Chapter 2, part 7

Jaka spent a couple days getting to Mos Espa, mostly hitching rides on the sandcrawlers to the dismay of the other jawas. It was urgent business, he told them. "And since you're going that way just drop me off". The other jawas were humiliated by this black sheep, but they took him anyway. No jawa has "urgent" business unless he/she means it, and they knew Jaka meant it. Jaka had been to Mos Espa quite a few times and knew his way around the streets and it's inhabitants. He had made dealings, trades you might say, with some of the natives. The Hutts in particular. So, when Jaka arrived at the doorstep of one Maningas Hortas no one paid attention. Manny, as he was called, was one of the female Hutt's favorite undercover agents. He also owned several (in the Hutt system read that as LOTS) machine and repair shops throughout the city. Jaka's mission was to get permission to bring AL to one of the shops for repairs without any suspecting eyes, and no questions asked. After all, AL still showed signs of being an Imperial droid with very special capabilities.

Manny, with his dark spiky hair, in his long purple coat, and the mannerisms of a well-tuned lordship, was more than welcoming. He lavished Jaka with a banquet table stuffed with every edible thing in the outer rim. He provided a warm bath in an ornate blue-tiled sunken tub for Jaka (have you ever seen a jawa take a bath?). He even had a Hutt tailor make Jaka new robes of the finest dust-busting cloth. For two days Jaka was wined and dined, spit and polished, messaged and pampered. This was all well for a Hutt agent, but jawas weren't used to such treatment. Jaka tried to fit in, but enough was enough! He had "urgent" business, and for a jawa that took top priority. Besides, he had a feeling that AL might be in danger and had to get back right away. So, over a royal feast at the head Hutt's fortress, with dancing girls all around, and droids of all shapes and sizes seeing to his every need, Jaka bluntly popped the question to his elaborate and fat hostess, Jojo the Hutt.

"I will trade services for one of your repair shops for me and my friend, no questions asked! I need it in three days".... Silence filled the banquet hall. Jojo didn't know what to say. A jawa making demands? Of me? How belittling! Yet, her villinous heart suggested that this jawa meant business. And a Hutt always makes room for business.

What do you need it for?
No questions, remember?
You know my friend, Manny?
Yes.
Manny, make it happen.

And the deal was done.
The deal was he could have a shop to live and work in, in exchange for janitorial duties in some of the other shops in the immediate area. That was fine by Jaka. Nine hours a day he would sweep, dust, and straighten up the shops. The rest of the time was his, no questions asked. The next day, Manny showed Jaka some of the finest shops in town. But Jaka was determined to have a tiny inconspicuous shop that not even the Imperial forces would enter. Manny gave him the smallest shop in the crummiest part of town, just what Jaka asked for. All jawas know that those who live in slums don't care what happens in the neighborhood. The inhabitants are too busy just trying to survive. No prying eyes and no questions asked!