Entry Twenty-Nine – Days after Geonosis, One Hundred Seventy-One
The newsfeeds are calling it 'The Bucket Brawl.' A ludicrous title, suitable for the boisterous drunken revelry following the planetary shockball championship not four solid days of armed riots. Thousands have died, injuries reach into the millions, and the amount of property damage is positively immense, especially given that many of the rioters turned to looting in the final stage before the mercenaries moved in.
That it was mercenaries, and not clones, is actually something of a surprise. The various contract holders originally lobbied the Senate hard for on-planet GAR units to end this 'seditious sabotage' as they called it, but the exigencies of war prevented it. Apparently some mysterious Separatist weapon has claimed a frightful toll out in the Rim, whole fleet units annihilated without a trace. Additional forces have been dispatched from Coruscant to prevent the development of a gap in critical deployments. No units were left to conduct large-scale riot suppression. Consequently the contractors assembled their security forces from other sources.
And so we are witness to the foul fruit of the Republic's alliance with the Hutt Clan. Thousands of Jilruans, Klaatonians, Nitkos, Weequays, and other slave warriors either descended upon the lower levels or emerged from their hidden refugia within, gathered into combat groups, and conducted a brutal structure by structure purge of all target areas. Motivated only by profit and trained by cruelty, they in turn looted anything of value remaining and smashed the rest. It was the largest assembly of Hutt-backed military force on Coruscant in recorded history.
Prefect Xeril, Force be with him always, made a stand I shall never forget. He ordered the underworld police to demand all sapient beings taken by these savage legions remanded to police custody, and when a group of Jilruans dared to test his resolve he called Major Kayi for heavy fire support himself. The Hutt Clan understands this sort of ritual challenge. They backed down when the Ayae arrived on their combat speeders. It will never be known how many died in those fire-ravaged streets behind the barricades, but I do know that none of those who came out ended up in slavery to the Hutts. A small victory, but in this dark moment even the little wins count immeasurably.
Many questions yet hang over those who have lost their homes. Local jails lack the ability to hold all but the most egregious offenders, and barely even those after such a prolonged paroxysm of outrage. Others have simply been treated in field triage centers such as the one I currently occupy and handed citations for hefty fines before being sent on their way. I suspect hardly any of those shall ever be paid. The construction contractors stopped paying out government rate property compensation once the rioting began and no one expects them to resume. Those who did not accept the insufficient sums offered in the initial round are now homeless and destitute. Many have nothing but the clothes on their backs. There are millions, perhaps tens of millions, of them; a crisis almost impossible to fathom.
Xeril, speaking on behalf of a council of senior police officers and municipal officials, has asked me to lead a delegation to the Senate and request funding for war relief. Of course I agreed, though I am so tired I can barely stand, and though I have little confidence in such an effort. Some means must be found to help these displaced persons. Failure will only mean more rioting, more suffering. As it is many are already afflicted from the complications of smoke inhalation and toxic shock from the combustion of hazardous materials. I fear another outbreak of respiratory disease if treatments cannot be conducted. These emergency field centers have helped, but it's not enough, and those now burdened by fines they cannot pay will avoid contact with official medcenters. A solution must exist, but my mind cannot find it now.
I hope the morning will bring answers.
Notes
The 'mysterious Separatist weapon' Nema refers to here is actually the Malevolence, as this is happening concurrently with it running around the Outer Rim blowing up fleets.
The comment about evading medical centers at the end is based on he assumption that the Republic does not have anything resembling universal healthcare, which seems to be the case from all available context.