised visiting his uncle's palace.

Not because he disliked his uncle, quite the contrary, his relations with his uncle were very good. It was because being summoned to his uncle's palace usually meant that Plurga was about to hear some bad news, or he was going to be given an unenviable assignment. Ever since being appointed Head of Security for Nal Hutta, his trips to his uncle's palace had been less than pleasant.

The grand throne room where Plurga (the Uncle) resided was in the fashion of all Hutts opulent and grandiose. However, the throne room felt even larger than usual as Plurga (the lesser) entered because it was nearly empty. A few weequay, nikto and klatoonian guards were visible on the periphery of the room, carrying a lethal assortment of weapons; but beside Plurga's majordomo, a pale Quaren, the room was empty. Plurga moved with deference toward his uncle, and the majordomo quickly moved forward, meeting him a few feet in front of the Head of Desilijic Kadijic. He spoke out in slightly accented Huttese.

"Announcing Plurga the Lesser, Head of Security of Nal Hutta."

His uncle smiled broadly, and gestured for Plurga to move forward. The quaren retreated to the elder Plurga's side. His uncle began talking in Huttese.

"Ah. My favorite nephew. I am always pleased when you visit."

Plurga returned the courtesy, though he was much happier when his Uncle came to visit him, not vice versa.

"It is an honor to visit your glorious home, Uncle."

"Always so polite. Your manners never cease to impress me.... though they are no doubt why you remain my favorite nephew."

"I have done my best to imitate your greatness, Uncle."

The elder Plurga smiled, the rules of Huttese etiquette fulfilled. Plurga the Lesser had shown his deference to his Uncle with his humble demeanor and compliments. Business could now begin.

"I have a few things I wish to discuss with you concerning your post."

Plurga had expected nothing else.

"How may I serve, Uncle?"

"There are slight complications that may soon. Complications that may become very serious."

Plurga sat silent and listened.

"The Galactic Empire has recently made incursions into parts of our territory. A coordinated military effort has been made, and they have captured Toydaria, Saki and Nimban. The fools in Besadii have made caused the situation to spiral out of control."

Hutt space was a much looser confederation than many galactic organizations. This was compounded by the fact that the two Hutt Kadjics, or family clans, were almost constantly warring with each other for dominance of the Hutt Empire. Plurga's deal with the Union had allowed the Desilijic clan to gain the upper hand and rule some of the Hutt's more lucrative areas, but it didn't mean that they were in total control of Hutt Space.

"They foolishly tried to resist the Imperials with mercenary forces and obsolescent weapons purchased from a contact with the former GDI."

Plurga was not familiar with the Galactic Defense Initiative, other than it had at one point fought unsuccessfully against the Empire. It made sense that GDI technology would be ineffective against the Imperials today.

"I have contacted the Union. Their intelligence confirms what our own has surmised. The Empire is afraid of the Black Dragons, or at least wary of them. They are attempting to secure their borders."

BDE's massive expansion so close to Hutt space had made some Hutts wary, but the Dragons had never shown much interest in Hutt Space. Plurga knew they were a threat... but he had felt confident they would not attack the Hutts.

"If the Besadii ingrates had not already made a hash of the situation then I would not be calling you. However, there incompetence has made it necessary that I do. I want you to begin securing Nal Hutta for a possible Imperial attack. I have recalled numerous of our allies and made all our forces available to you. In addition, the Union has agreed to provide assistance if the Glorious Jewel is threatened."

Plurga forced himself to speak, though his mind was racing as he heard his Uncle's words.

"I will uphold the duties of my station, Uncle."

His Uncle's face became serious.

"In the best case, you will not have to. I think I will be able to persuade the Imperials that a war with the Hutts... even those Besadii fools... is not worth the energy and resources they will be forced to spend. However, I give you your assignment in case of the worst scenario."

Plurga mumbled a quick compliment and acceptance of his duty. Then professing he needed to get to work immediately, excused himself from his Uncle's palace.


It had been the worst visit yet.

