Star Wars_ X-Wing 03_ The Krytos Trap - Michael A. Stackpole [70]
“Not at all.” Diric tapped Wedge’s thigh with a finger. “First of all, the Tribunal judges know you and know how difficult that was for you. All Commander Ettyk really did was establish that Tycho was on Coruscant at your request and that the possibility of betrayal was in your mind.”
“Sure, but she also made it sound like I wouldn’t know who was a spy and who wasn’t.”
“Why would you?”
“What?”
Diric opened his hands. “As you said, ferreting out spies is not what you do. No one expects you to have been able to spot him as a spy if he was, and you certainly couldn’t if he wasn’t. And, between you and me, I don’t think he is a spy.”
“Thanks.”
“None necessary. I’ve had a number of conversations with Captain Celchu in jail and I find him thoroughly likable. If he’s a spy, well, then all of us are suspects.” Diric held a hand up. “I would also like to point out that I have attended many trials in my time, and you did no worse on the stand than many people I have seen. You see your performance as hideous because you were hoping to put the state’s case away with one telling shot. Unfortunately the case against Tycho isn’t a Death Star. It isn’t going to go away that easily. Nawara Ven knows what he’s doing, though, and he’ll do a good job.”
Wedge stared down at his hands. “I’d like to believe you, but I feel the way I did at Yavin, when Luke told me to pull up out of the trench on the Death Star. Luke was right, there wasn’t anything else I could do, but to abandon the effort at that point, it just didn’t feel right.”
“I understand that, but Luke Skywalker was correct and the Death Star was destroyed.”
“Yes, but Biggs Darklighter died. If I’d stayed in there, maybe—”
“Maybe he would have lived and you would have died?” Diric shook his head ruefully. “And you probably think that if you had been flying the night Coruscant was taken, Corran would still live?”
I hadn’t thought about it, but, yes, that notion has been bouncing around in the back of my mind. “It’s not that I have a death wish, you know.”
“I know that very well, Wedge. I have seen this survivor’s guilt in Iella, in Corran and his father, and in others.” He pressed a hand to his own chest. “Even I have known it. We all have friends and acquaintances who meet with what we see as an untimely death. With me, because I do nothing, I wonder why it wasn’t me who died. I wonder what I have done to survive. With you and others who actively oppose evil, you wonder what it is that you could have done to prevent another person’s death. Those questions have no answers—at least none outside the philosophical realm. For me they are a point of departure for thought, but for you and my wife they are just sources of frustration and regret.
“This is why, of course, my wife is working so hard to uncover who caused Corran’s death. That’s the only way she will be able to defeat the frustration and assuage her feelings of guilt. She hated what you were put through on the stand, because you are her friend, but her loyalty to Corran demanded she sit through it and help Commander Ettyk, if need be.” Diric shook his head. “Fortunately she did not have to help. You two are enough alike that I imagine you can see how much that would have hurt her.”
“Yeah, I can see it.” Wedge rubbed at his temples with both hands. “And I can understand the frustration. I have to wonder if there was a way to prevent Corran’s death.”
“Undoubtedly there was, Wedge, but it was not open to you. If Captain Celchu was a spy, then General Cracken and Winter and Iella all missed the signs of it.”
“But Corran didn’t.”
Diric’s smile returned more naturally. “As much as I valued Corran as a friend, he was not always right.”
“So Whistler has indicated.”
“And no one knew him better.” Diric patted him on the leg. “Maintain your faith in your friend. He deserves it.”
“Again, thank you.”
“No thanks are necessary. So, would you like me to take