The Krytos Trap

by Michael A. Stackpole

  “Xizor relied too much on his personal abilities and not enough on the ability to read others.”

  “Having made Black Sun over into the People’s Militia, you’ll be in position to assume power if the Rebellion falters.”

  “But I have no desire to see the Rebellion fail. I just want to see the Rebellion’s leadership fail. Manipulate the Bothans and appease them, frustrate the Alderaanians until they alienate the other humans with their constant reminders of how their world was martyred for the Rebellion, let the black market bankrupt the Republic so someone who has monetary reserves can come in and bail things out—”

  “That being you.”

  “Of course.” Vorru nodded. “Ysanne Isard may have injected the Krytos virus into Imperial Center, but the Rebels injected a more deadly virus into Imperial Center before that: me. They saw me as someone who could be a brake on the predations of the underworld here, but they forgot the Emperor himself had seen me as a rival for power once upon a time. What they forgot, I never have. Now the Emperor is dead and I am here on his world.

  “The question for you, Agent Loor, is this: how do you want to destroy the Rebellion? Do you want to blast it apart, or distract it until it, too, sickens and dies? What you will find growing up in its place, I can assure you, will be to your liking.”

  The Intelligence agent pressed his lips together in a thin line. My refusal to go along will mean my death, so my choice is obvious. And, as with Ysanne Isard, Fliry Vorru will not live forever.

  Loor nodded slowly. “What do you want?”

  “I want you to hit only one of the six repositories at this time—the one just south of the Senate district. My people have already managed to steal most of that supply anyway, so your attack will cover our tracks and leave us to profit from the spike in black market pricing. I will give you other targets as we go along to further my aims.”

  “Consider it done. Tonight, during Mon Mothma’s speech?”

  Vorru’s face blossomed in a broad smile. “Ah, you have a taste for irony. Splendid. I think our alliance will be most profitable for the both of us. I anticipate doing business with you, Agent Loor, will be an ongoing pleasure.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Iella Wessiri smiled at Diric as she settled into the witness chair. Diric was in the court for the first time and actually looked excited by the crush of people. The bailiffs had let him sit right behind the prosecution table because that put him in close proximity to where she sat when she wasn’t on the stand.

  The ashen hue of Diric’s flesh betrayed his fatigue, but the trial had piqued his interest. If not for the fire that put into his brown eyes, she would have remained adamantly against his attending the trial. She felt the trial had to be on the Palpatine Counter-insurgency Front’s list of targets, and she didn’t want Diric exposed to their violence. The sheer savagery of their strike at a bacta containment facility the previous night had left her shaken and, secretly, pleased to have Diric where she could see him.

  Halla Ettyk stood. “Iella Wessiri, could you please tell the court about your personal employment history over the last eight years?”

  “I joined the Corellian Security Force just about a standard year before the Emperor dissolved the Senate. I worked there for six years, moving up into the Smuggling Interdiction division, where I partnered for two years with Corran Horn. Approximately two years ago Corran, Gil Bastra, my husband Diric, and I all fled Corellia before our division’s Imperial Liaison officer, Kirtan Loor, could trump up charges and arrest us. From Corellia Diric and I came to Coruscant and remained in hiding for a year. We had enough money that we didn’t need jobs, so I did nothing during that first year here. Subsequent to my husband’s disappearance, about a year ago, I joined the Alliance organization here on Coruscant and aided Rogue Squadron in bringing the shields down. Since then, for the past two weeks, I’ve been assigned to your office as chief investigator on this case.”

  The prosecutor nodded. “So, you worked with Corran Horn for two years.”

  “I partnered with him for two years.”

  “Describe what you mean by partnering.”

  Iella shrugged slightly. “It’s akin to being married to someone in that you have to trust them completely. Your life is in your partner’s hands in dangerous situations. The only way you can build up that level of trust is by getting to know one another. The job means you’re together a great deal—in any given week you could easily see more of your partner than you do your own family. Some partners get to know each other so well that they almost get this Gotal-sense of being able to read each other’s moods and react in situations without a word being spoken.”

