Public Starstruck: 1.1 "Loreena Arenais"

[Salacious Rafford]

"Good evening and welcome to the first episode of many on the Independent Galactic News holonetwork's newest night talkshow; Starstruck! I am your beloved and most humble host, Salacious Rafford.

Now on this show you will bear witness to in depth interviews that promise to reveal surprises! So hold onto your seats, ladies and gentlemen and let us begin!"

​

~Cheesy intro music plays for 30 seconds, showing various images and clips of Sal getting ready for the show, such as getting his tie selected, his make-up applied and of course his hair getting done. By the end of it all he enters stage center, arms held out to the sides as he greets his studio audience, before taking a seat on one of two white chairs in the middle of the stage.~

"Now who can our first guest be, do you wonder? Some of you might not know her at all. Some of you might have never even heard of her. But to many others she is either a hero or a terrorist. Tonight she is a guest that requested this interview, in fact. And who am I to deny anyone such a chance?

I bring you, ladies and gentlemen; Loreena Arenais-Valhoun !!" Sal gets to his feet and meets Lorenna part way, taking hold of her hand and holding it up high as the studio audience cheered with some 'boos' thrown into the mix.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori stood nervously at the side of the stage, waiting for her cue. She was dressed in red. For a half moment she had thought to wear green, but had then changed her mind. The words of Enlil and the deal that they had made echoed in her mind. Red would stand out more. Red would be more striking. Red would be more memorable.

As soon as her name was called, Lori's face appeared on the screens. She did her best not to look at them, did her best to hide her nerves while making her way on the stage towards the beaming Salacious Rafford . He took her hand and raised it, almost as though he was claiming some kind of victory. Lori had caught some of his past hosting gigs on the holonet through the years and even as a kid she thought him to be wildly eccentric. Now up close she could smell the perfumes and hair products. It even looked like he wore more make-up than she did....

After what felt like forever, but was really less than a minute, he let go of her hand and the two took their respected seats.

"Thank you for having me appear tonight. And congratulations on the new show."

Little sucking up never hurt, right? There were of course plenty of other things that she'd rather be doing right now. But she had a duty to the cause. Her own personal life came later.

 

[Salacious Rafford]

Sal kept the smile on his face, regarding the crowd once more before encouraging them to quieten down. He crossed one leg over the other, resting an ankle on top of a knee. His gaze returned to Loreena Arenais-Valhoun once it was clear that he could more properly be heard.

"Loreena Arenais, the Face of the Eclipse Rebellion and it's leader. That's quite a title and quite a life you now lead. What turned you into such a rebel, or as some would label you 'a terrorist', against legitimate governments like the Eternal Empire? Was it a broken childhood? The loss of your parents? Word has it that you even quit the Jedi Academy because you couldn't abide by the rules. So tell me, Miss Arenais, where did this rejection of authority come from?"

Sal was playing hardball right out of the gate. He had to for the ratings. In the end it was always about the ratings.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori's smile faltered slightly. This was not the type of questioning that she was expecting right away. In fact she had assumed that she would get to lead the interview at the start. But that didn't seem to be the way that Salacious Rafford conducted them.

She wasn't the leader of the Rebellion, but that wasn't for others to believe. She knew of the terrorist label and had argued against it plenty of times, even to Empress Ingrid L'lerim herself. But that wasn't what she was here to do. At least for the start of the interview.

"Quite the psychiatrist, aren't you? I didn't have a broken childhood. Yes my homeworld was attacked and occupied by the Sith for a time, which I suppose started some of that defiance streak in me. But then again I've always been different from the norm." Lori folded her hands on her lap as she kept her gaze on Sal. "The loss of my parents has been hard, but it's not my excuse for my part in the Rebellion. Bakura is. Being among the innocent people that were corralled into the city square by Eternal Empire troopers and fired upon, helped to kindle the flame of rebellion against a militaristic Imperial regime. Legitimate or not, they are tyrants. They force their rule and way of life upon most of the worlds that they occupy. The same can be said about the Sith as well. Yet I don't see others that fight against them getting held to the same scrutiny that I have."

She wondered if her brother Caedyn Arenais was watching. No doubt he'd be brought up at some point in time. However if she was lucky, he wouldn't be. But right now she wasn't sure of how this interview would go. Lori had to keep her composure for as long as she could and maintain some kind of control over the interview. She didn't want to lose sight of why she agreed to it to begin with.

 

[Salacious Rafford]

"Now I'm not playing psychiatrist, my dear. But maybe a bit of Devil's advocate, if you will. Thrust into war at a young age, running from the authorities and hiding. All familiar starts of vagabonds alike. The Eternal Empire's reports of the Bakura situation showed that it was the Bakurans that opened fire first. The soldiers for the Eternal Empire were merely defending themselves. And then there was chaos."

Through all of that Sal's face would change from playful to serious and then back to playful again after pausing. One would expect that he worked for the Eternal Empire and was here to discredit Loreena Arenais-Valhoun . But that wasn't the case. He was only looking for top ratings and viewership for his show.

