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
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."
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