The Kollective (2025) s01e06 Episode Script

[pensive music]
[train bell ringing]
DELIA: Hey, Aaron, it's Delia again.
Just got to Amsterdam. Um
It's Lucas. They've got to him, too.
Um, really worried.
Call me back.
Hey, Aaron, it's me again.
Um, look, I'm just calling
to say I do understand.
Do you think that
You think you need to do this
on your own, but you don't.
Lucas is in a fucking hospital!
The next time I see you,
I don't wanna see you in a morgue.
I just I care about you.
[music continues]
XIN: We had to sedate him.
But his CT scans look promising.
There's no sign of bleeding.
And the fact that he's verbal,
lucid, is positive.
So he'll be okay?
XIN: We're monitoring him.
But his blood pressure's stabilising.
The rib should heal on its own.
Thank you.
[theme music]
[singer vocalizing]
[heart monitor beeping]
What the hell were you thinking?
When Aaron contacted me
and he told me to look into someone.
Rebin Tuerxon.
Kazakh mother and a Chinese father.
But Tuerxon's American educated.
He's a scientist.
What kind of scientist?
ETIENNE: Rare earth metal.
Coltan.
But I never thought he would
actually follow that jet. Never.
And I think I know
where that plane is going.
[keys clacking]
DELIA: So the tailfin number was in
one of the pictures, I imagine?
[sighs]
Yes.
And you tracked his destination?
Yes.
Oh, my God, Etienne. Where?
ETIENNE: Amur Oblast.
It's, uh, in East Russia.
Aaron has gone to Eastern Russia?
Yeah.
LUCAS: Follow it where?
Lucas.
[speaking in foreign language]
Hey, are you okay? How are you feeling?
[indistinct mumbling]
[speaking in foreign language]
- What-what did he say?
- "Never better."
[indistinct mumbling]
"You should see the other guy."
[laughs]
Do you want me to go get someone?
There was a nurse. Here.
Y-you want some help? Yeah
- Ah
- Excuse me, excuse me
- Careful.
- Do you remember what happened?
LUCAS: No.
You were in the apartment
Look, I really appreciate
that you guys are here,
but if you really wanna help me then
Follow it where?
[scoffs]
Um
Can I?
Okay, so during the Soviet era,
the most interesting places
in the USSR were the ZATOs.
- Oh, the closed cities?
- Yes.
LUCAS: ZATOs?
They were effectively military bases,
uh, where they would develop weapons
and work on the Soviet space programme.
And look.
These are cargo trucks
transporting Congolese Coltan, okay?
How do we know that?
I checked the ID numbers
on the container,
then I check them against
the open-source shipping manifest.
And finally tracked them back
to their source.
Well, it's good
to have you back, Etienne.
Thank you very much.
So these satellite pictures,
they're all of, uh, Skovo
- Skovorodino.
- Skovorodino.
ETIENNE: Yes. And, and look.
A few hours later
What They
The trucks returned, but they're empty?
Yeah.
So you reckon that they unloaded
the Coltan in Skovorodino?
It's just a theory.
DELIA: Well, that's not stopping Aaron.
He's gone and chased your theory.
Uh, Etienne,
when you looked at the satellite data,
did you also look
at the other part of the town?
Did you Did you look south?
Yes.
Oh, what is that?
Well, it's hard to tell, isn't it?
It looks like a forest.
- So what are they hiding?
- I don't know.
But Congolese Coltan travelling
to a remote location in East Russia,
a former USSR military research town?
So maybe it is a good place
for Aaron to start looking?
Yeah.
[suspenseful music]
[speaking in foreign language]
DELIA: Hey, I know where you're going.
Uh, I'm not sure about this.
Just, uh, try and get online
when you can.
[phone chimes]
ETIENNE: We're guessing Tuerxon
and Kuzmin are travelling to this
blurred area on the map.
There is an adoption agency
in Skovorodino.
