Entry Thirty-Four – Days after Geonosis, One Hundred Ninety-Four
I have begun the assembly of a real research team to take on the Miscaf fungus. With the Rybet breakthrough I've moved beyond the purely theoretical stage and need access to a larger organization and multiple sets of eyes on the problem. A few droids and the extremely questionable assistance of Takul are not enough. Besides, redundancy is necessary in case I am reassigned or, Force forbid, killed. I can no longer view the latter possibility as some kind of poor joke. The Separatists have made a policy of targeting Jedi, and their ranks include some of the galaxy's most fearsome Jedi Hunters, not the least of whom is their overall commander General Grievous. While I highly doubt any such august personage would be dispatched to trouble someone as insignificant as myself, a more mundane bounty hunter could easily overwhelm me. Several members of the AgriCorps in remote postings have been killed in such ways. It is horrible. What purpose can possibly be served by striking at those whose only goal is to feed the galaxy?
I intend to keep the network largely localized here in the Bucket. The Miscaf fungus is widespread, but in most spaces with proper filtration systems it is largely inconsequential. There are reports of outbreaks and chronic infestation on other heavily populated planets and even some space habitats in the literature, but no active research elsewhere. It would be difficult to coordinate a multi-planet initiative from here in any case, especially given the war.
The underworld's medical research community is certainly eclectic, but it does exist, after a fashion. I have also found an unexpected store of support in the Atmospheric Maintenance Guild and from a large cooperative of recyclers and food processors engaged in the production of edible fungi. This connection has linked me to a circle of Ithorian agronomists with the resources necessary to conduct the large scale culturing and field testing necessary for vaccine development. On the sequencing side I've discovered a club of Iktotchi and Siniteen – a peculiar paring I feel it worthy to note – who apparently conduct freelance genetic analysis as part of some sort of complex mathematical competition. They are willing to work my needs into their 'gameplay.' A coalition of local nurses, mostly Twi'leks and Zabraks, has agreed to arrange and manage live trials when we reach that stage.
This handles the support staff question capably, but actual researchers with appropriate expertise have been more difficult to contact, and rather mysterious as well. An inscrutable expert in amphibian-based fungal parasites named Nerchabol, a member of the equally inscrutable species called the Ornegob who are supposed to be extinct, has proffered his services contingent upon us never meeting in person. I truly do not know what to make of it, but Takul claims this person represents a truly legendary store of knowledge.
Dr. Su Risis has also agreed to assist me. She is a Tinnilath, a curious near-human species, who works primarily as a cosmetic surgeon. She has done considerable work repairing the damage inflicted by severe cases of Miscaf and has a nearly unparalleled understanding of the fungus' epidemiology. I am uncertain as to her motives, given that her business seems best served by allowing the fungus to proliferate, but Isoxya has had her repair scars and vouches for her.
The final team member comes by way of Lia's recommendation and might well be the strangest. It is a droid brain of Gree manufacture that claims to be ten thousand years old. I suspect this is exaggerated, but there are clearly visible elements of ancient Gree manufacturing in the underworld. This bizarre intelligence refers to itself as Violet Admixture and is plugged into the administration system of the mainline water treatment plant on level 1330. Apparently the water system used to be far more integrated than it is now and the machine has a great deal of spare processing power combined with a desire to eradicate system 'impurities.' Talking to it is an exercise in redefining frustration, but its modeling capabilities are as nothing I've ever seen before.
Assuming I can get this group to work together, admittedly a highly dubious proposition, I believe we might make rapid progress.
Notes
Separatist targeting of Jedi and Jedi affiliates is well-established in canon.
None of Nema's various team members mentioned here are intended to be significant characters. This is mostly an excuse to highlight the bizarre diversity of resources present in the underworld.