uating people and trying to decide how much you could trust
them, yes?"
Pash's frown deepened. "Yes."
"And Captain Celchu figured high on your list of sus-
pect individuals, didn't he?"
"On a scale of one to infinity he ranked about a five."
"But that was higher than anyone else there, correct?"
"You're making it sound wrong."
"I move for the answer to be stricken as nonresponsive."
"So ordered." Ackbar again looked down at Pash. "Just
answer the questions, Lieutenant."
"The ranking you gave Captain Celchu was higher than
anyone else's ranking, wasn't it, Lieutenant?" Pash nodded reluctantly. "Yes."
"Thank you. Now, on the night, two weeks ago, you
were preparing to fly a mission that would aid in our con-
quest of Coruscant."
Yes."
"What was that mission?"
"Five of us were going to fly cover for the rest of the
squadron as they tried to bring the planetary shields down."
"To do that you needed fighters, correct?"
'Yes."
"And you had them?"
'Yes."
"Where did they come from?"
Pash took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Cap-
tain Celchu had purchased them during his time here on
Coruscant."
"And he had even flown a mission here, correct?"
"Yes, the mission where he saved us."
Ettyk turned back to the prosecution table and studied
the datapad. Iella Wessiri came around to face her. "That
night you witnessed a conversation between Captain Celchu
and Corran Horn, did you not?"
"I did. I wasn't a party to the conversation, though."
"But you did overhear it?" Ettyk turned and spitted the
witness with a forthright stare.
The pilot hung his head. "Yes."
"Did you hear Captain Celchu tell Lieutenant Horn that
he had checked over the fighter Horn would be using?"
"Yes."
"And did you hear Lieutenant Horn threaten to work to
expose Captain Celchu's treason once he returned from the
mission?"
"Yes." Fatigue dragged at the red-haired man's reply.
The prosecutor smiled. "And what was Captain
Celchu's response to that threat?"
"He said he had nothing to fear from Corran's investiga-
tion."
"As if he knew there would be no investigation?"
Nawara stood quickly. "Objection! It calls for specula-
tion and is inflammatory." "Sustained."
Ettyk turned and nodded to Nawara. "Your witness."
Nawara hesitated for a second. The evidence Halla Et-
tyk had laid out so far came as no surprise and was circum-
stantial. All she had gotten from Pash was that he had seen
Tycho and Corran exchange some harsh words. That would
go to motive, and some of the comments did cover opportu-
nity to fix Corran's fighter, but without the Headhunter there
was no evidence of tampering.
All he could accomplish on cross-examination would be
to ask Pash to recount Tycho's explanation for the meeting
where Corran saw him talking to Kirtan Loor. Tycho had
explained he'd been speaking to a Duros trader, Lai Nootka,
not Kirtan Loor. Nawara knew Ettyk would object to Pash's
repetition of Tycho's explanation on hearsay grounds. With-
out being able to call Lai Nootka--or putting Tycho on the
stand--there was no way to get at th at whole subject.
Unless I called Kirtan Loor and he denied ever meeting
Tycho! He put the chances of that happening at something
just under the chances of the Emperor showing up and grant-
ing the Rebels one and all an Imperial pardon.
"Counselor Ven?"
Nawara looked up at Admiral Ackbar. "Sorry, sir. I
have no questions of this witness at this time." The Twi'lek
resumed his seat.
"Very well. Next witness, Commander Ettyk."
Ettyk stood once again. "The state calls Erisi Dlarit to
the stand."
14
Corran Horn felt as clumsy as the Trandoshan dragging him
through the interrogation center's corridor. The injection an
Eradee droid had given him back in his isolation cell had
already begun to take hold. He had it in his mind that at least
part of the concoction used was skirtopanol and that was not
good. The one time he'd been under its influence, back dur-
ing an exercise at the Corellian Security Force Academy, he
confessed to all sorts of minor transgressions from his child-
hood. That would have been merely comical, but one of his
father's cronies was overseeing the interrogation seminar and
supplied his father with the text of his confession.
I don't think Iceheart will . . . When he started he'd
had a full thought there, but the very image of Ysanne Isard
that sprang into his mind killed things. Corran knew enough
to know the drugs were working the way they were supposed
to. He started to moan from fear and frustration, which
earned him a backhanded cuff from his guard.
The blow and the dry-rot scent of the Trandoshan com-
bined with his fear to bring memories rushing full-blown and
terrible back into his mind. He saw little holographic images
hovering in the air before him. Three figures, two men and a
female Quarren, sat at a table in the darkened corner of a
tapcaf. The two men---one of them his father--were deep in
conversation. His father showed his agitation in the way he
poked a finger at the smaller man and the color rising in his
face.
