Killgrace Under Investigation

Log:

Main Timestream Period: 2000's

Tech Development: Era 2

Mission Type: Investigation

Location: Homeworld

Cover Credits: Cover uses licenced image: Nomadsoul1 | Dreamstime.com

Killgrace Under Investigation

"What's he doing, going for a smoke?" Henry asked, watching their surveillance subject intently. Killgrace had found a doorway out of the wind and reached inside his jacket. Instead of a cigarette, the businessman pulled a small black box out of his coat, flipped it open and began to dial numbers.

 "I'll intercept the call - what? That's odd. There's no signal I can find, or voice matches." Mary said, frustrated. It did not matter that their office was in Bedfordshire, they should be able to pick up any conversation within a hundred miles, or any electronic signal in this hemisphere.

 "Focus the camera on him."

 "Good idea. He's not covering his mouth." As it zoomed in, Killgrace looked around quickly to make sure he wasn't being followed. Mary grabbed a notepad.

 "Would a Cull think to?"

 "Shut up. I need to focus..." The security camera she had hijacked did not have colour, far less sound. The businessman it showed in grainy greyscale had started talking, and it took her a moment to find the best angle to read his lips. "Got it."

 "Commodore Marcus just let me know there's a new regime in...you would call them the Cull." Distaste showed on Killgrace's face as he pronounced the word. He paused, listening, and Mary watched his mouth on the screen intently and began to relay the conversation line by line:

 "...Exactly. A true Cull does not permit that which is different to live."

 "...Yes. It's also treason, which means they would have to kill any member of the old guard."

 "...If they find out I'm alive, I'll probably be promoted to Cull enemy number one."

 "...No, they've got nothing that can damage me, but if they blow up the planet I'm working on..."

 "...Not with current human technology. Planetary shields are too advanced, and anything I build they can identify."

 "...Possibly." On the camera Killgrace calmed visibly. "...For the moment, keep them safe. Activate lockdown. I may be accessing the black market for inter-galactic weapons shortly."

 "...Yeah. I'll be back soon. Take care." He folded the phone closed and put it away, staring up at the sky. The very image of a harassed businessman with too much on his plate.

 #

 "Well, he's definitely not human." Mary said, pulling the headphones off and dropping them on the desk. Just another day in the life of M.I. Eleven, known colloquially to its long suffering employees as the Mill. "But if he's a Cull, why would it tell someone to 'take care'? Don't they usually say drop dead?"

 "Yeah, with gunfire," Henry agreed, looking at the transcript, "but if a member of the Cull old guard went to ground on Earth we have a problem."

 "Yeah. We don't need another invasion. After Paris..." she shook her head, knowing this was not a good job for anyone who could not handle stress. "He's quite right. If they knew he was here, the Cull would blow the planet up as a warning shot, and then get serious."