So you're gonna pretend to adopt a kid.
So y-you have a good reason to be there.
DELIA: Just try to be convincing
as possible and be careful, okay?
ETIENNE: Mm.
- No, no, no, no.
- Oh, fuck!
- D-do you want some help? No?
- No.
I'm gonna kick your ass in no time.
- Yeah.
- You wanna kick my ass?
Come on, kick my ass.
Oh, yeah? Kick my ass.
You can't even move your arms!
So, please don't.
Why did you come back?
MAYA: Hey.
- Hey.
- Hey.
Maya.
I knew they wouldn't
keep you down for long.
It's so nice to have you back, Etienne.
- Thank you very much.
- Rebin Tuerxon.
He majored in aerospace and
Excuse me, Maya,
but w-we already found that.
Yeah, but did you know
he went on to work for NASA?
LUCAS: Rockets and spaceships NASA?
MAYA: Full security clearance.
Well, if he worked for the Americans,
what's he doing with Kuzmin now?
The simplest explanation is,
he defected.
But maybe he was always working
for the Russians?
He did a couple of stints
with specialist
communications companies.
Designing commercial satellite systems.
He even did one for some
obscure Russian company,
uh, Yegorovich Manufacturing.
Anyway, h-his employment
record, it was pretty regular.
Until he joins NASA.
And eight months into the job, he quits.
[Delia scoffs]
- When was that?
- Five years ago.
And ever since,
to all intents and purposes,
Tuerxon, he's become a ghost.
[suspenseful music]
[engine whirring]
[phone beeps]
[dog barking in distance]
MAN 1: A-are you lost?
I'm sorry?
MAN 1: Uh, you need a room?
LUDMILLA: Why are you here?
AARON: For the adoption agency.
But you are here alone?
I have the application form.
My wife, she got sick
the day before we were due
to leave, so
[chickens clucking]
Uh, I We decided that
I should go on ahead alone.
I'm Nicholas, by the way.
- Ludmilla.
- Hello.
Very nice to meet you. I'm Nicholas.
- Uh, Nikolai?
- Nikolai, yes.
IVAN: I hope you like the room.
AARON: Yes, it's, uh, it's wonderful.
Thank you.
[sighs]
Hello.
AARON: You can come in.
I'm Nicolas.
[mellow music]
[exhales]
[keys clacking]
[birds chirping]
[tense music]
[music continues]
[birds chirping]
[camera clicks]
[engine whirring]
[indistinct chatter]
[camera clicking]
AARON: I'm going to send you
some pictures
I took this afternoon.
Oh, man.
AARON: Yes. The forest hides a factory.
ETIENNE: Guards.
Yeah. With guns.
AARON: There's no way I'll get past them
to see what's inside.
There's still nothing that ties
this factory to the Coltan trucks.
Let alone, Tuerxon or Kuzmin.
Can you go back a few photos?
Stop.
That one.
Yegorovich Manufacturing.
DELIA: Maya told us that this is
one of Tuerxon's former employers.
Yeah, but Aaron still can't get inside.
AARON: Exactly, there's no way.
Yeah
but maybe he doesn't need to.
- Not physically.
- What do you mean?
LUCAS: About 15 years ago,
the Americans and the Israelis,
they had a problem.
Wh-what kind of problem?
LUCAS: Iran was developing
nuclear weapons,
and it was becoming too much
of an existential threat.
Of course, they couldn't just send spies
directly into the Iranian factory.
So they had to come up
with another idea.
A computer virus.
It's called the Stuxnet Worm.
Look, they managed to get this malware
inside the Iranian factory
on a USB stick.
It completely sabotaged their systems.
What I'm trying to say is,
if we can manage
to get a USB stick inside the factory
and if we can get someone
to put it into their system,
then we can programme it to connect
to the factory's network
and maybe broadcast it to a
dedicated receiver close by.
So we have a receiver outside
the factory, connected to a laptop?
