Star Wars - X-Wing - Krytos Trap

by Michael A. Stackpole

Palpatine Counter-insurgency Front is one of the reasons my

  militia was created. As long as you are a threat, the Provi-

  sional Council needs me. Without you, all we can do is go

  after petty black marketeers and other criminals."

  "All of whom you currently control anyway."

  "You overestimate my abilities."

  Loor raised an eyebrow. "Do I? You found me quickly

  enough."

  Vorru shrugged. "More by happenstance than anything

  else. I was in the process of consolidating my hold on the

  black market in bacta and had Nartlo under observation,

  since he had a source I could not isolate. My people had your

  people under observation when they visited him last night.

  We continued watching and were led to this vehicle. Your

  people are good at disguising themselves--by the way, the

  blond hair and goatee really do distance your appearance

  from that of Tarkin. Changing the appearance of a vehicle is

  not as simple."

  The little man smiled. "I had no idea who we had found

  until we checked the records on this vehicle. The registration

  is utterly benign and ordinary, with no sign of slicing on the

  datafile at all. That indicated to me that the registration had

  made it into the computers through legitimate means, and

  that meant Imperial Intelligence. Since you had turned Zekka

  Thyne against me, I had made it my business to learn about

  you then, surprise, surprise, here you are." "I hope I don't disappoint you."

  "It's possible, but we 'll see." Vorru frowned. "Normally

  I'd not have picked you up so early, but Nartlo indicated that

  he'd given you the locations of the Republic's bacta reposito-

  ries. I immediately became suspicious--he maintained you

  were just a bacta dealer, but those containment centers just

  ache to be hit by the PCF. I tried to determine if Nartlo was

  lying to me, but you had anticipated I'd do that."

  Loor smiled. "You used skirtopanol on him."

  "Yes, and the convulsions were rather hideous."

  "Convulsions? Hmmm. We gave him a supply of lo-

  tiramine and told him it would prevent him from getting the

  Krytos virus. I included strict dosing instructions. If he went

  into convulsions he must have taken four times the recom-

  mended amount."

  "Some people assume that if one pill is good, more is

  better."

  "He died?"

  "Cerebral hemorrhage."

  "He was useful, which is why we didn't just kill him

  outright. The 1otiramine would have made interrogation dif-

  ficult for the Rebels, and some of the information he had

  about my operation would have had them baring off in all

  sorts of wrong directions."

  Vorru nodded. "Though he claimed no knowledge of a

  planned assault on the bacta stores, that is what you are

  planning, yes?"

  Loor looked around the passenger compartment. "I

  would have thought General Cracken would resort to more

  professional methods of interrogation."

  "He would, and will, if you do not choose to cooperate

  with me." Vorru crossed his legs and plucked at the crease in

  his slacks. "If I don't get answers from you, I will tell

  Cracken I have uncovered a plot to assault the current cen-

  ters. He'll put precautions into place that will prevent your

  success while moving the bacta to new locations. You will

  lose and I will win."

  "And you have a plan that will result in some other

  outcome?"

  Vorru smiled. "You will now be working for me. You

  will hit targets I give you and you will hit them when I want

  them hit. I am not unsympathetic to your war against the

  Rebellion, I just wish to kill yet one more mynock with a

  single laser-blast."

  Of course, it should have been obvious. Loor nodded.

  "You would do what Prince Xizor could not."

  "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 fal-

  ters."

  "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 Em-

  peror 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 lsard, 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."

  16

  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 stan-

  dard year before the Emperor dissolved the Senate. I worked

  there for six years, moving up into the Smuggling Interdic-

  tion division, where I partnered for two years with Corran

  Horn. Approximately two years ago Corran, Gil Bastra, my

  husband Diric, and I all fled CoreIlia 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."

  leila 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 mur-

  derer 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 inves-

  tigations. 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 re-

  treat 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 look-

  ing 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 lella. "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 dur-

  ing your investigation."

  Iella started ticking things off on her fingers. "l have

  interviewed witnesses, I have listened to comlink recordings

  and read transcripts of same, I have looked at physical evi-

  dence and reviewed reports prepared by forensics concerning

  same, and I've reviewed the file evidence available."

  "What sorts of thi ngs 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 re-

  port?"

  "I have."

  "What does it say concerning Kirtan Loor?"

  Iella looked straight at Halla Ettyk. "In it Lieutenant

  Horn 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 char-

  acterize 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, noth-

  ing in your experience that would lead you to question Lieu-

  tenant 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 Mort 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 Men."

  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 Wessift, in your time with the Corellian Security

  Force, have you ever performed an investigation into a mat-


  ter 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 Tri-

  bunal.

  "How long would you say the average murder investiga-

  tion 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