X-wing_ The Krytos Trap Part 20

26.

"Thank you, Admiral, I do have questions for Tsillin Wel." Nawara Ven sorted through his set of datacards, then fed one into his datapad. On the long journey to and from Ryloth he'd read Wel's depositions and had formulated a series of questions to ask her. There really was little to dispute in what she had to say, but he needed to make certain the Tribunal understood the limitations of what she had testified to.

In direct testimony the Quarren had seemed a bit testy, and Admiral Ackbar had admonished her to be cooperative. If needed, Nawara knew he could exacerbate that natural Mon Calamari-Quarren enmity and completely discredit her testimony in Ackbar's eyes. Generals Salm and Madine, on the other hand, might react negatively if he provoked her.

Combat piloting is often much easier than this.

Nawara looped a lekku over his shoulder. "Agent Wel, according to your earlier testimony, you've been auditing Imperial expenditures for years, is that correct?"

The Quarren's facial tentacles quivered. "I have said this, yes."

"And the purpose for studying these expenditures was to estimate how much money the Empire was pouring into anti-Rebel activities, correct?"

"Yes."

"This means you were looking for evidence of expenses that were hidden--black projects, so to speak, that did not appear on any official Imperial budget."

The Quarren nodded. "Budgets for such things are regu-larly hidden within other programs. A terra-forming budget might, for example, have miscellaneous expenses linked to it that cover the cost of military development projects. Prior to our taking of Coruscant I would compare known expenses with the budget expenditures and create a picture of what the Empire was spending."

"t see." Nawara glanced down at his datapad. "Now, you have told the court that my client, Captain Celchu, was paid approximately fifteen million credits over the past two years. This would be the amount of time that has pa.s.sed since his escape from Imperial custody. Is that a fair summa-rization of your testimony?"

The Quarren's turquoise eyes glinted wetly. "I indicated that fifteen million credits is all we have been able to un-cover. The money is located in six different accounts. There could be more."

"But you are uncertain of that?"

"Counselor Ven, since the occupation of Coruscant I have been working night and day a.n.a.lyzing Intelligence ac-counts. There are literally millions of accounts. I feel fortu-nate to have uncovered the six we have found so far."

Nawara pressed his hands together. "But these six ac-counts are not the only accounts you have looked at, cor-rect?"

"No, I have reviewed thousands of accounts myself, and my staff has reviewed nearly a million."

"So the accounts you have linked with my client are not remarkable?"

"I don't understand the question."

"Allow me to rephrase it." Nawara smiled. "How many Imperial agents have you found that have funds in numerous accounts ?"

A translucent membrane nict.i.tated up over Tsillin Wel's eyes. "A few."

"A few what? Dozen? Hundred? Thousand?"

"Dozen."

"And how many of those individuals have six ac-counts?"

The Quarren s.h.i.+fted slightly in the witness chair. "So far, none, but we have a great deal of work to do yet."

Nawara nodded. "Now, discovering the links between these files and an agent is not easy work, is it?"

"No."

"Is one of the difficulties that Imperial Intelligence took pains to make it difficult to locate the ident.i.ties of their agents?"

"Yes."

"Do they encrypt data?"

"Yes."

"Do the encryption routines vary in difficulty depending upon the value of the agent?"

"Objection." Halla Ettyk stood. "Calls for speculation on the part of the witness."

"Admiral, Agent Wel is overseeing an Intelligence divi-sion that has been at war with Imperial Intelligence for years. Clearly she would be familiar with the degree of security the Empire used to protect its a.s.sets and hide information."

"Overruled. You may answer the question as best you are able."

Wel's facial tentacles rolled up and slowly unfurled. "Encryption does become more difficult the more valuable the a.s.set. The methods used to hide Captain Celchu's iden-t.i.ty show him to be of middling importance to the Empire."

Nawara smiled. "So you have uncovered other agents on the same level of importance as him?"

"Dozens. Hundreds."

"And each of them had fifteen million credits paid out?"

The Quarren hesitated. "No."

"No? How much were they paid?"

"Thousands."

"So you're saying that while Captain Celchu was pro-tected like an agent of little value, he was paid out of all proportion with his apparent worth to Imperial Intelli-gence?"

"That is one conclusion that could be drawn from the accounts."

"Is the other perhaps that he was set up to look like a valuable agent as part of a frame-up?"

"Objection. Speculation."

"Withdrawn." Nawara nodded to Commander Ettyk. "Agent Wel, how much money has Captain Celchu taken from his accounts?"

Wel's tentacles writhed. "None."

"To your knowledge, is there any evidence that Tycho Celchu knew the accounts existed?"

"No.'~ Perfect. "So these accounts could have been set up and made to look as if Captain Celchu was an Imperial agent without his knowledge, specifically to discredit him in a trial like this?"

~Yes."

Nawara let his smile blossom fully. "And in your experi-ence, has Imperial Intelligence ever set up such accounts to attempt to make the Alliance think someone is an agent in their employ?"

The Quarren glanced down at her hands. "Yes. At least once."

"And who was that?"

Tsillin Wel glanced up at the bearded man sitting at Ad-miral Ackbar's left. "General Crix Madine. I found the ac-counts and also proved they were false."

"And you have diligently applied yourself to proving the accounts you have linked to Captain Celchu are false as well, correct?"

The Quarren shook her head. "That is not part of my job."

"So you just manufacture evidence for the state. Truth means nothing."

"Objection."

"Sustained." Admiral Ackbar looked down at Nawara.

"You have made your point, Counselor Ven. There is noth-ing more you can gain on this line."

"Yes, Admiral." Newera returned to the defense bench. "No further questions."

In the holding cell, Nawara rubbed some warmth back into the tip of his right lekku. "No, you're right, Captain, we did score points today. I think General Madine will question whether or not you're being paid off."