The Guard had been drawn together into the Toydaria System to stage for its next venture, battleships cruisers and support vessels making quite a sight to any passing probe or intelligence observer: of course all civilian craft had been scared away and dared not approach any ship bearing the six-pointed insignia of the Galactic Empire. TIE Defenders kept an ever vigilant watch over the staging area, running deep into the system and around it. Small tankers remained aloft to sustain such a broad patrol, and though the fuel consumed was copious in its quantity, the Guard’s leader had decided the expenditure warranted given the attacks suffered to date.


As quickly as they had gathered, they had departed, broken off into three squadrons that vanished into the vastness of space. Two of the formations were dispatched on disparate courses thought all three had one destination. Mathetmatics ruled the day and the timing of their jumps to lightspeed had been meticulously planned. Only the flagship’s squadron had not departed for its commanders were integrating into their numbers two bulky and aesthetically unappealing ships that carried a wealth of firepower – a wealth directly proportionate to their grotesqueness.


“ Admiral – a ship is clearing hyperspace!”


A schedule had been set that allowed for no alteration, including an attack. Unless a serious threat was posed, Grand Admiral Desaria himself had no intention of doing battle on the terms of the interloper – indeed, Squadron V remaining on station above Toydaria and would doubtless dispatch with ease whomever dared to intrude on such a carefully-prepared operation. The notion of his vessels departing, confusing the enemy, then eradicating said enemy with hitherto undiscovered vessels brought a smile to his face, a smile that interrupted by Captain Vorran’s rather terse sounding voice.


“ Admiral, you are not going to like this.”


“ I already do not, Captain. Description of enemy?”


“ The High Inquisitor, sir. The ASD Purifier is requesting a place in-formation.”


At that moment, the only sound loader than the beeping of server droids was the gnashing of teeth coming from the admiral’s chair.


Four minutes later…


“ Admiral, the High Inquisitor’s shuttle is aboard.”


Grand Admiral Desaria looked fore, then turned aft on his heel. “ Good - - now get us underway. Give Purifier a position at the rear of the squadron behind the Broadswords. As soon you receive their acknowledgement of the jump coordinates, take us to lightspeed.”


Vorran kept a grin from his face. “ The High Inquisitor will not be pleased to be held here during the trip.”


Came a bit-out reply as the Guard commander stormed through the control corridor: “ Good.”





The time from Toydaria to Nal Hutta had taken barely an hour for the First Squadron of the Guard and its unexpected – and not altogether welcome – visitor. They were not, however, the first to arrive. Arrayed equi-distance around the homeworld of the Hutts was the Second and Third Squadrons of the Imperial Guard. Racing around them were fighters, gunboats, assault shuttles, and Skipray blastboats, along with the capital ships forming a giant sphere: Nal Hutta was quite literally under the Empire’s guns.


No salvoes lanced out: indeed, all warships had been ordered to maintain discipline and engage in defensive fire if necessary. On the smallest of the capital ships, the crews doing much more than standing alert at their action-stations – rather the entireity of their ships were alive, emitting a field even larger than the mass shadow of the planet they surrounded. No one would be permitted to depart or enter without testing the grace of the Imperial Officer Corps. Nal Hutta was shut off from the galaxy as the Reign-class Destroyers jammed every communication channel not used by the forces of the Emperor, triple encrypting those that were.


A planet sat captive, subject to the mercy of the Empire. Constrainer-class Intderictor pickets whirred to life, guns were trained, and the eyes of Defender pilots strained to see the first kill of the day.

Plurga Desilijic Tiure shifted uneasily within his chambers, slithering along them and yelling at his minions at the top of his voice as the Imperials put the Glorious Jewel at gunpoint. This was an absolute outrage, no Imperial had ever entered into Hutt space in such hostility in who knows how long if ever. The Hutts had always been left to their own devices, left to run their little criminal empires, more or less giving the Empire an excuse and purpose to be so oppressive to the rest of the known galaxy. This act of ungraciousness was apalling, if not terrifying, Plurga kept from panicing by bellowing orders to his lackeys and getting what little defenses the Glorious Jewel had to defend itself againt Imperial forces if the worst should happen. Plurga turned and stopped as a black and silver clad figure stepped quietly out of the shadows, his face hidden by an orange and black face mask. Plurga swelled with fury at seeing Omega Thrax here, which is quite a sight with an immense slug, since this masked man was the Union's only mode of communication with Plurga when the Committee wasn't in session on the Midas. With another bellow of orders, it was soon only him and Omega Thrax left in his chambers.

