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| number = 17 |
| number = 17 |
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| doctor = Eighth Doctor |
| doctor = Eighth Doctor |
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| − | | companions = [[Charlotte Pollard|Charley |
+ | | companions = [[Charlotte Pollard|Charley]] |
| enemy = The [[Cyberman (Mondas)|Cybermen]] |
| enemy = The [[Cyberman (Mondas)|Cybermen]] |
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| setting = The [[Garazone|Garazone System]], [[2503]] |
| setting = The [[Garazone|Garazone System]], [[2503]] |
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| next = The Stones of Venice (audio story) |
| next = The Stones of Venice (audio story) |
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}} |
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| − | '''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the seventeenth [[Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories|monthly ''Doctor Who'' audio story]] produced by [[Big Finish Productions]]. This was a double first, being the first Big Finish story to feature the [[Cyberman|Cybermen]], and the first Eighth Doctor story to feature the Cybermen. This is also another of Big Finish's stories which was originally created as part of the [[Audio Visuals]] a fan produced series which featured many people who went onto create and work for Big Finish and [[BBV Productions]]. [[Nicholas Briggs]] filled many roles in the production of this story — he provided the voice of the Cybermen, sound design, music, direction, and writing. |
+ | '''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the seventeenth [[Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories|monthly ''Doctor Who'' audio story]] produced by [[Big Finish Productions]]. This was a double first, being the first Big Finish story to feature the [[Cyberman|Cybermen]], and the first Eighth Doctor story to feature the Cybermen. This is also another of Big Finish's stories which was originally created as part of the [[Audio Visuals]], a fan produced series which featured many people who went onto create and work for Big Finish and [[BBV Productions]]. [[Nicholas Briggs]] filled many roles in the production of this story — he provided the voice of the Cybermen, sound design, music, direction, and writing; his appearance as the voice of the Cybermen here predates [[TV]]: ''[[Rise of the Cybermen (TV story)|Rise of the Cybermen]]''. |
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| + | This story also established the [[Orion War]] which would be built upon years later in Big Finish's spin-off series, ''[[Cyberman (audio series)|Cyberman]]''. |
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== Publisher's summary == |
== Publisher's summary == |
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== Plot == |
== Plot == |
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| − | The Doctor and Charley intend to return Ramsay the vortisaur to the Time Vortex, but there's a slight problem; he seems to have fallen ill, perhaps from spending too much time outside his natural environment. Whatever the cause, he's too weak to be moved, and the shock of returning to the Vortex in this state could kill him. The Doctor needs answers -- and fortunately, he knows just where to find them... |
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| + | === Part 1 === |
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| − | In the future of 2503, the Orion war continues with no end in sight, while the ion storm Protyon drifts to the fringes of the Garazone system. There, Captain Thinnes of the cargo loader Silver Jackal tricks a space patrol ship into leaving him and his associate Digly alone in a sector rich with unclaimed salvage. The Jackal soon locates the find of the century, an abandoned star destroyer which appears in perfect condition from the outside. Thinnes and Digly spacewalk over to check out their discovery, and a quick perusal suggests that it's in near-mint condition, apart from a foul stench in the atmosphere. But before they can conduct a more thorough investigation, something lurches out of the shadows and kills them both... The Doctor has taken Charley to the bazaar on Garazone Central, one of the earliest artificial space habitats built by humanity. In this era, it's far from the central authorities, and one can find almost anything here -- perhaps even a text which might explain what's wrong with Ramsay. When one of the bazaar's inhabitants makes a rather unwholesome suggestion to Charley, the Doctor takes the offended girl into a shop and bluffs the shopkeeper, Ike, into believing that they are Customs and Excise officials so they can browse in peace. He's pretty sure Ike won't push the matter; smuggling is rife in this sector, and the Doctor saw Ike leaving a merchant space corps ship