Tycho smiled over at him. "That's good, yes?"

"In a way, yes."

"What do you mean?"

Nawara shrugged. "The idea that you're an agent who was being paid by the Empire isn't supposed to impress the Tribunal--it's meant to impress the public. It's only one of three motives that would explain your actions.

It does pro-vide the prosecution with an embarra.s.sment of riches. Greed is the easiest thing for most folks to understand, especially when you're talking that much in the way of credits."

Tycho's binders clicked against the edge of the table as he slid his hands from it and held them against his chest. "Corran's threatening to expose me is another motive. What's the last one?"

"Lusankya." Neware opened his hands. "The Tribunal, at this point, has a choice. If they a.s.sume you betrayed the squadron because you were being paid or because you feared what Corran would uncover, they can convict you of murder and treason without any problem. Everyone will understand what happened and there won't be any messy details to deal with. If they decide, on the other hand, that you did what you did because of Imperial brainwas.h.i.+ng at Lusankya, then they would be bound to find you innocent by reason of di-minished sapience. In that case you'd be placed into a hospi-tal and treated for your affliction, to be released whenever you are cured."

Tycho stared down at his hands. "Which could be never."

"That's your nightmare. Their nightmare is that some Emdee-oh droid with a Cognitive Matrix a.n.a.lysis package will unscramble your brain and declare you cured in a week or two. They'd have to let you go free, which would make the justice system seem impotent."

Tycho's head came up and the bright blue of his eyes surprised Neware with its intensity. "What you're saying is that the sabacc cards have been programmed against me."

"It's worse than you know." Neware jerked a thumb toward the exterior wall. "The day we got back from Ryloth, the Palpatine Counter-insurgency Front blew up a school. It's been thirty-six hours and they've still not found all the bodies. Some were vaporized in the explosion, unrecover-able-just like Corran's. Both humans and non died in the blast. Someone claiming responsibility said that such acts of terror would continue until the state's sham trial of you, an obviously innocent man, was ended and you were set free."

"What?" Tycho shook his head. "In court you showed that the Imps had planted the information to frame me, and now you're telling me that they're saying I've been framed? What's going on?"

"Your trial is divisive. The government is using it to show they, unlike the Empire, can handle things in an open manner. Imperial agents, on the other hand, are making it look like evidence is being trumped up against you. It makes humans think you're a sacrifice being offered up to keep the Alliance together. The non-human population already thinks you're guilty and somehow responsible for the Krytos vi-rus-it doesn't matter that you had nothing to do with it."

Tycho leaned forward and slapped his hands on the ta-ble. "Nawara, you have to let me testify on my own behalf. I can convince them I'm innocent."

The Twi'lek sat back. "You've been talking to Diric again, haven't you?"

Tycho nodded. "He visited me while you and Wedge were gone. Aside from Winter, he was my only visitor. He says that talking to me has him convinced I'm innocent."

"That's great for him, but he was also an Imperial pris-oner, so he feels a sense of kins.h.i.+p to you. Most other folks don't have that bond."

Tycho raised an eyebrow. "You endured Imperial dis-crimination against non-humans. Can you really say you weren't an Imperial prisoner?"

Nawara hesitated for a moment. The greatest thing for him about joining the Rebellion had been having the weight of oppression lifted from him.

As a non-human he was treated as inconsequential by the Empire. Imperial magis-trates would ignore him and his objections, or they would overrule him and threaten him with contempt for wasting the court's time by bringing up points of law. He knew that at any moment he could be gathered up in some Intelligence sweep and incarcerated for whatever was left of his life, and no one would know.

Fear was once a constant factor in his life. Then he joined the Alliance, and while he didn't fully leave fear be-hind, he was given control over it. Now, with the Empire in retreat, that same control had been extended to others. Even the most despised individuals in the Empire now knew free-dom.

And still have a taste for revenge against their oppres-sors.

"Yes, I could say I, too, was their prisoner, Captain, but that doesn't matter. The fact is that if you testify, Com-mander Ettyk will destroy you on cross-examination."

"How?"

"She'll go back through your life and make it into a mockery of what it's been." Nawara's eyes narrowed to b.l.o.o.d.y crescents. "She'll point out that you volunteered for the Imperial Academy and were a successful TIE fighter pilot. She'll suggest you were so callous that you were speaking to your family and fianc& via the holonet at the precise mo-ment Alderaan was destroyed--all because you had learned, being as you have always been an Imperial Intelligence agent, when your world's destruction would take place." Tycho's jaw shot open. "But that's preposterous."

"You and I know it's preposterous, but there are count-less people out there who would believe it. You've been to the Galactic Museum. You've seen how the exhibits about the Emperor twist facts into lies. It's no surprise that such twisting can take place. The fact is, though, that people be-lieved the Emperor died at Endor destroying a Rebel Death Star.

It will be very easy for those same people to believe the worst of you."

Nawara hooked a taloned hand over Tycho's binders. "You don't remember your time at Lusankya, but she will make your amnesia sound like lying.

And she's good, very good. She'll have you saying things you don't want to say. Damage will be done and we won't be able to recover from it."

Tycho slumped back in his chair, dragging his hands into his lap. "We've really got nothing to prove my innocence, do we?"

"We have testimony about all you have done that is positive and good.

Whistler and Emtrey came up with an a.n.a.lysis of the Krytos virus infection pattern and I can get experts up to show how your actions actually made it much milder than it could have been. And we're still looking for Lai Nootka."

"So you're telling me that we need a miracle?" Nawara nodded. "I'd take one if you had one to offer, but then again, I wouldn't worry too much.

Winning this trial is merely impossible, and we're Rogues. We'll get it done."

Tycho sighed. "Or die trying."