SHOWDOWN !

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EP: 57:36 : “Terrell Speaks”

ERIA QUINT: Hello and welcome to a very special episode of Showdown! I’m Eria Quint. Normally on our show, we bring two experts with very different points of view together to debate the issues that are on the hearts and minds of the people of the UEE, but tonight we’re going to do something a little different. Tonight we have a single guest, a guest who’s been the subject of a running story for the past four months.

Parker Terrell appeared on Showdown! to discuss the collision of Ellis XI. Shortly after that he disappeared. Theories began to swirl: some claiming that his disappearance validated Terrell’s allegations of a government run amok, with others accusing Terrell and the New United of orchestrating a publicity stunt. Those debates raged on even after Terrell was found in a small hotel in Corel.

Tonight, we’re hoping to get some answers and get to the truth. Tonight, we welcome Parker Terrell.

PARKER TERRELL: Hello. Thanks for having me.

ERIA QUINT: So Mr. Terrell, I suppose the obvious question is, what happened?

PARKER TERRELL: Well, Eria, I’ve been in the media for a long time and handled all sorts of stories. Often times, I will write stories that rub people the wrong way. It’s not intentional or my goal; I just try to explore all the possibilities, look at all the possible angles and treat them with equal amounts of respect. Not everyone gets that, so I guess you could say that over the years, I’ve collected quite the laundry list of enemies. Now, as I’ve said before, I’ve been doing this a long time, so I’ve accepted it as an occupational hazard. However, after the Ellis XI story broke, and especially after my theories about the government’s true role in the ‘collision’ became known, that number began to exponentially increase and it became an unhealthy type of attention.

ERIA QUINT: Were you being explicitly threatened?

PARKER TERRELL: Yes.

ERIA QUINT: By whom?

PARKER TERRELL: People who were threatened by what I knew. People who knew that I couldn’t be bought off to bury the truth.

ERIA QUINT: Can you give us an example of the types of threats you would receive?

PARKER TERRELL: I would rather not at this time.

ERIA QUINT: So then what happened?

PARKER TERRELL: Well, I was leaving my apartment one morning, and I saw a suspicious looking man ‘fixing’ the ventilation systems.

ERIA QUINT: Suspicious how?

PARKER TERRELL: Like he was tracking me. Watching my movement. As I went into the hangar space in my building, I suddenly felt this pressure in my chest and couldn’t breathe. That’s when I noticed that the ventilation systems were on full blast. They hadn’t worked in months, and that ‘repairman’ might have put something in the vents, so I took off.

ERIA QUINT: What happened then?

PARKER TERRELL: When you’re cooking a story, sometimes you have to protect a source or finish some copy, so you pick up a lot of tricks for going dark. I knew they would be looking for my ship so I stashed it out of sight in Croshaw and hitched passage back until I found my way to Corel.

ERIA QUINT: If you believed yourself to be in danger, did you attempt to get help or reach out to authorities?

PARKER TERRELL: That would be playing right into their hands.

ERIA QUINT: Let me try to understand. You noticed an uptick of harassment and had, from what it sounds like, an anxiety attack in your garage then took off. Does that sound accurate?

PARKER TERRELL: I think that’s a rather dismissive way to put it.

ERIA QUINT: Maybe … but accurate?

< pause >

ERIA QUINT: You were released from your contract with the New United, is that correct?

PARKER TERRELL: I’ve moved on.

ERIA QUINT: They received quite a lot of criticism for this whole situation.

PARKER TERRELL: I suppose, but I think they’ll be okay.

ERIA QUINT: If I may be blunt —

PARKER TERRELL: You’re starting now?

ERIA QUINT: What were you doing all that time?

PARKER TERRELL: I think we’re losing sight of the bigger picture here.

ERIA QUINT: Which is what?

PARKER TERRELL: That there are bigger issues at play, much more important than what happened to me. We have a very real threat going on with the Gallen Spy Scandal. Why aren’t we talking about that?

ERIA QUINT: Gallen has nothing to do with you.

PARKER TERRELL: Really? You honestly believe that? We’re talking about a government that is conducting covert operations against the Xi’An. We’re talking about a government that is out of control, acting with the sort of impunity and disregard for basic liberties we haven’t seen since the Messer Era, and much more insidiously, which is exactly what I have been saying for months now.

ERIA QUINT: The Advocacy arrested you, intoxicated by the way, slapped you with a fine and released you. That hardly sounds like the treatment a threat to the Empire would receive.

PARKER TERRELL: We all know that the government will use any means necessary to discredit me and my research.

ERIA QUINT: Clearly we need a break. Come back after the jump for more ShowDown!