earlier. However, Ike has been nervous ever since Thinnes and Digly disappeared, and he thus contacts his associate Grash to warn him that they've been rumbled. Grash dismisses his fears, and tells him that there's a bigger problem; Captain Obermann has been transferred off the Vanguard, and the new captain, Deeva Jansen, has brought forward the ship's disembarkation time. Ike bolts from the shop without closing up, surprising the Doctor and worrying Charley. They know he's a smuggler, and he believes that they're government officials; perhaps he's gone to fetch some of his friends to give them a seeing-to. Or, worse, as the Doctor told Ike where he'd landed, perhaps they're going to loot or steal the TARDIS. The Doctor, realising that Charley has a point, picks up a book of ancient remedies for Ramsay, and sets off to hire a grav-pad and beat Ike back to the docking bays. The grav-pad shorts out mid-flight, dropping them unceremoniously at their destination, but even so they're too late; the Vanguard's new captain is in such a rush to leave that she's ordered her crewman Vol to load the supplies aboard without double-checking them. And thus the TARDIS is accidentally loaded aboard the Vanguard as well. The Doctor and Charley have less than ten minutes to find a way onto the ship before it leaves, taking the TARDIS with it... Ike arrives with seconds to spare, and joins Vol and Captain Jansen on the bridge as the ship blasts out of spacedock. Jansen then returns to her cabin, while Vol and Ike settle in for the flight and wonder what's up with their new captain. Why the rush to leave? Why is she packing such a heavy-duty firearm? Jansen seems too bright and ambitious for this dirty job; perhaps she's been demoted after having a row with someone on the space corps executive. Whatever the case, she's not your average scrapship captain... Thanks to the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, he and Charley get into the Vanguard's waste bays moments before the ship leaves Garazone Central. As they search for the cargo hold containing the TARDIS, the Doctor explains to Charley that this ship is rather like an interplanetary dustcart, roaming the areas between the distant space lanes and picking up the rubbish collecting there. Charley is offended by the poorly maintained service areas, but the Doctor is more puzzled by the fact that he can sense the vibrations of a interstellar drive being pushed to its limits. Where are they going in such a hurry? Just as they find the TARDIS, the engines suddenly cut out -- quite a dangerous manoeuvre. The Doctor decides to get off this ship as quickly as possible, before the crew fly it to pieces. Vol and Ike have cut power to the engines to prevent a collision with a massive, abandoned star destroyer, but the Vanguard was going too quickly when the proximity alarms went off, and even full reverse thrust isn't enough to stop their ship in time. Jansen orders them to re-initiate the hyperdrive and set it for a three-nanosecond reverse burst -- another dangerous manoeuvre, but one which saves them. It doesn't do much good for the TARDIS, however. The Doctor has patched his own ship's scanner into the Vanguard's systems and spotted the star destroyer outside; realising that the ships are about to collide, he attempts to dematerialise, just as Deeva fires up the warp engines. The TARDIS is caught in the warp field, causing a surge of temporal feedback in its time core. The Doctor materialises immediately, and he and Charley are forced to abandon the TARDIS before the temporal feedback lashes out into the console room. Ramsay should be safe enough -- the Time Vortex is his natural habitat, and the release of temporal energy might even be good for him -- but the Doctor and Charley will be stuck outside the TARDIS until the energy has dissipated. As it happens, the TARDIS has materialised on board the star destroyer, and the Doctor decides to explore... Deeva runs into a problem while trying to get her recon team over to the destroyer; she's met her match in the team leader, Grash. Standard operating procedure is for the scrapship to link to the abandoned vessel with a docking tube, but the destroyer's airlock is too large, and Grash refuses to spacewalk; it's not in his contract. Deeva is forced to resort to offering them all double bonuses, and the team members -- Grash, Chev, and Kelsey -- suit up and cross over to the destroyer. Deeva returns to the bridge, where she finds Ike hacking into her command terminals to learn more about the star destroyer. It's been spotted before, but no other scrapship was willing to take on a job of this size; but that's all he learns before a top-priority security block closes down the data. The only way for him to learn more about the destroyer is through the ship's secure terminal, and only Deeva has access to that. The Doctor and Charley find what appears to be the destroyer's control room, but it's entirely bare, as if the missing crew took all of the soft furnishings with them when they left; if ever there were any. Hearing the distant sounds of the recon team boarding, the Doctor decides to return to the TARDIS and try to re-enter, but as he and Charley set off they hear another sound in the distance, like something howling. And the closer they get to the TARDIS, the louder it is. Kelsey also hears the sound; he, Grash and Chev have split up to explore, and Kelsey is the first to find something -- the TARDIS. But as he calls Chev and Grash to have a look at his find, the thing that killed Digly and Thinnes attacks him as well... |