- Yeah!
- Okay.
And then we let the malware download
whatever files it can find.
ETIENNE: Yeah.
Okay.
DELIA: We'd be crossing the line again.
This hacking is not journalism.
AARON: Delia, look,
Steve Lush died
when he found out the truth.
If we give up now
Joshua died for nothing.
Okay.
[chuckles]
Still, it could take weeks
to ship that device to me.
And I highly doubt that
this cover will last that long.
Okay, well what if one of us
brought the USB device to you?
AARON: No fucking way.
It's way too dangerous for you
to come here, Delia.
After St. Petersburg,
it will be difficult for you
to enter Russia.
It's dangerous for you
to be there alone, Aaron.
We started this thing together.
Let's finish it together.
[sighs]
Alright.
I guess we need to-to go shopping.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
[instrumental music]
Hi.
- Lucas sent me.
- Lucas?
Yeah. For-for the materials.
- Oh, sure.
- Yeah.
Excuse me, yeah.
Your receiver
and a microcontroller
with its hidden Wi-Fi capabilities,
Standard BadUSB architecture.
- No returns.
- Oh, no problem.
No problem with that.
Okay.
LUCAS: Now, we just load
the malware and program it
to run when they plug this in.
[beeps]
Done.
- Receiver.
- Thank you.
Now we just need to get you into Russia.
DELIA: You'll find a way.
MAYA: We think that the best access
is gonna be through China.
Wish me luck!
So you would fly to Beijing.
And then you would get domestic flights
to the Sino-Russian border.
Thank you.
MAYA: From there, Sergey says
he's gonna be able pull some strings.
[indistinct radio chatter]
Please be vigilant.
[suspenseful music]
[beeps]
[indistinct PA chatter]
[knocking on door]
DELIA: Hello?
[door opens]
- Oh. You must be Katya, yes?
- Yes. Nice to meet you.
IVAN: Nice to meet you. Nikolai!
- Your wife is here.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nicolas.
- Katie.
Well, um, this, this is my wife.
This is Ludmilla and Ivan.
I've already told them
everything about you,
about us, uh
- Our hopes!
- Yes, exactly.
Well, I can't wait to finally
start with our new life.
Neither can I.
[cutlery clattering]
Nikolai, tell me
How did you realise,
how do you say,
that, uh, Katya was the one?
Mm-hmm?
Um
Well, it's funny,
because it took me quite
a while to realise.
Because in the beginning,
she really, really annoyed me.
Oh, yeah?
But then I started to see
the small things.
She opens her mouth
when she's concentrating,
I love that.
And then she has this thing,
where she, like,
when she's getting annoyed,
she, like, has the wrinkles on her nose.
And then she does
She doesn't really laugh.
She does like a "hm". Like she just did.
I love it.
Um, I never ever have to explain myself.
And I think she sees me.
And that's how I knew she's the one.
And you, Katya?
Well, he calls me a tsunami,
and says I'm stubborn and obsessive.
He-he's stubborn and obsessive,
I mean, like me.
But he's now the person I go to
for everything.
And when you're not with me
I realise that I need you.
Your perspective and instincts.
You see people and things for
what they really are.
I needed that.
Mm.
Lucky man!
IVAN: Oh, for moments like this,
we need to drink vodka.
Yes.
[speaking in foreign language]
So, let us toast.
Our leaders often speak
of strength and progress,
but they make their decisions,
they choose their wars.
But we are the ones who are
left with the consequences.
For example, our eldest son.
Ilya.
They sent him to Syria.
They said they had their reasons.
But they just sent him there to die.
- Vodka?
- Yes, please. Thank you.
"Ilya" is a beautiful name.
Ilya.
- Ilya.
- Mama?
[speaking in foreign language]
[sobbing]
[instrumental music on stereo]
[speaking in foreign language]
[singing in foreign language]
Yeah.
Come, come.
