The Interview

Posted on Thu Sep 21st, 2023 @ 7:40pm by Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair & Lieutenant Alisha Reno

2,207 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: The Fast & The Fleet
Location: Federation Entertainment Service studio
Timeline: After "Why You Don't/Should Bring A Motorcycle To A Car Party" and "Le Club Marocain"; simultaneous with "The Evening Snapshot"

Yasmine Jhaal with Federation Entertainment Service smoothed out the skirt of her business suit. It was rare that she got to do celebrity interviews anymore; as editor she was more often in the office rather than on camera or face to face with the interviewees. But she had been reached out to directly, as having once been a common sight on the acting circuit.

And having been the most common person to do long form interviews with Alexis Silverstar.

The studio was all done up. Lights were bright. Holo cameras were functional. Yasmine stood patiently and waited for the once famous star to arrive.

‘Fashionably late’ would have been the proper term if she’d intentionally run behind, but she’d been honestly delayed and that was one thing Alexis Silverstar, or at least the woman behind her, absolutely HATED being was late. Still, she knew she looked smoldering in the one shouldered dress that was orange with seemingly black 'camouflage' that made her look like a coal fire that was still going strong. She hurried herself along the halls in those heels, trying not to give the impression that she was doing just that, bright smile on her face. Finally she rounded the last curve and slowed down a bit as a familiar face came into view, “Yasmine! Ah haven’t seen you in basically forever!” She skipped twice as she approached the editor in feigned glee.

"It's been entirely too long, Alexis," Yasmine said, taking both of the actress's hands in hers. "Take a seat, you know the drill, and we'll get started in just a moment. Can our people get you a drink?" As the journalist took her own seat, a gaggle of underlings came toward them to touch up makeup and fix last-minute issues before they began recording.

"Just a glass of water if you don't mind." One of the minions nodded and dashed off to fetch the glass, "Oh, the drill is well... Yeah." Alexis raised her face for the one that started to touch up her lips and eyeshadow, blinking rapidly as soon as they were done with the eyelashes. Her eyes flitted over to where the camera drones were resting undergoing their own final calibrations. One was hovering around the pair, the red recording light on and she sighed mentally. "So Yasmine, why did y'all call me after all this time? Ah thought Ah was irrelevant now?"

“I think you know why,” Yasmine answered with a wink.

A producer sitting behind a display of monitors shouted toward the set. “Green across the board. All cameras recording…now.” On cue, lights on the other camera drones lit up red.

“I’m here with Academy Award-winning actress Alexis Silverstar,” Yasmine said, first looking at a camera before turning directly to her interviewee. “Alexis, welcome back.”

"Why thank you Yasmine, it's a pleasure to be here again." She brought a hand up to her chest as if flattered, "It truly has been a while." She was perched on the edge of the sofa, legs together in the 'approved guest sit.'

“Let’s start with the reason we invited you here,” Yasmine suggested. On a screen to the host’s left and the guest’s right, where normally they might both watch a clip of a new show or film, the producers displayed the excellent photo of the dinner kiss. “So. You and Interstellar-One racer turned Starfleet Officer Jane Sinclair. How long have you two been an item?”

The smile on Alexis's face went all shy and slightly embarrassed, "Jane and Ah have been datin' for the last couplea months after we ran into each other." She went with the story that she and Jane had agreed on for when something like this happened, "She is honestly the best thing to ever happen to me."

“Tell us, how did you two meet?”

"Now that is a complicated question to answer," Alexis giggled, shaking her head, "You could say that we basically ran into each other out in the great big galaxy and just hit it off right away. She recognized me, Ah recognized her and we made arrangements to spend some time together later on. We don't get to see each other often enough, so we have to make the most of it."

“Like you, Jane Sinclair has been out of the spotlight for a few years now,” Yasmine observed. “Since starting in Starfleet, she’s remained on Proxima-Renault’s backup roster but has raced only three times since 2389. Her well publicized street race has brought her back into the spotlight.” All of this was read purely for viewer context. “Does this mean she and you are looking to resume living public lives?”

"And wasn't she amazin'?" Alexis's eyes brightened considerably, "Ah swear that she hasn't lost a single bit of her drivin' ability and Ah really wish that Ah coulda been in that car with her when she pulled it off! Ah'm not much of a driver myself, but she can drive me anywhere she wants to! As for resuming livin' in public life, that's a bit more complicated than it sounds, Yasmine, circumstances aren't all that good for us to be public figures at this time."

“Can you elaborate?” the reporter asked.

Alexis knew that it would come out at some point, "Well, Yasmine, Ah'm sure you heard the rumor that Ah'd up and joined Starfleet after that last fiasco, which Ah assure you was completely false.. That particular rumor was true and both Jane and Ah are on ships in the Fleet. It would be difficult for us to be in the public while we are servin' the people of the Federation where we're at."

“That would complicate a public life,” Yasmine agreed. “What kind of work do you do for Starfleet? If you can tell me, I mean.”

"Ah really can't tell you, Ah'm sorry." Alexis was going to shut that one down, "It could compromise safety and Ah really don't want to distract my crewmates if they knew who Ah really was."

“Fair enough,” Yasmine said. She would have a Starfleet contact do some digging later. “Back to why we’re here. You and Jane Sinclair. Seems serious. Are wedding bells in your future?”

