Jhutan Ensah

Jhutan Ensah was the Imperial Admiral in command of the Imperial Navy battle group located in the Betseeda System. He was in command of the battle group from the earliest days of the Imperial occupation in 4 BBY until 1 ABY and the Imperial defeat at the Siege of Tazion. Following this defeat, he was recalled by his superiors and replaced by his second in command, Captain Yiromatu Takei.

Childhood and The Clone Wars
Jhutan Ensah was born to upper-middle class parents on the industrial world of Corellia. The eldest of three sons, Jhutan had a poor relationship with his father, a demanding and tyrannical businessman. Ensah lived under his father's thumb and never earned much praise for his actions. A talented student, he showed little physical prowess. His two younger brothers out-performed him physically and earned the lavish praise of his father.

With the onset of the Clone Wars, Jhutan enlisted in the Galactic Republic Navy, barely passing the physical exam. Both of his brothers also enlisted and were assigned to prestigious combat units. He proved himself to be a studious analyst and discovered a niche in threat analysis and review. He correctly predicted the outcomes of several sieges and campaigns, including expected costs and losses. These predictions were extremely accurate and earned him the recognition he had always craved, even if it came from his superiors.

What his superior officers did not know was that Ensah was stealing most of his information from a series of elaborate droid algorithms and programs. Paying two talented Corellian droid engineers to develop the programs, the droids reviewed the data, but encrypted the information with several safety nets that could only be accessed by Ensah's pass codes. When one of those young droid engineers threatened Ensah with exposure, he paid the other engineer to murder his colleague. When word reached Ensah that one of his young brothers had been killed leading a heroic defense of a Republic facility on the planet of Umbara, Ensah had his droids alter the records to show that his brother had been killed while retreating, marking him as a coward. When his father was told that his favorite son had died while running from the enemy, the news proved too much for the man and he dropped dead of a heart attack. Jhutan showed no remorse for his actions.

Rising Through the Ranks
Using this fabricated data to inflate his own record, the young Ensah rose through the ranks of the Galactic Republic and subsequent Galactic Empire. Following the end of hostilities, he remained in the Navy and was eventually assigned as the unit command of an Imperial outpost on Chandrila. While the position was not in a combat zone, Ensah continued to increase performance and productivity while slashing his own budge. His Imperial overlords were continually impressed by his tactics and he garnered even more praise.

Eventually, Ensah was given command of the Star Destroyer Venom in 10 BBY and assigned to the Advanced Weapons Research Section (AWRS) and given the rank of Admiral. While Ensah and the Venom would not be actively engaged in the designing of any weaponry, it was a comfortable assignment that involved mostly meetings and guard duty. While serving in this section, Ensah participated in several meeting involving the construction of the Death Star.

One of the unforeseen impacts of this promotion had been increased security and oversight of Ensah's personal communications and property. The Empire wanted news of the Death Star's development to kept an absolute secret. As such, Ensah had his personnel information droids destroyed and his Corellian droid engineers executed as traitors. Thinking his tracks were covered, Ensah continued to enjoy his position of power, leaving the day to day operations of the Venom to his subordinate officers.

The Betseeda System
Prior to the outbreak of the Galactic Civil War, Admiral Ensah and the Venom were reassigned to the Betseeda System, a small system located within the Inner Rim. Initially, Ensah viewed this as a demotion, but when he was assigned an additional Star Destroyer, the Salient, under the command of a young and ambitious officer named Captain named Yiromatu Takei, his fragile ego was greatly inflated.

Ensah and his battle group arrived in the Betseeda System in 4 BBY and immediately began an occupation of several worlds. While the Betseeda government offered no official resistance to this occupation, Senator Madeline Gren, a staunch opponent of the Emperor, spoke out vocally against the maneuver. Her pleas for decency went unheard and she eventually resigned her senate seat in order to launch an unofficial government and resistance movement.

Ensah viewed Gren as nothing more than a troublemaker and small time threat. Betseeda Prime, the capital planet of the system, had no standing army and little military capabilities. Ensah's brutal occupation continued to strip the resources from various worlds in the system and oppress the population. While the Imperial presence was supported by some, especially those getting rich off mineral mining, the fires of resistance were growing.