Oh, wow!
Hey! Katya!
DELIA: Oh, my God.
[chuckles]
[dog barking in distance]
Going without you was irresponsible.
Well, if we're honest,
there's probably a time
I would have done the same.
[exhales]
[mellow music]
[breathing heavily]
Don't shut me out again.
What?
Don't shut me out again.
I won't.
[panting]
[chickens clucking]
[speaking in foreign language]
DELIA: W-what do you mean
they are package?
How did you get this?
ETIENNE: Delia, e-every mail package
has a unique tracking number.
And we figured out their format.
The last five digits are
always the zip code.
So we looked for packages
going to Skovorodino,
and we found some that were
going to the Yegorovich factory.
LUCAS: Oh, thank you.
Ah, shit, ha-ha-ha,
it's actually working!
Coffee mugs? And computer keyboards?
Keyboards?
Aaron's address.
So we changed the address
and diverted them to you.
This is perfect.
ETIENNE: Now-now, listen!
You just have to switch
one of the normal USBs
with the one with the malware.
And then you take off the old label,
get it to the post office,
there, it gets a whole shiny new label,
this time with the right address
and then it will be sent to our friends
at Yegorovich Manufacturing.
And they'll never know their package
took a little detour.
[engine whirring]
Once you're done,
go get online near the factory,
and we'll remote access your computer,
and we'll take it from there.
[tense music]
And the package is in.
Okay, that's the receiver.
You should have access to the laptop.
Yeah, I see it. We're in.
Okay, I'm gonna take over
and we're gonna try
to brute-force
their Wi-Fi password by
[keys clacking]
Okay, all or nothing.
[beeping]
Huh.
- Got it!
- Gone a lot softer.
Sorry, Luc.
Uh, I got it, I got it.
Here you go.
- Got it, saved the password.
- Okay.
Now we're in their network,
let's hope that someone
plugs in that keyboard
and the USB.
[indistinct chatter]
[phone ringing]
[dog barking in distance]
AARON: Okay?
[line disconnects]
[laptop chimes]
[instrumental music]
[Lucas groans]
They plugged in the USB.
So, what do we have?
ETIENNE: Oh, there must be
thousands of files.
Everything from payroll, accounting,
through to employment contracts.
DELIA: Has Tuerxon made an appearance?
Yeah, uh, he's chief engineer,
if my translation is right.
AARON: Okay, in what exactly?
Well, that's where things
get really interesting.
There are bunch of schematics
and blueprints for various subsystems,
but if you combine them all together
they form some sort of satellite.
Let's have a look.
If this is a satellite,
where are the wings?
That's where the solar panels
will be, right?
So how's this going on?
Look, these plans must show
the internals.
Wow! Look how cool this is!
That's the inside?
Yeah. Yes, there must be
thousands of microprocessors.
Well, a satellite
with a computer systems
this dense, this complex,
would require a lot of raw material.
Yeah, precisely.
And then there is this
What is this?
LUCAS: My guess,
it's some sort of payload.
ETIENNE: These are microwave arrays,
extremely high-power lasers,
possibly some signal jamming equipment
and some other stuff, TBC.
LUCAS: Guys, the satellites
are Tuerxon's specialty,
so I do think we know now
what they're building,
we just don't know why.
So we're gonna need more files.
We should go.
We've got, like, 30 gigs of data.
LUCAS: Um, so far,
it's just more of the same.
Payroll, accounting, a whole
bunch of scientific papers.
Papers on what?
Lucas, these are decay rates of uranium.
Mystery payload?
Do you think it's a nuclear weapon?
Guys, please. Let's not jump
to any conclusions.
Yeah, it would explain why everything
is blacked out in the schematics.
It would go against
every international agreement.
But, Lucas, you cannot get
past these guards. You can't.
AARON: Guys, look at this.
What is this document about?
[suspenseful music]
Is, is this a tunnel
underneath the checkpoint?
