Trial of Tycho Celchu

The Tycho Celchu Trial was a highly publicized treason trial in 6 ABY.

Background
Captain Tycho Celchu had been sent to Coruscant in an undercover mission and been captured. He had been sent to Lusankya, Ysanne Isard's personal prison. He was transferred to another prison and escaped. Because all other known prisoners who had come out of Lusankya had become Imperial agents, Tycho was immediately put under suspicion, even though his memory of being in the prison ditinguised him from any other previously released prisoner, none of whom had had any recollection of their imprisonment until after their brainwashing had been activated, causing them to commit some shocking terrorist act.

During the Rogue Squadron infiltration of Coruscant, Tycho was not considered trustworthy enough to acompany the squadron, but he came along with Emtrey as backup under the orders of Wedge Antilles. The rest of the military was unaware of his departure and he was assumed dead in Warlord Zsinj's destruction of the Rogue's base. Celchu managed to help the Rogues escape to his secret base on the Imperial capital and loaned his Z-95 Headhunter to Corran Horn (who had previously accused Tycho of meeting with Imperial agent Kirtan Loor) so he could fly cover for other Rogues during the attempt to take down Coruscant's shields. During the battle, control of the fighter was mysteriously taken from Corran, and the Corellian crashed into a building.

Charges
Tycho Celchu was accused of the murder of Corran Horn and treason to the New Republic. Because he had the codes to Corran's fighter, people blamed him for the crash. Corran's threat to uncover the traitor in Rogue Squadron shortly before his death and his belief that he had seen Tycho meeting with Loor gave Celchu a motive. Along with that, a sum of fifteen million credits belonging to Captain Celchu was discovered spread across six bank accounts. Most people agreed that it looked like a frame up, but the New Republic was unwilling to take that chance.

Publicity
Because of the Humans' immunity to the Krytos Virus, anti-Human hatred was growing among the alien population. This trial was a means to show that the New Republic could be as hard on Humans as the Empire was on aliens.

The fact that Corran Horn was being hailed as a heroic martyr and that Tycho was accused of being his heartless murderer was enough for citizens to put him in the same category as Darth Vader and the Emperor.

Judges
The three judges for the trial were Admiral Ackbar, General Crix Madine, and General Horton Salm. While Salm had been accusatory of Celchu since his inprisonment, he could account for Tycho's bravery. Ackbar and Madine seemed wholely neutral towards him.

Prosecution
The prosecuting attorney was Halla Ettyk, another survivor from Alderaan. Her investigator was intelligence agent, and friend of Corran Horn, Iella Wessiri.

Defense
Nawara Ven, a retired lawyer flying with Rogue Squadron, served as Tycho's defense. Corran Horn's R2 unit Whistler also aided them. Their main defense was that Tycho had been framed and somebody else betrayed the Rogues.

Trial
Things never went right for the defense. The members of Rogue Squadron were brought in to testify. Though they all believed Tycho innocent, their testimony was twisted by Ettyk to weaken the defense. Though Tycho claimed to have met with Lai Nootka instead of Kirtan Loor, no record of the Duros being on Coruscant during that time frame existed. It seemed like a hopeless cause until Nawara Ven was contacted by Kirtan Loor. Loor promised to testify that he had not met Tycho if the New Republic got him away from Isard. Unfortunately, an assassin killed Loor and wounded Ven before they could get to court. Just before they delayed the trial until Nawara's recovery, Corran Horn arrived to testify for Tycho.

Corran, who had been inprisoned on Lusankya, which happened to be on Coruscant, managed to escape and access a hidden library. In that library, he discovered that like himself Tycho had proved resistant to Isard's brainwashing techniques. He and Wedge Antilles deduced that the spy in Rogue Squadron was Thyferran Erisi Dlarit. Unfortunately, just before he could identify the spy, disaster struck.

A Super Star Destroyer identifying itself as the Lusankya burst from beneath the surface and escaped Coruscant. With it went the traitor Erisi. With the exposure of the real traitor, General Airen Cracken revealed that he had known all along of Tycho's innocence and had used the trial to discover the true traitor. Ettyk informed Admiral Ackbar that she was withdrawing all charges against Celchu, Ackbar dismissed the case and told Celchu that he was truly free to go.

To repair Celchu's image, the New Republic announced that the Celchu trial had been an intelligence operation designed to draw out the traitor in Rogue Squadron, and that Celchu had been a willing participant in that operation. Ten days after the escape of the Lusankya a ceremony was held honoring the members of Rogue Squadron. Mon Mothma revealed the truth behind the trial, and made a point of affirming that Celchu was a loyal son of Alderaan.

Appearances

 * X-wing: The Krytos Trap