Gad Calgaran
Fixer
While not as significant as it's more immediate neighboring system, containing the famed Nal Hutta and Nar Shadda, Circumtore was still a very valuable location. Given it was the nexus of several nearby hyperspace lanes, it was a significant location for trade in the region. More than that, because of all that trade, the planetoid from which the system was also named, had a vast amount of wealth. Such a significant location could not be ignored by the resurgent Black Suns.
However, it's inhabitants, or rather the local Hutt population leading the inhabitants, were rather stubborn and refused to accept the Black Suns as their new rulers. From experience Gad knew that Hutts were prideful and stubborn. They thought of themselves on top of everything and made sure to make that opinion a reality. They didn't take kindly to subservience unless it was under a more powerful Hutt that they respected. The Hutts of Circumtore were even more stubborn since they all regularly wore armor and incorporated powerful assassin droids. While a full-scale invasion was possible, it would be difficult to hold anything if the Hutts weren't cooperative.
Thankfully they had an ally going in. Goh the Hutt was a little more receptive to the Black Suns and was fairly influencial among the Shell Hutts but he was overshadowed by his rival, Soc the Hutt. Soc was staunchly against the Black Suns and most seemed to align to him. If the Black Suns were to breach Soc's palace and force him to surrender, the other Hutts would fall in line. Unfortunately, killing Soc would be a death sentence for the perpetrator and it would forever turn a lot of Hutts, not just those on Circumtore, against the Suns. So they had to be quick and they needed to capture Soc alive and force him to surrender. The embarressment would be enough to give Goh the influence he needs to convince the rest of the Shell Hutts.
The Soc's Palace was highly defensible. There were no entrances or exits on the ground floor. The only way in or out were through four landing pads that extended out from the upper floors. Two of the landing pads were wide, and had wider entrances for carrying cargo into the building. The remaining two were smaller and were meant for honored guests or Soc himself. In total they could land six shuttles at a time.
Gad readied his Blaster Carbine as the shuttle he was in descended toward one of the Palace landing pads. At least 5 other shuttles accompanied his with 5 more standing by as reinforcements. Starfighters buzzed overhead, attempting to draw the fire from turbo-lasers, or destroy them entirely, so that the shuttles could land safely. "Call for one of our backup the shuttles to come down! We need as many many down here as possible!" He barked to the co-pilot, who relayed his message to the fleet above.
On paper Gad was the man on the ground in-charge of coordinating things, but really it was more up to the strategists above. He could technically have access to way more mercenaries but if he went over-budget he'd get in a lot of trouble. All of the mercs for this mission required at least half the payment upfront, granted they were only paid once they were deployed. The less mercenaries they needed to do this in general, the better. That said, a lot of people were going to die at the landing stage regardless.
Once the shuttle finally landed at Gad's platform, one of the cargo platforms, he jumped out and got to work deploying the mobile piece of cover he was carrying. Of course it was smart of Soc to remove all of the cover on his landing pads but it was also expected. Just about half of the mercenaries on each shuttle were carrying large deploy-able cover pieces. With a fresh sheet of blaster-proof metal between him and the enemy, Gad started assessing the situation. Slits on the Pyramid levels above them were being used by assassin droids to fire upon them while providing them with plenty of cover. Mercs on the lower levels were keeping them from advancing by providing suppressing fire.
"Where's the rocket launcher? Fire at those droids above us!" He said. He then leaned out of cover to fire at one of the enemy mercenaries.
