But I crack it anyway.
Inside: a data cube. High-end. Military-grade encryption, coded to dissolve on playback. I slot it into the reader. The holo-projector whirs to life, sputtering blue light into the room.
And then he appears.
A Nar’Vosk informant. Mid-rank. Tattooed, sweating, eyes darting like prey. He stares directly into the lens.
“My name is Korrin Val-Tai. I served under the elder arm of the Nar’Vosk Syndicate for fourteen cycles. What follows is my full confession—unsolicited, uncoerced, of my own volition...”
I blink.
He names names.
Dates.
Codes. Drop locations. Smuggling corridors. Payments made. Officials bribed. And then the line that nearly makes me drop the tablet:
“I provide this information as recompense for my role in the attempted assassination of Aebon Rexx. He is the only reason I’m alive to speak it.”
My breath leaves me in a rush.
I replay it.
Once. Twice. Then ten more times. Every detail checks out. The timestamps align with known movements. Facial recognition pings confirm identities.
It’s real.
Unbelievably real.
I lean back, staring at the holo now frozen mid-frame. Aebon did this. He got this man to talk. Somehow. Somewhere. In some undoubtedly reprehensible way.
But the result?
Unimpeachable.
I can’t stop shaking.
The next morning, our system bursts.
The Nar’Vosk case cracks open like a rotten egg under a boot. My office, for the first time in years, has enough to issue full system-wide warrants. Extradition petitions flood in. Interplanetary judges grant authorization with a speed I’ve only dreamed of.
Media outlets eat it up.
“The Golden Prosecutor Who Took Down the Nar’Vosk.”
My face plasters half the newsfeeds. Colleagues stop me in the halls with congratulations. The Justice Minister shakes my hand so hard I think he’s trying to dislocate it.
And still, all I can think is?—
The bastard helped me.
Aebon Rexx. Monster. Criminal. Predator. Protector.
And now… partner?
I don’t feel victorious.
I feel like I’m being dragged into his orbit. One iron truth at a time.
