The town doctor was named Zezdera, a beautiful wide hipped green lady with something like legs growing out of her head. Twileks, they were called. She wore tasteful medical scrubs, desert style tan.
Her place looked like a large domed hut, its interior a cave. The shelves contained an impressive array of medical tools, items I couldn't begin to understand.
I was sickly and shivering, wrapped in some smelly old rag this slug boy had found somewhere. The female had been examining an unclothed Jawa at the time we arrived (a rare sight, on account of Jawa religious laws).
The cockroach-like thing with glowing yellow eyes sat on the padded examination table, looking embarrassed. This one's eyes were red, and not glowing as they should, so Ms. Ipralpa was injecting some drug into its arm.
My new friend cleared his throat, impatiently shuffling his tail.
"I'll be just a moment, Jabby," she said, grabbing something around the unclothed Jawa's neck. "Cough, please."
The Jawa did so.
Making tsk noises, Ms. Ipralpa typed something in the computer, giving the patient a computer chip. "Give this to Wonzaru at the general store. That should take care of the rash."
The Jawa nodded, pulling on its dusty robes.
"You should wash those more often, especially being as sexually active as you are. You're aggravating the condition."
The Jawa mumbled something incoherently, waddling out.
Ms. Ipralpa cleared off a chrome table, indicating that I should be placed there.
She gave me a thorough examination, stretching out my little limbs.
"A Kowakian Monkey Lizard," she said. "You really shouldn't have taken it out of its nest. They can't survive on their own."
"It wasn't me," Jabba protested. "Honest! A bunch of Tusken Raiders came after its family, and-!"
She gave him a scolding look. "Some of my best friends are Tusken Raiders."
"Well these aren't them. They were meanies."
"Aww! He's cute!" said a voice. "What will you name him?"
Off to one side of the table, I saw her.
A little green kidd, a leg head just like the doctor. She had on a white sandplay overall dress. I found her rather cute myself.
"I don't know," Jabba said.
"Salacious," I squawked. It was what Kowakian babies say when they're hungry.
"Um...Crumbs," Jabba said.
"Salacious!" I repeated.
Ms. Ipralpa laughed. "I think he's hungry."
"Are you sure it's a he?" the girl said.
"Yes, Oola. I see the beginnings of a hilsorx stub directly underneath the tail."
I don't let just anyone play with my genitalia, so when the doctor's finger hovered around that spot, I clawed at it with my feet, squawking my indignation.
"You can help him, can't you?" Jabba asked the doctor.
She smiled, flexing her head legs a little. "I'm a little busy, Jabba, but tell you what. I'll give you the stuff to nurse little `Crumbs' to health. It'll be your responsibility to make sure he gets big and strong."
"I hope you do better with Crumbs than you did with that Womp Rat you used to have!" the little female mocked.
"Now, now, Oola," the doctor scolded as she injected some medications into me. She seemed to have done this with others of my race, for the needles were in and out before I could wiggle around and hurt myself.
She filled a bottle with a lavender liquid, handing it to Jabba. "This is a special baby formula. Little Crumbs looks hungry, so you'll want to give him some right away, then three other times today, four times a day afterwards. It's a special formula, designed to feed a variety of species, so don't start feeding it regular milk or table scraps until I say it's ready."
"It looks like you're going to be a mommy!" Oola joked.
Jabba bottle fed me right away, he and Oola taking turns with the bottle, actually fighting over it a couple times before Ms. Ipralpa scolded them both.
When I'd finished, Oola wrapped me up in a clean blanket, carrying me to the door, Jabba hauling a case of the purple stuff behind her. It was almost like they were playing Mommy and Daddy.
The bottles clattered to the floor when a pair of helmeted soldiers in red and black armor came stomping in, followed by a hunched over bug creature, clad in a sort of red-black robe with gold woven into it.
Ms. Ipralpa stiffened when she noticed him, looking fearful, angry.
"Sulwalid Argrillus," she said.
The bug gave a slight bow. "Ms. Ipralpa."
"What can I do for you, sir?"
"I believe you know. We've been doing some bookkeeping, and we've discovered some discrepancies. It seems that you owe the Sith twenty thousand credits."
"That's impossible!" Ms. Ipralpa cried. "We've checked our books, and double checked them. Our tribute to the Sith is there, down to the last penny."
"I think not."
Argrillus showed her a little computer. "Either you forgot to add in Line 12, or you deliberately neglected to include it in your tribute."
"Sir, I had no intention of cheating the provisional government."
"Regardless, you have. "
The companions of the bug pulled out blasters.
"Please," Ms. Ipralpa begged. "Can't you see I don't have the money? What do you want me to do?"
"Sell some tools." He pointed at the formula. "For starters, I know for a fact you can get a fair sum from selling some of that!"
"Never!" Jabba growled through his teeth. "It's for Crumbs! You can't just make up laws and bully people into taking their money!"
I squawked, covering my eyes with my hands.
"And what if no one buys it?" Ms. Ipralpa asked. "What if it's depreciated somewhat? How do you expect me to make the money back by just selling things?"
Argrillus ignored him. "I believe that daughter of yours would fetch a pretty penny from the slave traders. They're always looking for someone small to clean out those refinery pipes."
Ms. Ipralpa began a shouted protest, but Argrillus silenced her with a wave of his claw. "I don't care how you do it, but get that money to me by this time tomorrow, or drastic measures will be taken."
The creature and his guards marched back out the door.