"Where is your precious Union! Where are they to defend me against this!" Plurga bellowed angrily, aiming a stubby finger at a hologram of the Imperial force.

"Be calm, Plurga, the Union is doing what it can to give you aid, that is why I am here," Omega Thrax replied cooly.

"You!?! You can do nothing! The Empire is already here!"

"You doubt our power?" Thrax asked, his single visible eye flashing dangerously.

"No....its....well....the Empire....they'll burn our world or conquer it, I'm sure..." Plurga said, stuttering

The Hutt regarded the figure of Omega Thrax, a man so emotionally detached you wondered whether he was even really alive. He moved throughout the Union, they said, doing the Chairman's bidding unquestioningly and he was notoriously hard to kill. No one was certain why the strange man was so hard to terminate, even after being thought of being caught in several well placed assassin bombs, he always reappeared. He was like a damn ghost, and he was the Union's ghost, some even calling him the Voice, because when Thrax spoke, he spoke with the authority of the Union behind his voice and all within the Union knew it. They would listen and obey or suffer the wrath of the Chairman. After e few moments Plurga looked away from Thrax's endless, piercing gaze.

"We shall see what can be done to convince the Empire otherwise," Thrax said calmly. "For now I must speak with your nephew, inform him I shall be arriving shortly to discuss the situation."

Plurga turned back to find Omega Thrax had vanished just as quietly and suddenly as he had appeared causing Plurga to tremble slighlty; not even Tir Esias was that unnerving. Plurga then shifted and opened a channel to his favorite nephew to inform him who was coming and why. Obviously the Union was taking the situation seriously now...

Plurga the Lesser had not reacted well to the news that an Imperial fleet had arrived in the Nal Hutta system. In a typical Hutt fit of rage he had backhanded his Twi'lek majordomo Koril Tur when he delivered the news. However, unlike most of his brethren, his anger and frustration quickly dissipated. Those emotions would not make the Imperial fleet overhead disappear. In an even rarer act for a Hutt, he made a veiled apology to Tur, which seemed to stun him even more than the blow had.

He decided to review the situation. Information was somewhat sketchy, but enough facts were known to allow Plurga to start making decisions. The Imperial fleet was large- and fresh off victories over Besadii mercenaries’ battle tested. The force consisted of over thirty vessels, at least nine of them over 1000 meters long. The Hutt defensive forces alone had little hope preventing the Empire from slagging Nal Hutta. With the help of the Union... Plurga was not certain he could guarantee victory. In fact, if he had to bet, it wouldn't be on himself.

Plurga the Lesser was in charge of the security of Nal Hutta. If he had to, he would lead the planet's defense. He had a feeling that would make his trip to his Uncle's palace seem like heaven.

Koril Tur rushed back to Plurga's side.

"Your grandness, I have received more vital information."

The Twi'lek held out a datapad. Plurga reached out a short arm and took it. He waved his other arm, giving Koril permission to leave. The Twi'lek skittered away. Plurga read the information he had just received. It did not raise his poor outlook of the current situation.

The Imperial fleet was part of the vaunted Imperial Guard, one of the most feared and deadly forces in the Empire. They were led by Grand Admiral Telan Desaria. They were the Empire's elite. Desaria was one of the Imperial Navy's best commanders, and one of its most experienced.

The outlook was not good. Plurga knew he needed to work on a strategy for the upcoming negotiations. However, before he could start thinking about that, Koril returned. He was chewing on his lekku and looked distressed.

"Oh magnificent one...you, you have a visitor."

Wondering why his majordomo was so distraught, Plurga watched as a human figure stepped into the room.