DELIA: I don't think there
are any guards around there.
There's an entrance.
AARON: Maybe we'll find out
more about how they
control these satellites.
We have to know for sure.
It would be dangerous.
ETIENNE: Aaron. Aaron, please.
Let's not cross that line again. Please.
We agreed we'd make decisions
together now, so
I'm not doing this without you.
ETIENNE: We are citizen
journalists behind a desk,
not secret agents!
We're so close.
AARON: All we've lost, it has to be
worth something, right?
It's worth a shot.
Say we go in,
I mean, what are we,
what are we even looking for?
Um, uh large centrifuges.
Industrial equipment, just anything.
Anything that proves
they are processing uranium.
ETIENNE: Pretty hard to hide this stuff.
Okay, guys.
I'm gonna call you now.
And as soon as we're in,
we're gonna stream live to the chat.
Just make sure you're recording.
ETIENNE: Uh, guys, we should
think about this before
Just keep downloading the files.
Get what you can.
[music continues]
Send me the blueprint, please.
Thank you.
Okay, guys, I will try to find
a way to track you.
Up the ladder and down the chimney.
[suspenseful music]
[laptop beeping]
Right.
I'm uploading the building's plan
to my forensic architecture software,
so if you keep your phone on,
I should be able to track you
inside the factory.
And please make sure
your phone is on silent.
Are we sure we wanna do this?
I mean, it should bring us
behind those gates.
ETIENNE: You might lose phone signal.
Do you have the Wi-Fi password?
Yes, I've got it.
ETIENNE: Okay, call us back
from the network.
Better safe than sorry.
[tense music]
[engine whirring]
[keypad clacking]
Yeah.
- We're in.
- Great.
[music continues]
Guys, I'm putting you in my pocket.
[indistinct chatter]
LUCAS: Okay, so, centrifuges,
they're typically steel,
uh, like big metal tubes.
A few metres long.
See if you can find anything like that.
[indistinct chatter]
Whoa, wait, wait, wait. Is that
Tuerxon?
LUCAS: Try to follow him.
Get a closer look.
[clattering]
Oh. Jesus.
LUCAS: Aaron.
Look at this. The satellites
[speaking in foreign language]
Aaron, get out of there.
ETIENNE: Go.
Go now, Aaron.
ETIENNE: We have recorded
everything, so get out now!
Get out!
LUCAS: Keep on walking.
He's still following you.
D-don't look.
But is he still following you?
[beeps]
- Guys.
- Yeah?
- Guys, do you see this?
- Yeah, we see it.
AARON: I'm in an elevator.
Uh, yeah. Where are you going?
I don't know. But I'm, I'm going down.
[door opens]
Aaron, I'm not sure about this.
I told you this was a bad idea.
No, no, no.
AARON: Guys, I think Tuerxon's
satellites are weapons.
- Why this place?
- I don't know.
They are aiming at satellites
all over the world.
LUCAS: Why are they targeting
other satellites?
Hello.
I admire the spirit.
Ah, my friend from St. Petersburg.
- Oh, God.
- Who left in a hurry.
[speaking in foreign language]
You can't blame me for trying.
We know about the payload
in the satellite.
What is it? Nuclear weapon?
A nuclear weapon?
We could have done that decades ago.
Lucas
we need to get him o-out of here.
- How?
- I-I don't know.
I followed him down.
Is that what Josh found out?
That you needed all of
the Coltan for your satellites?
Your friend was simply
collateral damage.
And Steve Lush?
And Claude?
You murdered them.
Why?
Why are your satellites targeting
other satellites, huh?
Do you want to start a war?
We don't need to wage war against you.
We just shut down your systems.
Hospitals, transportation,
telecommunications, banking.
And when the world,
as you know it, collapses
very quickly you will realise
we're all the same in the dark.
And after the darkness, we will turn
the telecommunications systems back on.
And your disinformation
will have filled in the blanks.
