Part 9 (1/2)
”Yes.”
”And the operation that took you to Coruscant involved your arriving under a false ident.i.ty, correct?”
”Yes.”
”So you have some understanding of what it takes to operate covertly in a hostile environment, just as any spy would, correct?”
”Yes.”
”It would be natural for a smart man like you to use what you had learned to try to check and see if you could detect any signs of a spy in your midst, correct?”
”It would seem that way.”
”It really was that way, wasn't it, Lieutenant?” Halla Ettyk opened her hands. ”You certainly found yourself eval-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 s.h.i.+elds 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 circ.u.m-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 repet.i.tion 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 that 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 during 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.