NRI Interro Montage

One by one, the victims-turned suspects of the ceremonial disaster are brought into small, sterile rooms and invited to sit at table with an Intelligence agent to recount the details of their abduction and whereabouts leading up to the Temple explosion. One by one, their bizarre tales weave harmoniously in tune with another.

Much to the befuddlement of the agents.

One of the leading agents in the investigation sits unnervingly still in his seat, hands folded atop the table to stare at the recovered 'missing person' across from him. One knobby finger reaches out to hit 'record' on a little pad centered on the table between. “Give us your account of events. Beginning with how you became involved.”

(Waiter) “I was in the cold storage, helping kitchen staff unload a few things from receiving. Bulk ingredients…you know.”  The kid shrugs, finding a suitable place on the wall to the right of the intel agent to make eye contact with. His hands flap here and there as he speaks, emphasizing points. It’s obvious he’s nervous.

“So I leave the freezer for two minutes to get a break, wander out back for a smoke. And there’s this crate sitting there, half open, nobody around. I look inside cuz what else is there to do, right? It’s eggs. Some dummy’s left eggs sitting out in the sun. So I ditch the smoke,” his left heel grinds the floor accordingly, “and start carrying these cartons inside. I mean these were big eggs, man – could imagine the sort of stink it’d have made if I hadn’t gone out there and found’em.”  Cupping his hands together in the shape of a fist-sized oval, he demonstrates.

(Chef) “So Benji comes in fussing at me cuz there’s one more box. Gives me some crap while he can before he’s on the clock and I can really boss him around.” An eye roll and tired sigh. “I look at these eggs he’s got and says – ‘what kind of eggs you got? Ain’t on the invoice,” he flaps an invisible piece of paper with one of his four beefy hands.

(Waiter) “How the hell should I know!?’ I ask him and then, just like that, the damn thing slips out of my hand. SPLAT. Well, he starts to get really riled then – two hours till food prep starts and I’ve made a mess. So what? I go get a towel but then I hear this noise.”

(Chef) “They was still alive, these eggs. Er, what was in’em was. Big, squirming mass of goo, so I bend down to poke at it, try and get a better look.”

(Waiter) “Whatever it is, it’s making this awful noise. Almost too high pitch to hear, ya know? Terrible. So then I think ‘damn, I’ve just killed some baby something’ and go help Chef pick’em up. Cept when we DO pick them up, well…that’s when it happened.”

(Chef) “That’s when it happened.”

(Agent) “What happened?”

(Waiter) “I’m looking at it – this wormy thing – and it stops squealing. These antennae things, they uncoil from all the sticky and start tapping around. Kind of tickled. Then quick as lightning….”

(Chef) “It jumps on his face! I mean, not that it had far to go, the way the kid was staring at it, but it lunges straight for him. Grabs onto his nose, right?”

He snatches at the air between he and the agent for effect.

“Kid starts screaming like a girl. Course I start laughing my ass off.”

(Waiter) “I can’t get it off! I’m screaming for Chef to help but he’s just bent over the counter having a laugh. But it /hurts/ man! And then it…it went inside.”

(Chef) The Chef isn’t laughing now. In fact, he seems quite pale, recounting the memory. “It just went up there. So far it disappeared and the kid…he stops screaming. I said ‘Hey! Hey, you okay?’ like an idiot. Of course he wasn’t okay. This worm’s in his head.”

(Waiter) “Then I was fine. I mean I wasn’t – I couldn’t move. Not the way I wanted. I couldn’t even talk. I didn’t feel it anymore. I remember bending  down to pick up the other broken egg.”

(Chef) “I said ‘Woah!’ I mean, did he want /another/ bug up his nose? So I grab it first. Before I can chuck it in the garbage, the kid’s on top of me. I mean he don’t weigh half as much as me – you can trust this fat cook – but he grabs my hands grabbing this bug and just pushes it in my face.”

(Waiter) “I could smell his breath, I was so close. The thing inside me – it was all excited. So it…I…whatever shove the other one up Chef’s nose. I guess misery loves company.”

(Senator Hastell) “Was in my suite, after the memorial ceremony. My wife had taken the kids to the pool – they were still quite awake – and so I um…” a pause as he looks a mite uncomfortable. “My Aide – Ms. Incita - stopped by to review some talking points for tomorrow’s Senate hearing…”

(Ms. Incinta) “I was on my way to Senator Hastell’s suite,” she murmurs, eyes downcast. “I saw a room                service cart going down the hall ahead of me, so I stopped, curious. The gentleman said it had been ordered for the Senator’s room. I volunteered to take it there, but he was very adamant about bringing it himself. It was so strange. Until I informed him that I work for the Senator and showed him my I.D.  Then, he…it all happened so fast.”

