Entry Thirty-Two – Days after Geonosis, One Hundred Eighty-Five
The Bucket is not without defenses against outside invasion. A unique environment with a suite of specific traits to match the environmental idiosyncrasies of any planet, it offers none of the sterile security a newcomer might expect to find in a fully closed system. The clones, who practically sleep in their armor and observe strict hygiene discipline, protected themselves against this. The Hutt Clan mercenaries did not take such pains.
Now they are sick. This is not surprising, all the major warrior species employed by the Hutts are native to arid environments, while the Bucket is often wretchedly humid. This constant is one I am intimately familiar with myself – I outfitted my room with a dehumidifier after only three days. The new arrivals are extremely vulnerable to a wide variety of plagues and parasites that they find completely unfamiliar and they have already begun to exhaust such medical supplies as they carried with them.
I do not think they expected a prolonged deployment, but conflict has persisted along the edges of the redevelopment zones, and the brand new construction machinery, tools, and droids brought down from the surface presents an irresistible target to thieves. Several airspeeder convoys have been subjected to coordinated hijacking, millions of credits worth of supplies seized at a stroke. It is almost amusing, in a dark and deranged way, to watch even the Hutts underestimate the dangers of the underworld. Inter-syndicate rivalries further exacerbate this chaos. Black Sun is furious that they did not receive these lucrative security contracts, the Pykes lament that the Hutts' warriors, being slaves, have no discretionary income to waste in their vice dens, and Wandering Star's arms merchants deeply desired to unload their stockpiles of battlefield salvage on new commissioned security officers. Even many underworld police are grumbling. Apparently crowd control and guard duty are lucrative side jobs and they feel deprived of the extra income.
The leaders of the Hutt Clan are anything but fools. They have purchased a huge amount of medicine from the Pykes and have acquired weapons from Wandering Star that they then gave to locals with grievances against Black Sun. This has reduced the pressure on their mercenaries while keeping violence levels high and the police occupied. Of course, none of this profit protection has made life any better or reduced local suffering. After all, if not for constant complaints from patients I would never understand the issues.
Somehow this complex intrigue has seen me wrapped up within its threads as well. The Miscaf fungus is a major source of illness among the newly arrived mercenaries, and while treatments for Niktos and Weequays are well established, those for others such as Nimbanels and Vodras are poorly known and have not been previously performed using the simplified drug regimen currently available. The Hutts, to my general amazement, sought out my help to resolve this impasse. Grubba the Hutt actually visited my clinic in person, one of the nephews of Jabba himself came to meet with me. Lia had a camera drone capture the whole thing, just to prove that it happened.
Of course I will do all I can to aid those afflicted. Hutt mercenaries or not, no one deserves to have treatment withheld, and few in the service of the kajidics came to that place by choice. Besides, any opportunity to study the fungus is useful. However, the Hutt Clan shall not receive my services for free, most assuredly not. I am not inclined to generosity towards malevolent gangsters, and besides, failure to assert oneself in negotiations with a Hutt costs all respect. Nothing must be given among them, all must be taken. It is a foul philosophy, but those are the terms of their culture and I do not have the strength to avoid playing their game.
Mr. Selless negotiated a suitable level of compensation. Not to me, of course, but in the form of an agreement. Their mercenaries will escort medical droids on charitable missions throughout the worst sections of the Bucket. A small benefit, but every credit's worth of effort liberated from them is a victory of its own.
Notes
The bit about all major Hutt Clan warrior species being native to arid environments is, so far as I can tell, true to canon. This is kind of ironic, given that Hutts themselves seem to prefer swampy, humid conditions.
Grubba the Hutt is actually a canon character (really), and is legitimately established as Jabba's nephew. He seems like the kind of person to send on a mission of this nature.