To give the history on this – GF stood for Groovefest – this was an in-game festival run by a play named Keltrien in the video game Star Wars Galaxies (SWG). The festival was on its fifth iteration and in celebration, there was going to be this elaborate quest written by a player named Niix. I was featured as part of this and somewhere out there is a video with my avatar in it. This story was written by Niix as being in the quest creator. This is the part that did feature me or rather my character Creeva. If Niix has any issue with this please let me know I am not taking credit nor robbing the original creator of any copyright he owns over this work.

CHAPTER 1

NABOO – GRN – Diametric Parsecs (show #1138) –

ANNOUNCER: The following is a special presentation of GRN Broadcasting

[Title Sequence]

ANCHOR: Welcome to a very special Diametric Parsecs show. Tonight, we are extremely fortunate to have an interview with a ghost; a very famous ghost. Tonight, we sit down with the legendary Creeva Murkado for the first interview he has given since before his mysterious and much talk about disappearance. But, first, let’s take a look at some of this week’s other top stories…

[Headlines]

INT: Thanks, Halla. [To camera] Perhaps you haven’t heard his haunting kloo melodies. Perhaps you missed his meteoric rise to fame. Perhaps you don’t know the inherent weight of his poignant lyrics. Perhaps you’ve been on a deep space exploration mission. If any of those are true for you: welcome back to the core worlds, outrider. This is Creeva Murkado, as we have had the pleasure of knowing him then.

[Montage of musical appearance and stock footage]

INT: And this is Creeva Murkado as we know him now.

[Camera shows the musician sitting across from the interviewer]

INT: Thank you very much for coming, Maestro Murkado.

CM: Just Creeva will do.

INT: Well, Creeva, it’s safe to say we all wonder how you’ll top your last stir.

CM: [Chuckles]

INT: After becoming one of the most recognizable stars and most sought after musicians in the galaxy since Crying Dawn Singer, you achieved even more notoriety by suddenly vanishing from out scanners. And then, you return just as mysteriously as you disappeared. What’s next?

CM: I was thinking about a warm glass of milk.

INT: [Laughs] May not be as celebrated as your return.

CM: Won’t know until I try. The public interest is fickle and enigmatic.

INT: When you went missing, a thousand theories were put forth. Among them, you had been abducted by rebels, killed by pirates, had a nervous breakdown, suffered a drug overdose, committed suicide, were murdered by hutts … the list goes on. In fact, Ambassador Moyakashkaykrit even went so far as to claim a body had been found in Symphonia. What really happened? Where did you go? Billions of people want to know.

CM: Billions of people also want to know what’s in our neighbouring galaxies. I think that’s far more important than where one man went.

INT: Is that where you went: Across galaxies on a spiritual journey of inner and outer exploration? That is one of the theories put forth by some.

CM: Actually, I went to the corner market and got lost in the vegetables section.

INT: I’ll take that as a ‘no’.

CM: Feel free to take it however you like, my friend. I took it for two small bags of opplocs with some powdered icing for dipping.

INT: [Sighs] I can see you haven’t lost your talent for being cryptic. [To camera] When we come back, I’ll have more questions for Creeva Murkado, a musical genius and enigma.

[Cut to commercial]

 

[Excerpt from a recorded Creeva concert]

INT: Now, Maestro Murkado (Creeva), you won’t tell us where you went but can you tell us why you left the spotlight for so long, and so mysteriously?

CM: The Why of anything is almost always much more important than the Where of it.

INT: Precisely!

CM: Precisely.

[Awkward silence]

INT: Well, what I meant to ask was…

CM: …why did I leave?

INT: Yes!

CM: Yes.

INT: Yes?

CM: Yes.

INT: But, Yes to what?

CM: Yes; that’s why I left.

INT: What is why?

CM: Oh, What is rarely ever Why.

INT: Well, what is it that you’ve said is the reason for your disappearance?

CM: I didn’t; you did.

INT: Then could you elaborate on the reasoning? I’m afraid you’ve lost me.

CM: Elaborate more than simply Why?

INT: Well, yes!

CM: Well, no.

INT: Oh.

CM: [Chuckles] Isn’t the search for knowledge a wonderful thing? Let me confess; I’m playing a little here. The reason I left is ‘Why?’ Why me? Why now? Why this? Why not that? Life had become so secure that I had stopped doing the second most important thing in my life – questioning things. When you stop examining who you are and where you are and what you are doing, you are no longer grounded. You cannot always look to the future. You need to be aware of the present and mindful of the past. To quote a great writer: “The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us. And our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast terrible in-between.”

INT: So you realized this and left for parts unknown?

CM: Not so much realized it as felt it. There is quite a difference between the two.

INT: Some would say the suddenness of your unannounced departure could be interpreted as, forgive me, selfish.

CM: [Laughs] There were more qualifiers in that sentence than the start of a pod-racing tournament. Don’t you mean that you would call it selfish?

INT: Well, erm, I wasn’t implying any assumption on my part. Only, um, your colleagues and friends had to scramble to address the responsibilities you left behind. Not to mention the storm of media inquiries and the billions of fans left wondering…

CM: My colleagues are my business, but they wouldn’t be my friends if I had ever thought them to worry about a little thing like this. And if I made billions of fans wonder at ‘why?’, if I made them stop simply regurgitating my words and my so-called wisdom, and made them actually think for themselves, then the good far outweighs the bad.

INT: What, then, prompted your return?

CM: The lure of the crowd.