The uranium's powering
the jamming equipment
on your satellites and that's
how you create the blackout.
The greatest victories are
those that require no battles.
No one has the monopoly on truth.
Truth belongs to all of us.
[singer vocalizing]
We will see.
Guys! Guys, uh, I think
I found a password
to their internal security system,
but I need a minute.
[powering on]
[suspenseful music]
AARON: So this is how you do it,
all that real-time disinformation.
- A quantum computer.
- Yes.
Now
- Give me your phone.
- No. No, no, no, no.
- Lucas, hurry up!
- Guys, what do I do?
Aaron, I'm gonna need you
out of that room in three seconds.
- He can't hear you, wait
- Three.
- No, stop!
- Two.
- Aaron!
- One.
Now!
[beeps]
[speaking in foreign language]
Oh, shit. We need another way out.
The elevator is on its way down!
Please, just a second.
DELIA: Etienne, we don't have a second.
- Come on. Come on.
- Aaron, stay with me.
- Find a solution now!
- Okay!
We see you.
Take a look at the right
of the elevator doors.
You-you should see a vent.
Ge-get inside it.
[Delia grunts]
You should see a service ladder.
Keep climbing up.
[indistinct radio chatter]
Well, wait, wait. You're on
the wrong side of the building.
You're gonna need another way out.
Um, uh, let me give you some cover.
Okay, hold on. Just a second.
AARON: We are still climbing up!
[speaking in foreign language]
[powering down]
[indistinct chatter]
DELIA: We're back on ground floor!
What do we do now?
[speaking in foreign language]
LUCAS: Okay, go. Now!
[indistinct chatter]
AARON: The truck. Come.
We're on a truck.
But we-we don't know
where we're moving to.
Guys.
ETIENNE: Oh, my God,
where are you going?
LUCAS: Uh, you're heading west.
Bad news. According to these blueprints,
there's an army barracks that way.
[intense music]
[horn blares]
It's Ivan.
And Boris.
Under the train.
Go. Go.
[car door closes]
Goodbye, Nikolai.
Thank you, Boris. Thank you very much.
[car engine starts]
[instrumental music]
[keys clacking]
DELIA: Today we are publishing
45 gigabytes of data.
We believe these documents uncover
a secret Russian space programme
designed to initiate
a global digital collapse
and gain control of international media.
The whole truth lies hidden
within these documents.
If you wanna help, click here.
MAN ON TV: The citizen journalist group
known as The Kollective
have published a video
in which a Russian agent
appears to describe
a new uranium-based space weapon,
the weapon, allegedly, has the
capacity to destroy satellites
on which the world depends for internet,
air traffic control
and the stock market.
This would be in violation
of the Space Treaty
to which 130 countries are signatories,
including Russia.
The Russian government has,
however, denied any involvement
claiming the agent
to be a rogue operative.
[music continues]
[reporters clamouring]
ETIENNE: If-if I get scared?
Uh, yes.
Yes, a-all the time.
But what's the alternative?
Th-the important thing is
that we don't let it stop us.
That's, that's all,
that's a-what I wanted to say.
AARON: If we give in to fear,
we give in to them.
And that's not something
we are willing to do.
We believe uncovering the
truth can make a difference.
[speaking in foreign language]
DELIA: What happens next
doesn't have to be left up
to these competing narratives.
It can be up to you.
So, if you find something
that you care about,
it can be something local.
Find something that matters to you,
and then start to investigate.
[singer vocalizing]
DELIA: The documents we posted
were downloaded by almost
1.8 million people.
Each one of you give me hope.
I believe if Joshua
was still alive, he would say,
what we do matters.
If things had gone any other way,
there's a chance that
we wouldn't be here today,
or that I'd be here alone.
It didn't go that way.
And you're not alone.
None of us are.
Bye.
I'll see you online.
[instrumental music]
[singers vocalizing]
[pensive music]