The bridge of a Star Destroyer – any Star Destroyer, regardless of class – was an ideal place to conduct battle, to view the panorama of the field and direct the actions of those vessels sent to pursue victory. The bridge was not the best place for an Admiral to command forces arrayed to blockade, making Baron Desaria absence from the Suvarov’s command deck a welcome change for so many officers who toiled nervously under the watchful gaze of a Grand Admiral. Now was the time when jumpsuited technicians and scanner officers of another division felt their necks glow.


Built into the heart of the command tower, the CIC was windowless: it was little more than a chamber of consoles and monitors around a large holographic plot-table. Typically, the CIC relayed data to the bridge and kept constant records of fleet dispositions and enemy movements: the very holographic displays they created every second were those fed to the bridge officers. Grand Admiral Desaria felt quite at home in it and cared not that his guest did not. Probing his subconscious, he wondered if that is why he had hasted to the CIC instead of meeting the Inquisitor in his spacious office aft of the bridge. Realizing the analysis was wasting time, the Admiral returned to his duties.


“ Sir, we have another request from the 4th Gunboat Flotilla. They are requesting permission to commence boarding actions.”


“ Commander, you may inform the gunboats they will de dispatched accordingly. You may, however, send forward the assault shuttles. As planned: one squadron of Defenders to every two shuttles. Concentrate of the medium sized vessels – the larger ships can be inspected when the barges are fully loaded.”


“ Admiral – the High Inquisitor requests a moment.”


Grand Admiral Desaria turned to see his red tuniced acquaintance maneuver down the steps towards the plot table. The younger man’s blond hair and emerald eyes were one of the few differences that set them apart. Far too many times had Desaria heard similarities mentioned – he was sickened to think he had anything in common with one of the mot evil men he had ever known. His is a necessary evil, I acknowledge this. But that does not mean I have to like him, nor does it stop me from having my fun.


Motioning to a small office reserved for the watch commander, Desaria and the equally tall Corellian closed themselves off to the rest of the galaxy. “ Welcome to the Suvarov.”


The Viscount del Forza ignored the gibe and gave Desaria a look implying he had made good use of his hour aboard. “ Thank you. You have an interesting problem here, don’t you Admiral? You have a task you need to accomplish but you don’t want to dirty the hands of your precious Guard.”


I can see we are not pulling any punches. So be it. Desaria reclined in the chair provided, forcing the Inquisitoriate man to rest on a metal chair that was doubtless not the most comfortable item in the room. “ You are correct on more points than you know. I have you here and I don’t have the time to arrest you.”


The Viscount barked a laugh. “ Is that so? Well let me call my men, they do carry a pair of binders each.”


“ Please do and save mine the trouble – you have already saved me a trip to Ylesia.We have encountered in this campaign a great number of older weapons, which is to be expected. What was not expected was that they came from stocks captured after the GDI capitulated. Only one force in the galaxy defeated that lot - -us. GDI weapons lay under Imperial control on Imperial worlds. So how did they wind up here? They were sold. And since the ISB – which answers to you – controls those storehouses, it is a logical conclusion that you have been selling arms to the enemy.”


Del Forza remained impassive. He had been surprised once that week, but this turn of events was wholly expected. Hate as he might, the Inquisitor could not deny the Grand Admiral his credit as an intellectual.


“ And so what? You will haul me before the Emperor in chains?”


Desaria smiled and stood. “ Not at all. I have lost three warships to your devices, you will replace those ships immediately. You will compensate the families of my dead men from this campaign and most important of all, you will order your men to the surface to eliminate the Hutts. You are quite right, I don’t plan to dirty the Guard’s hands. Yours are dirty enough that a little more blood won’t hurt. In return, you will not be hauled before the Emperor in chains, however much I might enjoy seeing that. Good day, Inquisitor.”