Throughout the first years of the occupation, Ensah rarely left the comfort of his Star Destroyer, only traveling to the surface of various planets when absolutely needed. As he had always done, he left the work to Captain Takei and his subordinates. These decisions, coupled with his inability to steal information and present it as his own, led to a serious miscalculation of the situation on Betseeda Prime.

Arrow Squadron Arrives
Admiral Ensah blundered his way through the earliest days of Arrow Squadron's arrival in the system. Ensah did not crack down on the newly arrived rebel unit as some of his Councillors advised, believing their presence to be nothing more than an annoyance.

That would all change when the First Battle of Betseeda Prime erupted during a local festival. Caught completely off guard, Ensah and his officers were not able to organize much of a defense and the capital of Betseeda Prime, Tazion, fell into rebel hands. From this point on, the majority of the Imperial campaign would have to waged from his two Star Destroyers, which would prove logistically challenging. Despite the stunning victory, Admiral Ensah still believed the threat to be minimal and did not actively hunt down the insurgent forces or conduct any proactive attacks in the immediate aftermath.

The Dogs of War
Admiral Ensah consolidated his forces at Jonquil Station, an abandoned station orbiting the watery world of Jonquil. Here, under the command of Captain Takei, they began to fortify the station with anti-aircraft batteries and gun platforms. The Admiral also oversaw the retraining of his forces by conductive several war games.

It was during one of these war games that his forces were once again attacked by Arrow Squadron. In what became known as the Battle of Faan Shaarada, Arrow squadron used hacked Imperial transmission codes to impersonate Imperial TIE fighters. They then ambushed the TIEs and their Star Destroyers causing serious damage. The attack was yet another embarrassing blow to Ensah and his command.

Eventually, under intense pressure from Captain Takei, Ensah began to take the offensive. In private, he questioned the resolve of his forces and began to silently resent the growing influence of the young Captain Takei. His attention began to wander more towards finding ways of destroying Takei than eliminating the Rebel threats. His sycophantic sympathizers and lackeys encouraged him of his paranoia which resulted in an extremely tense situation existing among Imperial command.

Takei managed to organize the first major Imperial victory of the campaign during the Battle of Myyribod. The attack was a success and several of the Arrows were killed or destroyed. The move also served a boost of morale for the beleaguered Imperial forces. The victory also could not have come at a better time as Imperial command was beginning to doubt Admiral Ensah's abilities. Ensah knew his position was precarious and, spurred on to save his command, he launched a massive counterattack aimed at destroying Arrow Squadron and recapturing the city of Tazion.

The Siege of Tazion
In late 1 ABY, Admiral Ensah began the Siege of Tazion. Under his command, the Venom and the Salient began a heavy bombardment of Tazion and the surrounding area. Civilian casualties were enormous and the officially neutral Betseeda Speaker of the Chamber, the official political leader of the system openly condemned the attacks, speaking publicly against the Empire for the first time. Support among those who had remained neutral began to shift towards the Alliance as severe food shortages ravaged the planet.

Arrow Squadron was cut off from resupply and did its best to protect both the civilians and themselves. Eventually, in a last desperate attack, members of the BRF and Arrow Squadron were able to sabotage the Star Destroyer Salient and heavily damage the Venom. The attack cost the lives of several BRF commandos, but the Imperial ships were forced to end their siege and retreated back to Jonquil Station. The defeat was a stunning blow to the Imperial campaign and would prove costly for Admiral Ensah.

Career Ending
With the majority of Betseeda Prime now in open revolt against the Empire and having suffered a series of unfortunate defeats, Admiral Ensah's superiors had had enough of his follies. At the same time, his falsified record was exposed and he was labeled a fraud. While the official leaking of this record remained anonymous, several believe it was perpetrated by Captain Takei.

Admiral Ensah, disgraced and humiliated, was recalled back to Coruscant for investigation and stripped of his command. As such, Captain Takei was put in charge of the remaining Imperial forces with clear orders to destroy the Rebels and Arrow Squadron.

Legacy
With a falsified record and poor battle performances, Admiral Ensah was dismissed from the Imperial Service. Some theorized that he may even be executed for his crimes. He was, however, exiled from the Empire and was never heard from again.

His inability to understand the situation in the Betseeda System, especially during the earliest days of the campaign, ultimately sowed the seeds for Arrow Squadron's unlikely victory.