• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

“… please tell us what your duties as a ComInt officer included, Lieutenant Pagorski?” Dekkon was asking in his raspy Chagrian voice. His skin was a richer hue than that of most of his species, so deeply blue it was better described as sapphire, and today the long lethorns dangling down the sides of his head were capped by dark spheres of polished ebonium. “Without violating any military secrets, of course. We just need a general idea.”

“Very well, sir,” Pagorski replied. She was wearing the full Imperial dress uniform, white jacket with epaulets over gray shirt buttoned high and tight. “Basically, we eavesdrop on enemy communications. That’s why it’s called ComInt. Communications Intelligence.”

Pagorski’s narrow eyes were fixed on Tahiri instead of Dekkon, and it was obvious from the hardness and anger in them that she had taken Pellaeon’s assassination personally. That was fine; it would make her testimony easier to discredit—provided, of course, that Eramuth was alert enough to observe her obvious motivation for coming forward.

Dekkon continued his line of questioning. “During the Battle of Fondor in the most recent civil war, were you aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Bloodfin in your capacity as a ComInt officer?”

“That’s correct.”

“So you were the officer in charge of intercepting enemy communications for the entire Imperial fleet?”

“No, sir,” Pagorski replied. “That would have been Captain Ellis.”

Dekkon looked up from the datapad in his hands. “That’s right—forgive me.” He adjusted his heavy features into an expression of apologetic chagrin—a sign that the Chagrian was trying to keep Eramuth’s attention focused on the mistake rather than the next question. “And what has become of Captain Ellis?”

“Captain Ellis was killed in action, sir.” Pagorski’s eyes blazed with anger. “During the mutiny.”

“The mutiny that occurred after the Moffs’ order to aid Colonel Jacen Solo … whom we now know as Darth Caedus?”

“That is correct, sir.” Pagorski continued to glare at Tahiri. “Lieutenant Veila murdered Admiral Pellaeon because she knew that without him in command, the Moffs would take Colonel Solo’s side against Admiral Niathal.”

Dekkon hesitated almost imperceptibly, no doubt anticipating the objections to hearsay and prejudicial phrasing that should have been rising from the defense table. But Eramuth’s chin remained on his chest, leaving Tahiri to sit beside him, no doubt wondering whether it would be more harmful to let the jury see her nudging her counsel, or to let the characterization pass unchallenged.

Always eager to press an advantage, Dekkon paused only half a second before continuing. “And before the murder, had Admiral Pellaeon already given orders to aid Colonel Solo’s rival, Admiral Niathal?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And, in your capacity as a ComInt officer, did you have occasion to intercept a communication between the defendant and Colonel Solo of the Galactic Alliance, in which the defendant informed him of Admiral Pellaeon’s decision to support Admiral Niathal?”

“I did.”

“Was the communication encrypted?”

“Of course,” Pagorski answered. “During a military operation, everything is encrypted.”

“But you were able to decipher the signal and eavesdrop on the conversation between the defendant and Colonel Solo?”

“I was.”

“And how did you accomplish that?”

A superior smirk came to Pagorski’s lips, and Leia knew that much of what followed would be a lie. The lieutenant had come forward at the last minute not—as she had claimed—because it had taken that long for the Imperial Navy to grant her request to testify. Rather, she had waited because doing so made it impossible for the defense to challenge the claim she was about to make.

“I’m sorry, Counsel, but that’s classified Most Secret,” Pagorski said. “I warned you that I wouldn’t be able to discuss the technical details of the interception when I came forward.”

“Yes, so you did.” This time, Dekkon pushed on without pause to what was surely very questionable testimony. “But you