(Sen Hastell)  “She came in and was oddly quiet, I thought, but decided to pour a bottle of wine first before breaching the subject of what may be troubling her. She stopped me – wanted to pour it herself, I guess. So I left the room a moment to change…”

(Incinta) “I put it in his wine glass – the creature. When he took a sip, I wanted to scream, knock it away! But I was frozen there, just watched as it attacked him.”

(Sen  Sesqua) “A young gentleman with a service cart came to my door,” the protocol droid translates on the Rodian's behalf. “I did not remember placing an order, but was remiss to decline this cordial offering , so I instructed him to leave it by the bed.”

(Sen Bobbec) The Sullustan jabbers away emphatically while the droid keeps pace, translating as he goes. “I asked him to leave me to my rest, but he insisted on talking me through the courses – ‘Chef’s wishes’, he said. So I obliged patiently…”

(Sen Sesqua) “At first, I thought it was a platter of the spicy Drutash grubs, sampled earlier in the day. But then I saw one was different.” Her snout twitches nervously.

(Sen Bobbec) “I tried to run, pulled my pocket pistol,” he demonstrates with a brave flourish. “But he was so fast. Too fast.”

(Sen Hastell)  “It was the following morning, I think, that we sent one of our aides to retrieve the Jedi. Under pretense of demanding security assurances, or something of the sort.”

(Miss Hintu) The Togruta woman stares into her lap. “I went to his room – Senator Ahudeek – because he was not responding on the comlink. We were going to be late.”

(Sen Ahudeek) “I closed the door behind her. The room service cart was still here. There was another egg.”

(Miss Hintu) “I felt a change. I knew, being with him in that space, that /he/ was changed. A feeling told me to run. But it was too late. Senator Ahudeek is much stronger than I.”

(Sen Bobbec) “We missed the Senate Hearing,” he looks down, big, watery eyes embodying a sense of disappointment.

(Sen Sesqua) “What a bunch of nervous dignitaries we must have seemed! The Jedi did come rather quickly, when at last found in the ceremonial crowd. I feared for us – surely she would not allow herself to be taken!?”

(Sen Hastell)  “There was no reason for her to question our motives. It was too easy, really. The six of us together – we caught her in a corner.”

(Sen Bobbec) “She had to bend down, thinking she could hear me better. I couldn’t really speak. But maybe that is what the worms wanted, because I was able to grab her face at that range. The creature jumped from my sleeve.”

(Merk) “Gala’s almost over – it was a nightmare for us on security, you know? Outdoor ceremony…so much can happen. Anyway, I get a call that there’s been a special bit of room service prepared for Ambassador Delgard for later that night. Some sort of thank you from the ceremony planning committee – all the members allegedly were due to receive it, so I swing by food detail to have a look. Talk to the staff who’ll be delivering…you know the drill. Well, I get to the kitchen and am immediately lost. I mean this thing is like a complex of its own! While I’m wandering around, hollering for nowhere. He’s with one of the chefs. Boy, do they look tired! So I try to make things quick, ask what’s on the menu, for a tour of their setup, establish a schedule for delivery…but they aren’t saying anything. Not a word.”

(Waiter) “I wanted to. I really did.”

(Merk) “I don’t like the way this is going, so I get on my comm. To request a little company. Something just didn’t feel right. That’s when they jumped me.”

(Officer Izec) “I get there and start heading to the back. Thing’s a real maze but I used to work in a kitchen at an embassy as a kid when Pa was in the service, so…I know my way around. Merk comes out, meets me in the hallway. Has this funny look on his face. I say ‘Hey, everything under control?’  He nods, grunts something at me and walks out. So I follow.”

(Merk) “Before we got out, I stopped into this little office. Invoices all over the comp screen in the desk. Somebody’s half eaten bowl of stew on the counter – a real mess. Had the thing in my pocket. He follows me in, asking me questions I can’t answer. But I turn around anyway and before he can pull his stun baton, I’ve got my hand in his face…and it goes in him, too.”

(Sen Hastell)  “When it was over, we all left the Government Complex. Some of us went directly to our vehicles. Others accompanied her to the Temple. It was the perfect disguise – no resistance against her.”

(Izec) “I can’t explain it. I don’t know how it’s possible, this…this total lack of control. We go back to the party. Take up our positions. Wait. Merk – he stands there beside Delgard. And she’s talking to him nonstop, man. Talking /at/ him. But she doesn’t even…it’s like she doesn’t notice. Or if she had suspicions…she doesn’t act on them. Just powers on with the evening, keeping up the one-sided small talk until it’s time for her to join the others on stage.”

(Merk) “She’s up there, sitting with the other speakers. The Chief is at the podium and the crowd is silent. I want to scream, want to cause a commotion, want to do /anything/ except be trapped inside an empty shell. I didn’t understand what was happening to me, or why, but knew that it couldn’t be good.”

(Izec) “Then the vid played. The bad part. The only part.”

A cold smirk twists his lips.

“And suddenly, the light bulb went on and we were on the move – Merk and I and the things in our heads. Like we somehow knew it was coming and what to do next.”