"Sore wa himitsu desu." Alexis winked as she used the Japanese phrase 'That's a secret.' "We haven't made any plans for it yet and neither of us have proposed to the other yet, but Ah wouldn't count it out of the cards. Ah'm sure that if it happens, all of y'all would find out in plenty of time to be there for it."

"I think you're right about that," Yasmine joked. "I hope your favourite interviewer will be invited!" She brought up a different picture on the screen, the one called Hand to Heart. "That's the look of two people deeply in love, right there. We here at the Entertainment Service have never had the pleasure to interview Jane Sinclair. How would you describe her, in your experience?"

"Jane is one of the sweetest and most caring people Ah have ever had the pleasure to get to know." Alexis closed her eyes with a wistful smile, before opening them again, "Very understandin' too, with how much time we have to spend apart out of necessity. She has her faults," Alexis reached out to touch Yasmine's knee, "But don't we all? Hers, for example, is that she isn't quite the best cook in the Federation, but she makes up for that in so many other ways. Bein' in a vehicle with her at the controls? That's a feelin' like no other, Ah know Ah'm in safe hands with her wherever and whenever."

Yasmine smiled sweetly. “Sounds very romantic. I’m very glad to see that you’ve found someone who brings you this much love and happiness. One last question, what’s in the future for Alexis Silverstar? Are you in Starfleet long term, or do you have something else on the horizon? A return to the screen, or stage, maybe?”

“Ah have to admit, Ah do not know the answer to that question.” Alexis Silverstar said in a quieter voice, a wistful smile on her face, “As you have probably heard, Ah do still put on concerts and the like for good causes and Ah have no intention of stoppin’ those. Ah have fun with them and they do mean so much to me. Whether you see me on the screen isn’t really all up to me, unless Ah happen to go into the film-makin’ business, but that’s too much of a headache.” She gave a giggle at that, “I think that Starfleet may just have to deal with me a while longer, but perhaps Ah can finagle an assignment on the same ship as Jane, if Ah get lucky.”

"Alexis, a pleasure to have you with us today."

“The pleasure, my dear, was all mine.” Alexis gave a movie-star smile at the journalist.

Yasmine looked directly to one of the holo-cameras. “Thank you for watching my exclusive interview with Alexis Silverstar, star of Girardi’s Tears, Lianna’s Vision, and winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Stardust Saga II. You can read more about Miss Silverstar and her new partner, Jane Sinclair, on our holonet site. I’m Yasmine Jhaal. Good night.”

The lights on the holo-cameras went dark, and Yasmine let out a sigh of relief. “So you really can’t tell me what ship you’re on?” she asked.

Alexis watched carefully as all of the drones returned to their docking stations and sighed, almost deflating a bit, “Yasmine, and this is completely off the record, if Ah told you what ship Ah was on, then it got out, it could literally mean the life or death of myself or someone else on board.” She went quiet for a moment, obviously not done talking, “Ah appreciate what you did back then.. Ah never had the real opportunity to tell you and it’s not somethin’ I would say in any other way than in person.”

That’s the second time her accent broke with the word ‘I’, thought Yasmine. She put that fact away for later use. “Well I couldn’t very well let them do that to you. I’ve known you since you were, what, fourteen? I’ve been to your home. You’ve made me dinner. I feel like I know Alexis Silverstar well enough to know that she wasn’t doing what she was accused of. It’s just a shame the network never let me have you on to say your piece. But they can’t control my editorials!”

“It wouldn’t have mattered, the bastard made sure that Ah wouldn’t have anyone believe me. Marketin’ himself as a family man with his wife speak in’ for him, others that he’d used steppin’ forward almost before the news of what ‘happened’ was transmitted.” Alexis shook her head, “If Ah would tell anyone, it’d be you, Yasmine.” It was true, but here, SOMETHING was recording in some way and she couldn’t take the risk. “Ah’m sure you can understand?”

“I can,” she said, nodding. But in truth, she planned to do more digging. This was a public figure, and the public had a right to the truth. That cut both ways, in favour of protecting Silverstar’s integrity but also exposing the truth.

And besides, the people also had the right to know who was protecting their interests out in the galaxy. Those insurrectionists might have been egotistical madmen but Starfleet did have an obligation to transparency. An actress of the calibre of Alexis Silverstar working for them. What was she doing? Was it for good or ill? Almost certainly for good but she came back to the same thesis statement: the people have a right to know.

“We’ll send an agent a copy of the edited final product,” she said. “If there’s something wholly awful in it, you and she have about an hour to comment, but I don’t think that’ll be an issue.” She gave Alexis a sly grin as she stood from the interview chair. “Off the record…how was your night at the Suite?”

Alexis stood and stretched theatrically, "If you dump it to my personal comm code, you know the one, Ah'll make sure Ah review it in plenty of time. As for the suite... Ah'd love to say it was relaxin' and all, but Ah didn't really see all that much of the suite." She gave a knowing smile and a wink, "But honestly, it was heavenly. The hotel went all out, flowers and champagne and the works. Ah would highly recommend it if you ever need somewhere to lay your head for the evenin'."

“Thanks for the recommendation,” Yasmine said, giving Alexis a wink. “Billy will escort you out. Until next time!” She made a friendly wave and then turned to speak with the show’s producer.

*********
A Post By

Alexis Silverstar
Former Actress

and

Yasmine Jhaal
Federation Entertainment Service

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