The Department
The Department was a brutal, totalitarian government agency that dominated Great Britain in the mid-21st Century, turning at least part of the world into one giant dystopia.
Overview
When the British government was secretly highjacked by Korven from the year 50,000 for their planned invasion of Earth in the past, MI5 and MI6 were replaced with The Department. The British government itself was led by the secret Korven Lomax, who hid his form by conversing with his subordinates via viewscreen, seen only as a shadowy silhouette. (K9TV: The Eclipse of the Korven) The British government was in control of at least the United Kingdom, the Americas, the Pacific Union and other lesser countries, so the Department had jurisdiction in all those countries. (K9TV: Lost Library of Ukko) Lomax needed an ally on Earth and found one in the form of Inspector Thorne who made it a policy to be on the winning side. Thorne was the governor of Dauntless Prison, and was implanted with Meron DNA by the Korven, effectively turning him into one. The Korven had aided the Merons in the war against the Jixen by destroying the Jixen homeworld. (K9TV: Hound of the Korven) There were at least two other Merons in the Department. (K9TV: Liberation)
The Department kept the population under control with its robotic forces. The CCPCs were notorious for police brutality, robot surveillance cameras and hovering orange spheres with lasers. The Department also created androids. They would go to any lengths to gain the public's obedience, using publicity stunts and propaganda messages. (K9TV: Liberation/The Bounty Hunter/Sirens of Ceres)
The Department maintained a harsh policy on aliens, capturing any that came to Earth. They were referred to as Fallen Angels and imprisoned in Dauntless Prison.
It was later revealed that Lomax was actually a Korven, and Thorne was a spy, implanted with both Korven and Meron DNA. Both were killed shortly afterwards (K9TV: The Eclipse of the Korven); What this meant for the future of the Department is not known.
History
Early history
In 2048, Inspector June Turner replace human law enforcement officers with the CCPCs. Some cops, like Harry Pike were defiant when forced out of one of the final operating police stations in London. The station became the workplace of Professor Alistair Gryffen, who was assigned by the Department to work on alien technology, he was aided by Harry's son Darius. (K9TV: The Last Precinct)
A Korven spacecraft carrying a Space-Time Manipulator crashed in the frozen wastes of Canada. The crashsite was investigated by Department officers and CCPCs to salvage the technology. The STM was brought piece by piece to Gryffen Manor for Gryffen to study. (K9TV: Regeneration, Angel of the North)
The relationship between the Korven ship and the Korven in charge of the Department is unclear. The Korven ship may be in its own time or not as it contained an STM, which was crucial to Lomax's plans as it would transport the Korven invasion force. The Department tried to contain the Korven's presence in the ship not long before the arrival of the invasion so the ones from the ship weren't part of the force.
2050
The Department pursued dissidents such as Stark Reality, also known by his real name, Starkey. Starkey commonly hacked outdoor public display board terminals, posting his dissident message against the Department: Nobody thinks and Nobody gets hurt. One time while doing this, he was met by June Turner's daughter Jorjie who wished to help him. They were discovered by CCPCs and ran to Gryffen Manor. Gryffen was working on the STM with a new component given to him by the two secret Merons, Starkey accidentally interfered and the STM brought in four Jixen from 50'000 and the hound of the Korven, K9 Mark I. He self-destructed and regenerated into K9 Mark 2. As he completed his orientation protocol, the CCPCs arrived and arrested Starkey. K9 stayed at the house, where Gryffen worked on him. The surviving Jixen tracked Starkey to a virtual reality detention facility. Starkey was able to escape when the Jixen attacked a CCPC. As June Turner was Gryffen's primary contact with the Department, she came to talk to him and gave Gryffen, who was secretly hiding Starkey and K9, the directive to catch and turn him over to the Department. If he failed or refused, his funding would be ended and the STM would be dismantled and given to a more cooperative researcher. (K9TV: Regeneration)
The Jixen found out the two Merons where in the Department's Dauntless Prison and decided to head there. K9 and the team discovered this and decided to act. Starkey and Darius were to sneak in the prison while K9 flew there monitored by Gryffen in the house. However, K9 entered the Department exclusion zone and was shot down by Department Defence Robots, Starkey and Darius were caught by CCPCs and imprisoned. (K9TV: Liberation)
While June was supervising a new project, the Bodach attempted to make everyone in the world sleep. Several Department inspectors were part of the Bodach's army of sleepers. K9 foiled the Bodach's plan and destroyed their obelisk, returning everyone to normal. (K9TV: Dream-Eaters)
By 2059, at the time of Adelaide Brooke's Mars mission/disaster, no references were made to the Department, and many space projects were in operation which would seem to clash with the Department's attitude toward aliens. This suggests that the Department was shut down.
Department facilities
- Department HQ, located in London.
- Department Mobile HQ, normally located in London, the location of Lomax.
- Dauntless Prison, formerly the Tower of London, held all aliens who came to Earth. Governed by Thorne, closed down in 2050 after the Department's treatment of the aliens was leaked to the media.
- Virtual reality detention facility, used for dissidents. (K9TV: Regeneration)
- Various other prisons. (K9TV: Alien Avatar)
- Crashed Korven ship, in the frozen wastes of Canada, patrolled by Department officers to salvage the technology. (K9TV: Angel of the North)
- Gryffen Manor in London, one of the city's last police stations until the introduction of the CCPC. (K9TV: The Last Precinct) Converted in 2048, home and workplace of Alistair Gryffen and base of the K9 Unit.
- Department Dispatch, used to contain alien threats. (K9TV: Curse of Anubis)
Known staff
- Lomax (Leader of British government and secret Korven plot, deceased circa 2050)
- Thorne (Converted Meron affiliated with Lomax's plot, governor of Dauntless Prison later head of security, deceased circa 2050)
- Drake (head of security, demoted circa 2050)
- First Meron scientist
- Second Meron scientist
- Unnamed Department Technician
- Unnamed Department Technician
K9 unit
- June Turner (head of alien activity section and the K9 Unit, demoted to constable circa 2050)
- Alistair Gryffen (scientist part of the K9 Unit)
- Darius Pike (assistant to Gryffen)
- K9 Mark 2
- Starkey
- Jorjie Turner
Robotic Servants
- UNIT 18FEB6 (defected circa 2050)
- Pain-Maker (destroyed circa 2050)
- Green Hand
- Melaina (Android) (deactivated circa 2050)
Department Projects
- Orthrus (duplicate of K9 created by Drake, terminated circa 2050)
- The Hunger (nanoswarm created by Drake, terminated circa 2050)
- Taphony (defected circa 2050)
- Space-Time project (gateway for Korven invasion, terminated circa 2050)
- Trojan (weapon for Korven invasion, terminated circa 2050)
Known laws
- Regulation 29d forbid the use of unapproved sandwiches at a picnic. (K9TV: Fear Itself)
- Modifying a Department Cyborg, such as a CCPC, was punishable by an unknown ammount of time in a virtual reality detention facility. (K9TV: Mutant Copper)
- Anyone found abducting aliens, sheltering or harvesting secrets about technology from an extra-terrestrial could be secretly tried and convicted by the Department. (K9TV: The Custodians)
Behind the scenes
- The Department's purpose and attitudes towards aliens is similar to the Torchwood Institute.