  “Describe for us, please, your relationship with Corran Horn.”

  “We were close, very close. About six months after I started working with him, Corran’s father was murdered. That event crushed Corran and I helped him through it. He’d been an only child and his mother had died previously, so he felt alone. The fact that Kirtan Loor freed his father’s murderer had Corran burning for vengeance, but Loor’s Imperial ties meant Corran couldn’t do anything, and that frustrated him. Gil and I worked at calming him down, and he came around. The point is that when you help someone through such a difficult time, you get to see his heart and get to know him very well.”

  Halla Ettyk glanced at her datapad. “How well did you know Kirtan Loor?”

  “He became our Imperial Liaison about a year before I was partnered up with Corran. I found him to be aloof and distant. We didn’t socialize—he made no effort to get to know the rest of us after work and didn’t socialize during office celebrations. He seemed to delight in frustrating investigations. In the three years I worked in the same office with him, I got to know him well enough to avoid him as much as possible.”

  “Did you become good at avoiding him?”

  “Yes. He’s fairly easy to spot, especially because of his height, and if he became too obnoxious, I could always retreat to the female officers’ refresher station and he’d not follow me.”

  “You mention his height. How would you characterize his appearance overall?”

  “Rather distinctive.” Iella brushed her light brown hair away from the side of her neck. “He prided himself on looking like a younger, taller Grand Moff Tarkin, and he wasn’t far wrong in that. He definitely stood out in a crowd.”

  “Would you say Corran Horn knew Kirtan Loor as well as you did?”

  “Objection, counsel is leading the witness.”

  “Sustained. Rephrase the question, Commander.”

  “Yes, Admiral. How well could you say Corran Horn knew Kirtan Loor?”

  “Objection. That calls for speculation.”

  “I’ll allow it. Overruled.” Admiral Ackbar nodded toward Iella. “You may answer the question.”

  “I’d say Corran knew Loor as well as I did. Corran seemed to know where Loor would be before Loor did, and he programmed Whistler to give him a sign if Loor was around and he’d not noticed yet.”

  “Thank you.” Again Ettyk checked her datapad. “Please describe for us the kinds of materials you have reviewed during your investigation.”

  Iella started ticking things off on her fingers. “I have interviewed witnesses, I have listened to comlink recordings and read transcripts of same, I have looked at physical evidence and reviewed reports prepared by forensics concerning same, and I’ve reviewed the file evidence available.”

  “What sorts of things are in that file evidence?”

  “Reports by Commander Antilles, Lieutenant Horn, and Captain Celchu about their time here on Coruscant.”

  Halla hit two buttons on her datapad. “I’ve now downloaded into the court’s evidentiary computer a report by Lieutenant Corran Horn that I would like entered into evidence as People’s exhibit 34. You have reviewed this report?”

  “I have.”

  “What does it say concerning Kirtan Loor?”

  Iella looked straight at Halla Ettyk. “In it Lieutenant Hor
n reports that he saw Captain Celchu in conversation with Kirtan Loor at a cantina called the Headquarters.”

  “Based on your experience as Corran’s partner, how would you characterize the nature of this report?”

  “Typical Corran: concise, to the point, and unequivocal in his statement of facts.”

  “And, based on your experience, how would you characterize Corran’s identification of Kirtan Loor?”

  “He was absolutely certain he’d seen Captain Celchu talking with Loor.”

  Ettyk smiled. “So there was nothing in the report, nothing in your experience that would lead you to question Lieutenant Horn’s identification of Kirtan Loor?”

  Iella hesitated. “Actually, there is one little detail about which I do have a question.”

  Surprise flashed across Halla’s face, but she smothered it quickly. “Move to strike as nonresponsive, your Honor.”

  The Mon Calamari’s barbels twitched beneath an open mouth. “No, Commander, you asked one more question than you should have, and now you have to live with the consequences. Do you have anything else for this witness?”