Sal tilted his head to the side a bit as he spotted something on Loreena's hand. He gestured towards it while smiling to the audience as though he had discovered some dirty little secret. "I see that there's some wedding bells in her future! Who knew?" Gasps filled the audience, as well as some laughter. His gaze them fell back on her. "So tell us, who is the lucky man or woman? And when is that wedding taking place. I could MC it, you know. It'd be a smashing success!" Oh how Sal loved to catch people off guard. It makes them seem more real. Rather than the usually fake portrayals of themselves that they dish out. Much like what Sal does every day.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori kept a little smile on her face, although her eyes betrayed her many thoughts swirling in her head. She was starting to feel cornered, and being there on stage with cameras and an audience did little to help her feel less trapped. She had asked for this interview to benefit herself and to tell her side of the story. Not to help the Eternal Empire to paint her as a terrorist.

"The Eternal Empire'sreports are a bit fabricated. They fail to include all of the younglings and elders fired upon for trying to leave. They weren't shooting. They were running away.. And they died for it."

At the mention of her engagement, Lori instinctually covered her left hand with her right in a bid to hide the little metal ring on her finger. It wasn't flashy by any means. She had hoped that it would go unnoticed. "He's a close friend. But there's no date picked out just yet. Nor will it be a big affair." For multiple reasons. She didn't want anyone to crash it. The selection of just where the wedding would take place had to be thoroughly thought out. Not to mention the fact that naming and outing her fiancé would more than likely put him in danger too.

"I have something else that I'd like to talk about, if you don't mind."

Salacious Rafford

 

[Salacious Rafford]

"Not a big affair? It's a wedding! Not some tea party! Seriously consider it, it'll be great publicity for you." Not to mention for himself. A big lavish wedding, hosted by himself, live on the holonet. Oh it would be ratings gold!

But perhaps Sal was getting a little too ahead of himself. He was sitting with Loreena Arenais-Valhoun ; one that in some sectors of space had been branded as a terrorist and worse. Arrest warrants were already out on her in many sectors on the western side of the map. The boos that had been heard throughout parts of the interview were a clear indication that there was animosity towards the girl even within the confines of the studio.

"And what is it that you'd like to talk about? We are all ears. Aren't we?" He looked to the audience and the cameras with another of his charming smiles. As expected, the audience responded with applause and cheers at being acknowledged.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori knew that she couldn't have a big wedding. Especially after this interview. She had heard about some weddings that had been attacked; and although there could be an area where such a thing wouldn't take place, she didn't want to risk it.

And besides, so many of her family were already dead....

As Salacious Rafford invited her to approach the topic that she had planned this whole evening on, Lori took a moment to pause and go over it all once more in her mind. Enlil had given her the idea and she hoped that he was watching. In some aspect she had hoped that Caedyn Arenais and Darlyn Excron were watching too, for it was more than likely going to affect them too. And then there was Ingrid L'lerim . Was she watching as well? No doubt someone in her intelligence circles was. Was Subject 73 Red watching as well? Neither could ever be redeemed in eachother's eyes.

Regardless, she had made her choice days ago. She had fully accepted the burden that it would bring. All of it was part of a bigger plan to help the Eclipse Rebellion gain further ground in their resistance against the Eternal Empire.

"It is stated by propaganda that the Eclipse Rebellion, most specifically my brother and I, are responsible for the death of Kainan Wolfe ; the late Emperor of the Eternal Empire. It is said that we all conspired and enacted an elaborate plot to play on the Emperor's weakness and ensnare him in a deathly trap." Whispers were heard within the audience. Lori looked among them, wondering how they'd react with what she was to say next. Her attention then turned to Sal once again as she continued. "I'm here to tell you that plenty of those statements were false. Yet there is some truth in there as well. I am responsible for the Emperor's death. I killed him." The whispers became louder, and so did the boos. Even Sal looked a little speechless. "He was an evil tyrant that needed to be stopped! And I had found a way to do it! His death will bring forth an age of salvation! And so will the fall of every tyrant in the Galaxy! The Eclipse Rebellion will make it happen.

And so will I."

 

[Salacious Rafford]

As Loreena Arenais-Valhoun began to speak, Sal leaned forward. He could tell that he was about to get some juicy news and he knew that with that would come some big reactions, and higher ratings.

But what he had heard from the Rebel leader came at some surprise. Not so much with what she had done, for it had long been told by the Eternal Empire that she was responsible. But moreto the point it was that finally she was admitting it. In weeks past Loreena had denied being an intregal part of killing the Emperor. In fact even the Eclipse Rebellion's propaganda declared as much! Yet now it seemed that she had done an about face and was taking responsibility for her actions.

"Well now, isn't this a surprise. What brought this sudden revelation about? You had denied it for weeks and now you confess to this horrible crime. What made you decide to clear your conscious?"

Already Sal could feel the change in the air of the studio. It was as though there was added tension created in just that moment.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

"Well that's just it. I needed to clear my conscious. And it wasn't a horrible crime. It was an act done to save countless lives in the Galaxy. To defeat a monster, one must remove the head. So I did that."

But other heads popped up in it's place. Not as powerful, but certainly enough to keep the monster that was the Eternal Empire alive. In her view the Eternal Empire was weakened, and that could be the views of others as well. But a monster backed into a corner could catch everyone by surprise with it's skills for survival.

"I know that such an act has consequences, both for me and against. I'm prepared for all of it. Whatever happens will happen." Even if it means her execution. At least her role as the Face of the Eclipse Rebellion would have started a movement that was sure to spread out elsewhere.

Salacious Rafford