(Merk) “That’s when we took her. It all passed for routine. Everyone who’s anyone had their own retinue of guys and gals like us, whisking them away to safer haven. She…she had us.” He swallows, throat struggling to clear around the lump forming there.

“She was calling for Gabi. Wanted to tell her that the kid was safe – I’d seen her with some other kids and their guards. I nod. It doesn’t mean anything – not to the thing that made me do it. But it passes for confirmation in her eyes. She shuts up, goes more peacefully with us to the convoy.”

(Izec) “I turned off my mic. Cut contact with the rest of the team. Merk’s bug did the same.”

(Merk) “Izec gets in the driver seat. I follow Ambassador Delgard into the back. Nothing fishy there. Cept, I don’t /want/ to be in the back seat. I don’t want /her/ to be in there, either. I want to get her as far from it…but away we go, following the evacuation route with the others. For a time.”

(Izec) “Once we hit Skyline crossing though, I make the turn, slip between some warehouses and keep going west. I know it’s wrong. But it’s the way I have to go. I know she knows it’s wrong, too, and she says so.”

(Merk) “She was scared. She tried to play it cool, but I could sense it. She knew something was wrong. We had to do this quickly – the worm knew. So I start to take it out. She freaked. I mean she can be a real bear. I see her hands move for something in her dress and I’m thinking ‘Oh shit’ but the worm’s got it under control. Cause it…I…I hit her. Hard. And the look in her eyes – just…just surprise. Like she couldn’t believe it – and neither could I! I was so scared I’d hurt her, but she didn’t quit fighting. If anything, it just made her more determined, you know? The worm was getting pissed. I could feel it. Just couldn’t keep a hold on her. It’s a small seat but damn, that woman was all over it. Doors were locked but I was hoping she’d find a way out that didn’t involve killing me.”

“She’s trying to plead with me, she’s so…so sad? Screaming and sobbing and pawing at me. Like she knows this is it – this is the end of her story. But I don’t let her go. Then I see it – the mic in her hair. I think ‘hey, maybe the rest of the team is getting this. Maybe they’ll get here in time to stop it.’ And then I feel this surge of hope. But even then, I reach for it – I rip it out of her hair. It gets lost somewhere in the fray, but I think I killed it. And that’s when I feel her teeth sink into my hand.

“I scream--”

(Izec) “He screamed.“

(Merk) “I don’t sound human. The other worm – her worm -- goes flying. Sticks to the ceiling. The rage – it builds inside, but not from me. Me? I’m terrified. Terrified and hurting and watching my blood ooze from between her lips. She’s clamped down so hard, cross-eyed, watching the thing pulsing above us both. I feel something snap – pretty sure she’s bitten through my thumb and for a second, I’m not sure I want her to let it go. Maybe it’d fall off, if she does.

“But my other hand grabs her throat, squeezes.

"She lets go, closes her eyes and makes this god awful mewling noise.  The worm drops from the ceiling, lands on her face.  And then, just like that…" He snaps his fingers. "it’s over.  She’s quiet.  So quiet.

"I let go and straighten out in my seat. Bleeding on my suit.  I wonder ‘Did I kill her?’ but then she sits up, too, and I look and I see she’s not Ambassador Delgard anymore.   Like I’m not me.”

(Sen Sesqua) “I wasn’t myself.”

(Chef) “Wasn’t me at the helm” he pats his gargantuan belly. His wattle quivers like jelly beneath his stubby chin, asserting innocence with a head shake.

(Waiter) “It wasn’t my fault, I swear I couldn’t help it!”

(Incinta) “I just can’t believe it was real.”

(Sen Hastell) “I’d like to speak to my wife now.”

(Sen Bobbec) The Sullustan shakes his jowls emphatically while the droid monotones “No control.”

(Sen Ahudeek) “I am well, now. It’s over.”

(Izec) “Incredible. Just…” he shakes his head. “You wouldn’t believe…you don’t. You don’t believe us, do you? Could you?”

(Merk)  “I’ll sign. Show me where – I’ll sign. It’s all true. Every word.”

(Waiter) “…just wanted a smoke, man,” he flaps his hands helplessly into his lap, expression wilted into sincere despair. “Just needed a smoke.”

-

“…So that’s it, then.”  Sighing into his palm like he’s heard it twenty times before, the agent rubs at his brow with the heel of a hand. “What I don’t understand is…where did you go? Where did you all go?”

The woman sitting across from him is in shambles, outwardly speaking. Tangled hair hangs in limp, greasy knots and deep shadows haunt beneath her seven-mile stare. Her face uplifts between hunched shoulders, chin quivering in the wake of such a simple question.

“Ambassador?” The agent prompts a second time. “Where did. You go. Next.”

Green eyes glitter with ire at his tone while their mastermind wanders back to the present. Parched lips twitch into an odd smile, and she looks through him, to the audience she knows is listening on the other side. “Darkness,” she whispers, “I-we—went to the darkness.”