INT: But you have neither recorded nor performed before any sizeable audience since your return.

CM: When you are alone for a time, the prerequisite for the term ‘crowd’ grows small.

INT: Well, when we come back, we’ll see what’s in the future for the always enigmatic Creeva Murkado.

[Cut to commercial]

 

[Excerpt from Creeva accepting an award]

INT: Welcome back! I’m [interviewer name] here with Maestro Creeva Murkado; musician, poet, philosopher. So, Creeva, now that you’ve returned to us, what are your plans? Will you return to the prominence of before?

CM: Maybe.

INT: Recording?

CM: Maybe.

INT: Touring?

CM Maybe.

INT: Writing?

CM: Maybe.

INT: Is there anything you’ve determined that you will be doing?

CM: See that’s the best part about life; you just never know what mysteries the universe holds for us around every corner. The one predictable aspect of the future is that it is inherently unpredictable.

INT: I suppose you’re not planning on telling us the answer, then?

CM: Why ruin the surprise? The getting there is half the fun. [Chuckles]

INT: You’ve long been friends with the wookiee Moyakoshkaykrit. Could you tell us what he thinks of the current political climate?

CM: Hmm, no.

INT: Has he not expressed those thoughts to you?

CM: Yes but, not to sound egotistical, this isn’t a show about him, it is about me. If you want that answer, I suggest you ask him yourself.

INT: Unfortunately, broadcast regulations forbid live broadcast of any wookiee, even one so famous as the Ambassador.

CM: You mean ‘especially one so famous’ as he.

INT: Er, I simply mean … you’re here and …

CM: I suggest you move on to the next question.

INT: Yes, actually we have to take a quick break but, before we do, here’s some footage of your last public concert.

[Excerpt from Creeva’s last concert]

[Cut to commercial]

 

[Excerpt of Creeva at a children’s hospital]

INT: And we’re back with Creeva. Since you won’t comment on your friend’s opinions, could you tell how you see the current political climate?

CM: There are no politics of significance.

INT: Well, of course, in the greater scheme of life, politics is merely an activity of society and not of nature. I do understand how, in that respect, there are no politics of significance.

CM: [Chuckles] Well, as Ithorian-friendly as that sounds, I actually meant that in our current society, there are no politics of significance. There is no senate. The ultimate rulership of the galaxy falls to one man. Unless he argues with himself, there is no political environment to speak of.

INT: COMPNOR would contend the His Imperial Excellency has long promised that if the people disapprove of his leadership, he will step down. And that he has never forced anyone to do anything that wasn’t for the good of the galaxy.

CM: And what would you expect him to say?

INT: That response has been met with nothing short of an overwhelming call for him to continue.

CM: Why don’t we take a poll…

INT: There have been polls taken

CM: …on Alderaan?

INT: Uh.

CM: Let’s ask the people of Alderaan what they think.

INT: Well, again, some would say that tragedy was a direct result of terrorists commandeering a mining facility and using to hold the entire galaxy hostage.

CM: Was it really?

INT: Official reports have confirmed it.

CM: And what would you expect them to say?

INT: We’ve all seen the spectacular and tragic footage of rebel snubfighters attacking and boarding the mining station just before they turned it on that weaponless planet and massacred billions of peaceful people. Such a thing would be impossible to cover up.

CM: Perhaps that’s why there is another side to the story. As a journalist, even on a mouthpiece show like this one, you must recognize that others are telling a completely different version of those events. And, if it’s true that the government project was called: Death Star, would that be just a little … odd?

INT: Those theories were put forth by criminals and lawless terrorists. None of it can be true. That many people cannot keep that big a secret for that long a time.

CM: How many people swore on their lives that they knew exactly what happened to me? How many people tried to get money from the media by enticing them with the truth about my disappearance? How many of those people are proven completely wrong by my sitting here and talking to you?

INT: Well…

CM: Ask yourself this: If you had attained complete control of this station for several decades, where everything that was produced and broadcast was done only with your approval and then, one day, a letter came in with a bunch of signatures that said, “Please step down,” would you? Would your first reaction be, “Hey, look they don’t want me anymore, I’ll just give all these years of being in command because they don’t like me anymore?” Do you really think that’s what you’d do?

INT: I suppose I wouldn’t.

CM: In all that time, I’ll bet you would have entrenched yourself with ‘job security’ assurances, allies, doctrine and procedure. You’d use your position to further solidify itself.

INT: Maybe.

CM: Well, you’re right. It’s not true for everybody, and perhaps not for you, but what if you took your worst adversary in this station, in this entire organization and put them in the exact same position? What if you took your worst enemy in the entire galaxy and put him in that chair? What do you think he would do to protect his position?

INT: Are you saying that Imperial Highness is your worst enemy?

CM: One: You’re deflecting the question, and I’ll allow it, for your sake. Two: The Emperor is not my worst enemy. I am.

INT: How so?

CM: Nobody else in this entire galaxy could have nor can hurt me as much as I can.

INT: Is this tied to your disappearance?

CM: Perhaps. Although my disappearance is more tied to a block of cheese than anything suggested by the press. Now, that producer of yours seems about ready to burst a vessel, so I think that’s our cue.

INT: [Chuckles] Well, thank you very much for coming by, Creeva. Cryptic as you are, it’s still an absolute delight!

CM: Thanks for the invitation, it was a pleasure being here.

INT: This is [interviewer] for Diametric Parsecs. Join us next week when we explore the relationship between a planet’s weather system and a child’s personality.

[Cut to credits]