Near Nal Hutta 2 Talon Escort carriers, 3 frigate’s and numerous freighters jumped out of hyperspace only to meet the imperial navy, the officers suddenly stopped the ships in panic. The ships were on their way to Nal Hutta with a weapon shipment to the hutts and other numerous buyers, the ships carried the logo of the Fegal companies, which was a notable weapons manufacturer in the core worlds. The ship quickly made the stop and the leader of the ships on his Talon carrier was a quarren named Jezk quickly began mumbling orders as fast as he could, but most importantly he sent a message to the flagship of the Fegal companies named Baal. He knew that mr. Fega would be furious for the fact that his business were interrupted when he had more worries back in the core worlds. Droids were running around and human officers gave reports while Jezk sent the message.

"This is the Red Talon reporting, we have been stopped by imperial fleet in the hutt`s space! Soon they will probably start demanding as these imperials do and I believe they will want to search this ship not mention the others included. If we try to turn away I fear we are shot at and that risk we cannot take so I’m waiting for further instructions."

Jezk shut the channel mumbling something as the message would reach Baal and an answer would arrive, the imperials now got interested and few ships seemed to move. Jezk prepared everything for battle as secretly as he could fearing the worst for the ships and the cargo, he had been in the service of Fegal for 5 years and wasn’t going to let him down. Jezk calmly opened hailing frequencies to the imperials to demand an explanation for their presence in the hutt space, but most of all why they were stopped.

"This is the Red Talon; these ships are under Fegal companies and as the number one authority here I demand to know why we are being stopped and what are you doing here?"

Jezk hoped that some answer would arrive soon from Fegal and a somewhat positive from the imperials because these seemed to be on their way to destroy not to just pass by. A message suddenly came from Baal that they would be on their way with few other ships to help to slve the situation most important to get the cargo sold somewhere.

Omega Thrax stepped casually into the chamber, regarding Plurga the Lesser with his usual piercing gaze, his single visible eye seeming to pry into the very recesses of the mind of anyone it was set upon. He then looked around the chamber and spoke very calmly as he clasped his hands behind his back.

"Send away your lackeys, we have much to discuss."

Thrax's gaze shifted around the room to the majordomo who paled at his gaze being set upon him. Thrax merely went on taking in the chamber and considering the situation thoroughly in his mind. The Empire was here and they would move soon, but not before the Hutts tried to approach them, to ply them from their thoughts of conquest and destruction. If that failed, Thrax would be forced to interfere and perhaps involve Union forces, an undesireable action but soon likely very necessary. He looked down at his wrist, regarding his gauntlet, three lights blinked affirmatively, his pods were hidden still and active. Thrax gave a mental nod, if necessary he would make the sacrifice but only if the Empire forced his hand here.

Plurga motioned with one of his grubby arms and Koril scurried away again. Plurga turned his bublous eyes to the masked man who stood before him. His visage was odd, the half black mask concealing half of his face from view. The one visible eye was somewhat disconcerting. The man held himself with a posture that seemed to command respect, and his tone of voice was even and steady.

Plurga had never seen the man before. Still, he had pressing matters to attend to, and he wondered why Koril had let the man enter. Didn' the Twi'lek realize he was doing vitally important work?

"What do you want?"

Plurga's tone barley smoothed over his irritation, and he was sure that the man would here it... in fact he hoped he did. There was precious little time as it was, and every moment he spent with the man meant less time to work toward staving off an Imperial invasion.

Thrax noted the Hutt's irritation and would have chuckled if he'd had a sense of humor. Unfortunatley, Omega Thrax did not have a sense of humor and as the chamber was sealed shut, leaving them alone, he merely continued to gaze upon Plurga as he spoke, his speech remaining calm and smooth.

"The Union is most upset about this situation."

Thrax paused, letting it sink into the Hutt's psyche just as to who he was dealing with.

"We have certain... items set aside should the Empire attack, but only if negotiation fails. You are to contact them, try to make a deal. If that fails, I will speak with them and make it very clear that there are other powers that will not permit their presence here. And if I fail? Well, then we shall have to punish them."

Thrax turned and began to slowly circle the Hutt like, his walk smooth and calm as his voice.

"Have I perhaps enlightened you as to what I want?" Thrax asked cool, stopping in front of the Hutt again and setting his gaze upon him.