Into the picture walked a Trandoshan bounty hunter
wearing a bulky dust-cloak thrown over his shoulders. The
lizard-man strode past the table and on up toward Corran
until his green, scaly face eclipsed sight of Corran's father.
The Trandoshan, Bossk, stepped back, slapping a power
pack into the blaster carbine he'd produced from beneath the
cloak. He spun slowly and sprayed red blaster bolts back and
forth over the trio at the table.
The Quarren all but exploded into a black mist. Cor-
ran's father caught two shots high in the chest, slamming
him against the back of the booth. As he slid from sight, the
little man to whom he had been speaking tried to dive for
cover. Unfortunately for him, the Trandoshan's fire blasted
the table into flaming splinters and half-melted metal and
still hit him. The little man took three bolts in the torso and a
fourth that blew the back of his head off.
Corran saw himself in the scene. He saw no transition,
no arrival. He just was there, kneeling in the blood, sur-
rounded by burning bits of table. He held his father's body in
his arms. He wiped the Quarren ichor from his father's face
with a borrowed rag, all the while willing his father to open
his eyes and announce he would be fine.
The two blackened holes in his father's chest staed up
at him. At first they reminded him of a viper's fang marks,
then they blinked. One became an icy blue and the other a
volcanic red. The world blurred for a moment, then all the
&nb
sp; colors flowed together and became solid white, as they did
when he was in hyperspace.
Then he reverted and found himself standing before
Ysanne Isard in a predominately white room.
She frowned. "It fascinates me how all of our interroga-
tion sessions with you end up coming back to your father's
death. There are countless psychiatric advocates who would
find your preoccupation with your father's death to be grand
justification for adherence to disciplines as useless as Jedi
training. I do not."
Corran blinked his eyes. He couldn't recall going from
the corridor to the interrogation chamber, nor being bound
to the man-form that held him upright. The straps at his
shoulders, and across his chest, waist, wrists, and ankles all
pinched and chafed in such a way that he knew he'd been in
restraints for quite some time. He couldn't remember any-
thing but seeing his father die again, yet his throat felt raw
enough that he knew he had to have been speaking or shout-
ing or screaming.
Isard turned, presenting him her profile, and nodded to
unseen minions beyond a mirrored wall. "What I have
learned so far is a great deal of gossip that might be suitable
for embarrassing the Corellian Diktat, but that sort of infor-
mation is hardly in short supply. You have not ensconced
yourself highly enough in the councils of the Rebellion to be
of use to me--at least, I do not believe you have. It is entirely
possible you have managed to resist interrogation in certain
areas."
Corran shook his head. "You got the wrong guy."
"Then I will just have to make you into the right guy,
won't I?" Her eyes narrowed with irritation as she faced him
again. "Had Gil Bastra not sent you to the outlier worlds,
you would have become part and parcel of the Rebellion.
You would have found yourself in General Cracken's confi-
dence and I would have found you very useful in that regard.
Then again, it is possible that he set you in Rogue Squadron
so you could watch Tycho Celchu and uncover his ties to
me."
"No.'
"No? Cracken must have done that. You were his agent,
yes?"
Cotran shook his head adamantly. "No. I wasn't a spy
for Cracken."
"Were I inclined to believe anything, I might be inclined
to believe you in this case. Unfortunately I need proof." She
stepped aside as the Trandoshan wheeled in a device that
bristled with probes and danced with the colorful illumina-
tion of an ever-changing light array. The probes had been
fitted on a concave surface that could easily close over him
and the rack to which he was bound. Corran caught the stink
of ozone as the Trandoshan brought the device closer. He
didn't like the fact that he heard a click down at his feet
when the lizard-man finally nudged the device into place.
Isard smiled in a manner that made Corran want to
shrivel up and die. "This is a variant on a design Darth Vader
created to torture, among others, Han Solo at Bespin. As you
know, humans have a number of different types of neural
receptors. This device is designed to stimulate three of
them--the original only worked on the pain receptors. I have
found that adding stimulation for the heat and cold receptors
is most effective in getting what I want out of those I interro-
gate."
Corran wanted to snap off some quip, but fatigue and
anxiety prevented him from mustering the required concen-
tration.
"So, now we begin, Lieutenant Horn. Just tell me what I
want to know .... "
"... and I won't have to ask the court to let me treat you
like a hostile witness."
