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The general slowly smiled. He could easily let the guards know Horn was planning to escape, but doing that would make him nothing more than an informant. Informing was weak and would not be rewarded by Ysanne Isard. She wanted action. She wanted him to do something to atone for his failure. To please her he would have to act, because taking action was strong.

This Horn will bear watching. When he moves, I will be ready. Derricote tugged at the abbreviated sleeves of his tunic. He will become the source of my redemption and I will once again know the glory of service to the Empire!

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 Wei’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 Wei, 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 regularly 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.”

“I 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 passed since his escape from Imperial custody. Is that a fair summarization of your testimony?”

The Quarren’s turquoise eyes glinted wetly. “I indicated that fifteen million credits is all we have been able to uncover. 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 analyzing Intelligence accounts. There are literally millions of accounts. I feel fortunate to have uncovered the six we have found so far.”

Nawara pressed his hands together. “But these six accounts are not the only accounts you have looked at, correa?”

“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 nictitated up over Tsillin Wei’s eyes. “A few.”

“A few what? Dozen? Hundred? Thousand?”

“Dozen.”

“And how many of those individuals have six accounts?”

The Quarren shifted 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