  “At this time, no sir, but I reserve the right to recall her.”

  “Understood. Your witness, Counselor Ven.”

  Iella straightened up in the witness box and tried to calm herself, but she felt her guts begin to knot up as the Twi’lek stood. Her heart started pounding a bit faster. She’d never liked being cross-examined, and she expected no mercy from Nawara Ven, especially after Halla made her mistake.

  “Agent Wessiri, in your time with the Corellian Security Force, have you ever performed an investigation into a matter of treason?”

  “No, but I have worked murder cases before.”

  “I know. You’ve worked many murder cases, haven’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “And some have been easier to investigate than this one, haven’t they?”

  Iella nodded. “Yes.” Though Nawara Ven kept his voice low and his demeanor easy, she didn’t like the way he started nibbling in around the edges. He was projecting an aura of calm control, running the trial, and she knew that was bad. Once he got into a rhythm and she started moving along with him, he could turn and surprise her, and get admissions out of her that would give the wrong impression to the Tribunal.

  “How long would you say the average murder investigation you worked lasted?”

  “You’d have to be more specific.”

  “How long before an arrest?”

  Iella shrugged. “Less than a week. If you don’t have a suspect in custody by that time the trail can get very cold.”

  “The investigation itself, though, might go on longer than that, correct?”

  “Sure.”

  “Because there are details to check, lab reports to read and analyze, witnesses to depose, more facts to be checked, and the like, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  The Twi’lek smiled. “That takes a long time to do, doesn’t it?”

  “That depends.”

  “Say you want to do it right.”

  “I always want to do it right.”

  “Of course, but haste can make for sloppy work, can’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “So a hasty investigation is potentially a sloppy one?”

  “Yes.”

  Nawara Ven nodded. “So would you characterize two weeks from murder to trial as fast, in your experience?”

  Iella nodded reluctantly. “It’s faster than most trials.”

  “Have you ever been involved in a case that went to trial as quickly as this?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  The Twi’lek looked back at the datapad on his table. Iella saw lights flicker across the front panel on Whistler, then Nawara nodded and looped a braintail back over his shoulder. “I want to call your attention to People’s 34. How long after the incident described was the report made?”

  Iella glanced at the small datapad monitor in the corner of the witness box. “There is a two-week gap between the incident and the filing of the report.”

  “Now, in your experience as Corran Horn’s partner, would you say he was usually prompt in filing his reports?”

  “Yes.” Iella glared at Whistler. “But sometimes there were delays, and the two weeks you mention were fairly busy.”

  “Is that the only reason, being busy, that you believe Lieutenant Horn delayed filing his report?”

  “Objection, calls for speculation.”

  “Counselor Ven is asking the witness what she believes, not what she thinks the victim thought. I’ll allow it. Overruled.”

  “Because we believed Captain Celchu was dead on Noquivzor, there seemed no way the report could be true, so there would have been no reason to file it.” Iella leaned forward in her seat. “However, the minute Corran learned Captain Celchu was alive, he made that report.”

  “I understand that.” The Twi’lek flashed her a smile full of pointy teeth. “In your time as his partner, had you ever known Corran Horn to make a mistake?”

  “He was only human.”

  Ven’s expression darkened. “Perhaps you can expand on that answer for those of us who are not human.”

  Iella blushed and glanced down at the floor. What a thing to say, especially here and now! “I mean, yes, he did make mistakes.”

  “Thank you. Now, you alluded to something in the report that left a question in your mind about the veracity of Lieutenant Horn’s identification of Kirtan Loor. What was that?”

  Her stomach folded in on itself. “Corran describes Loor as wearing a hooded cloak and following Captain Celchu out the back of the cantina as Corran entered it. Corran recognized Loor from his height and his gait, but he never actually saw his face.”

  “And as good as Corran was, you think that his making an identification without seeing the individual’s face leaves room for him to be mistaken?”

  “Yes.”