Iella Wessiri almost felt sorry for Erisi Dlarit as Halla
Ettyk tried to coax cooperation out of her. In going over the
depositions before the trial opened, Iella and Halla had
agreed that members of Rogue Squadron would be hostile
and resistant to anything that made them speak against
Tycho Celchu. Halla had decided, therefore, to bring them
up first and get them out of the way before she brought in the
investigators and other witnesses who could attest to Tycho's
involvement with the Empire. Halla had pointed out that
Nawara Yen would probably end up calling all the Rogues
back to the stand, but by the time he did that, their positive
affirmations about Tycho would sound hollow and unsup-
ported to the Tribunal.
"Flight Officer Dlarit, how did you come to be on Co-
ruscant two weeks ago?"
Erisi brought her chin up and her blue eyes flashed defi-
antly. "Corran Horn and I were inserted into Coruscant un-
der the guise of being a Kuati telbun and his mistress. For the
entire journey to Coruscant and the subsequent week, we
were together almost constantly. We were good friends and
talked a great deal."
Halla Ettyk nodded. "So you were confidants?"
"We shared confidences, yes." The black-haired woman
smiled politely. "It is difficult to keep secrets when you are
living in such close proximity with someone."
"And Corran Horn felt free to discuss things with you?"
"Objection relevance."
leila glanced over at Nawara Ven. The twitching of his
braintails betrayed some nervousness, but the Twi'lek was
objecting at all the places Halla had predicted he would. She
said he had talent. She didn't think he could win the case,
and his decision not to cross-examine Cracken wasn't what
Halla had anticipated.
Halla looked up at Admiral Ackbar. "This is founda-
tional, Admiral. She was living with Corran Horn for a con-
siderable portion of the last part of his life. I would suggest
this would qualify her to give opinions on his demeanor."
"Overruled."
Erisi frowned briefly. "We discussed many things rather
openly and frankly."
"How would you characterize the conditions under
which you spent time with Lieutenant Horn?"
The Thyferran pilot shrugged. "I saw him in combat,
during which he was calm and a leader. A hero. I saw him in
regular circumstances as well. He could be funny and com-
passionate and, well, attractive. I saw him in all different
ways and situations."
"On the night Coruscant fell, how would you character-
ize him?"
"Anxious and agitated."
"And what was the source of his irritation?"
Erisi chewed her lower lip for a moment. "Corran
said . . ."
"Objection." Nawara Ven stood. "This is hearsay."
Halla Ettyk took a step forward. "! would ask for an
excited outburst exception, your honor. She has already tes-
tified that Horn was anxious and agitated."
The Twi'lek stepped up beside Halla. "My learned col-
league certainly understands that being agitated and saying
something in no way makes it subject to the excited outburst
exception."
"Sustained."
Nawara smiled slightly as
he returned to his bench, but
Halla's expression just darkened. "Very well. Flight Officer
Dlarit, did you speak with Lieutenant Horn before you took
off on the mission that evening?"
Yes."
"You stated he seenled anxious and agitated. Did you
find his state of mind unusual?"
"Objection, counsel is leading the witness."
"Rephrase the question, Commander."
"Flight Officer Dlarit, how did Lieutenant Horn's state
of mind strike you at the time?"
Erisi tugged at a wisp of hair behind her left ear. "Anxi
ety I could understand. We were all anxious to get going and
to see if the mission would succeed or not."
"And his agitation?"
"That wasn't like Corran."
"Had you seen or heard anything that, in your mind,
explained his agitation?"
The witness hesitated. "I saw Corran speaking with
Captain Celchu. 1 couldn't hear what they were saying, but I
saw them speaking together. Then Corran came over and
spoke with me."
"And you concluded?"
"Something in their conversation had set Corran off."
Iella glanced down at the datapad on the prosecution
table. Halla had gotten out of Erisi all she expected the wit-
ness to admit--testimony showing Corran to be out of sorts
as a result of his conversation with Captain Celchu. When
they had deposed Erisi they had learned the nature of her
conversation with Corran. While Halla would have loved to
get that testimony in, hearsay prevented it. The excited out-
burst exception wasn't something she had expected to suc-
ceed.
Halla smiled at Nawara. "Your witness."
The Twi'lek stood. "Flight Officer Dlarit, how long was
it between the time you reported speaking to Corran and the
previous time you had spoken to him?" "An hour."
"Now, you just testified that you saw Corran speak with
Captain Celchu. Did you see Lieutenant Horn speak with
anyone else before speaking with Captain Celchu?"
"No."
Nawara's head came up as if her answer surprised him.
"You didn't see Lieutenant Horn speak with Mirax Terrik?"
Erisi shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose I did. I saw
them standing near each other and saw her run off, but I
don't recall any conversation."
"But you do concede that they may have spoken to each
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