Volume 4 – Year 24
The plot thickens as new developments surrounding the Red and Green party hint at a deeper conspiracy slowly enveloping the Confederacy with its shadowy tentacles. Rens de Saffia – a young Human male from Serenno who only recently became a citizen of the CIS – was working a pair of Modular Conveyors in the city of Rudaligia on Zrak when his scanners suddenly notified him of a peculiar object lying on the ground. Upon landing the ships and emerging from their depths to investigate more closely, De Saffia discovered the object his scanners had pointed him to was a pair of red sunglasses inscribed with the insignia of none other than Siejo Kutol himself, the Confederacy’s Magistrate of the South. “I mean, really, there’s nothing so shocking about it,” said De Saffia to one of our reporters with a bemused smile. “People lose their glasses, their keycards, or even their credits chits all the time. Haven’t you ever?” Our reporter left that question unanswered. Yet, this does raise another question, namely whether De Saffia is merely the innocent pleasant-looking young man he portrays himself as, who just happened to be at the right place, at the right time.
One of the members of our exhaustively reliable research department has proposed that things may not seem as they are presented by the individuals involved. “Upon analysing the footage your brave reporters made of those sunglasses, I can conclusively conclude that these are the same that were handed out to the Heep-Heeps as a means to pacify them through mind control not too long ago,” begins our expert who insists on remaining anonymous out of fear for government retribution. “It is more than likely that De Saffia was purposefully sent to this specific location as an agent of Siejo Kutol himself. Think about it, his scanners simply happened upon the sunglasses when he was still a good distance away? It’s more than likely that this was a highly secretive and covert retrieval mission.” As Magistrate Kutol has been at the centre of a number of disturbing and frankly unseemly schemes and plots, most notably the recent cover-up behind the true reasons why Taldar Logas had to leave the Confederate Triumvirate, this alternate theory of the case suddenly starts to appear more than likely. Yet, what might the red sunglasses on Zrak bode for the Confederacy? Our proposed answer may shock you!
Only a couple of weeks earlier Siejo Kutol and his wife had been at the centre of an embarrassing controversy when their visit to Hassaria had gone awry, and incited much public unrest among the Hassarians. Yet, most shockingly, our anonymous expert no longer believes in the innocent ignorance that he wagers Kutol feigned surrounding that event. “Look at this picture,” our resident analyst says while showing us a holo-picture of the Magistrate sporting green sunglasses while cowering before a mass of incited lilac-furred humanoids. “Kutol is sporting green sunglasses, and if you zoom in more closely here you can see they are inscribed with his insignia as well.” Is it a coincidence that the Nautolan has been spotted to be in the possession of both green and red sunglasses? “Absolutely not!” answers our expert. “This is irrefutable proof that Siejo Kutol is involved in both the Red and Green parties. In fact, if you ask me, he’s not merely involved, but actively manipulating both sides with those nefarious green tentacles of his. You can’t trust a tentacle-head!”
Our reporters confronted De Saffia with these startling and unsettling new findings. “You’re from CIS Gossip, aren’t you? You’re aware that I also work for you?” he stated with a raised eyebrow, clearly deflecting. Our noble agency declines to comment on such preposterous allegations. Regardless, the red sunglasses on Zrak are an indisputable sign that Siejo Kutol is slipping up and his dark machinations are finally coming to light, as he sends out his agents to do his bidding in utter panic and desperation. When asked for a comment surrounding these breathtakingly disturbing developments, the office of the Southern Magistrate refuted the claim. “Mister Kutol has been a firm supporter of the Red Glasses Movement for the past year, before taking on the role of Magistrate of the South,” says a Nautolan spokesperson, yet another tentacle-head seemingly involved within this conspiracy. “It is more than likely that these glasses simply fell out of his pocket during a diplomatic meeting with our dear friends the Heep-Heeps. Mister Kutol dismisses any other interpretation as a malevolent fabrication rooted in fiction.” An obvious lie to cover up yet another dark scheme surrounding the Nautolan statesman. Our reporters will continue to keep you in the spotlight, Mister Magistrate.