  The Twi’lek nodded. “Thank you for your candor. Nothing further.”

  Ackbar looked at the prosecutor. “Redirect?”

  “No, Admiral.”

  The Mon Calamari nodded down at Iella. “You are excused, Agent Wessiri. I am going to recess the court at this time. The Provisional Council is meeting to discuss a number of problems and I must be there. I may, in fact, recess the trial for a week. I assume, from the question you asked earlier, Counselor Ven, you would not mind having the extra time for investigation of the case?”

  Iella, returning to her place at the prosecution bench, watched Nawara’s grey profile as he nodded. “I welcome the time to continue to prepare my defense.”

  “Commander Ettyk, you have no objections to a delay?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Very good, court stands adjourned for one week.”

  Iella entered Halla Ettyk’s office. “Diric’s in the outer office, lying down. I hope you don’t mind. The crush of people leaving the court was a bit much, but the bailiffs didn’t seem to want to let him catch his breath. In fact, they weren’t too interested in letting me bring him along with me here to the office.”

  The black-haired prosecutor shook her head. “Not a problem, but get him a special visitor’s identification badge.”

  Iella frowned as she slipped into a nerfhide chair in front of Halla’s transparisteel desk. “What’s going on?”

  Halla set a comlink down on her desk. “I just heard from Admiral Ackbar’s aide, Commander Sirlul. The reason for the abrupt adjournment was more than a routine meeting of the Provisional Council. It appears, in the wake of the PCF assault on that bacta storage site, we’ve had a bomb threat here. They aren’t sure who made the threat or how real it is, but they want a week to reinforce the courthouse complex.”

  “I see.”

  Halla nodded solemnly. “Just as well—it gives me a week to shore up my case.”

  Iella winced. “I’m sorry for what I said in there. I don’t want to have Corran’s killer get off, but—”

 
“Not your fault. Admiral Ackbar was right—I asked one more question than I should have. I tried to make sure there was no question that Corran had been right, and I was too smart for my own good.” She shrugged. “At least nothing got said about the Duros that Captain Celchu says he was meeting with that night. Right now the Tribunal just knows that Corran might have been mistaken about his identification. If the Duros is brought in, they’ll be free to wonder how much Kirtan Loor in a cloak looks like a Duros in a cloak.”

  Iella’s eyes narrowed. “We all knew Celchu claimed he met a Duros that night.”

  “So it seems, but all those stories get traced back to Celchu himself, so anyone else bringing it up gets it stricken because of the hearsay rule. The only way that comes in is if Tycho takes the stand.”

  “What if the Duros testifies?”

  “What’s the likelihood of that happening? There’s no evidence Lai Nootka ever was on Coruscant, as nearly as we can tell. Moreover, there was some history between Corran and Nootka—Corran got him out of an Imperial prison on Garqi, wherever that is. Why would Nootka run from the man who saved his life?”

  Iella opened her hands. “Maybe he was just following Tycho.”

  “Fine. Let’s assume that meeting was as innocent as Tycho has tried to make it out to be. It doesn’t make the least little bit of difference. The bribe data alone is enough to show he was working for the Empire. Corran believed Tycho had met with Kirtan Loor; his threat to dig into Tycho’s background because of that belief is our motive for the murder.”

  “But why kill Corran when you can show he’s wrong about the meeting just by producing Lai Nootka?” Iella frowned. “Tycho always seemed confident of his innocence, which meant he either had Nootka where he could deliver him, blowing apart the foundation of Corran’s threatened investigation, or—”

  “Or he could be innocent?” Halla shook her head. “Don’t plot a course into that black hole.”

  “But that black hole might be the truth.”

  “Sure, but we’re not the triers of fact in this case, the Tribunal members are. We just have to present to them the best case we can muster, and the defense has to knock it apart.” Halla’s brown eyes narrowed. “You’re not going to start in on me about wanting to make sure your partner’s killer really is caught, because I’ll tell you we’ve got him beyond a reasonable doubt.”