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| + | [[Charley Pollard|Charley]] is worried about [[Ramsay (Storm Warning)|Ramsay]] looking ill. She and [[Eighth Doctor|the Doctor]] can't carry him to the [[TARDIS control room|control room]] and Ramsay is dying from being away too long from the [[time vortex]]. The Doctor decides that there is one way to restore Ramsay back to health, but doesn’t tell Charley, who is flustered to know. |
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| + | 2503. The [[Orion War]] continues to rage and a ship called the [[Silver Jackal]] receives contact from a patrol ship. Onboard the Silver Jackal, [[Digly]] convinces the patrol ship to leave so they can salvage an area in space. Digly wakes up Captain [[Thinnes]] and then picks up something on radar—an abandoned star destroyer. Captain Thinnes decides to go onboard the star destroyer to investigate and find “souvenirs”. |
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| + | Captain Thinnes and Digly don their spacesuits and enter the star destroyer. They sense a foul stench onboard, but before they continue, something heads towards them. They open fire, but it is not harmed. They retreat, but they are killed by the figure. |
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| − | The Doctor and Charley hear screaming and rush off to investigate, to find Kelsey lying before the TARDIS, battered nearly to death. As they try to stop the bleeding, Chev and Grash arrive, see them with the body and leap to the wrong conclusion. Kelsey dies while the Doctor is busy trying to convince Grash that they aren't responsible, and Grash contacts Jansen and requests authority to execute the Doctor and Charley on the spot. However, she realises that they can't be responsible for the brutal violence of Kelsey's death, and instead she orders Ike to take two spare suits over to the destroyer and bring the strangers back to the Vanguard. Ike does so, painfully aware that while Jansen is monitoring him he can't tell Grash that the Doctor and Charley are the strangers from the shop... Back aboard the Vanguard, Ike and Chev take Kelsey's body to the sickbay while Jansen and Grash question the Doctor and Charley. Grash accuses them of being rogue androids from the Orion sector, but Jansen knows he's just grasping to explain the damage done to Kelsey's body. Vol then calls from the flight deck, informing them that he's picked up a transmission from the airlock reception area. Grash confiscates the Doctor's temporal tracker and sonic screwdriver, but the transmission continues, and its source begins to move. The Doctor spots movement in the darkness, but whatever it was has gone when he looks again; however, it has left scratches on the deck plates. Moments later, the lights fail in the reception area, and faults begin to spread throughout the ship, from the sickbay to the flight deck. Despite Grash's reservations, Deeva shows the Doctor to the nearest maintenance hatch, where they see that something has burned through it and the power cables beneath. And yet the life-support cables are untouched, suggesting that the intruder doesn't want the crew dead... As the disruptions spread, it becomes obvious even to Grash that the Doctor and Charley can't be responsible. He and Chev remain suspicious, but Ike and Vol at least concede that Kelsey's wounds would have left his attackers drenched in blood. The Doctor has a theory to explain one of the mysteries, and when he examines the team's backpacks he finds scratches on Grash's. The intruder must have stuck to Grash's backpack on the destroyer, and dropped off in the airlock while he was concentrating on the Doctor and Charley. The Doctor suggests shutting down life support in the empty areas of the ship and diverting the spare power to the security systems to locate the intruder. Charley remains on the flight deck with Deeva and Grash, while Chev and Vol supervise the Doctor. The Doctor completes his work, and Vol locates the intruder; it's reached the stern of the ship, and is still transmitting the same signal he detected earlier. Grash just wants to pack up and go, but Deeva has no intention of abandoning what could be the biggest haul in salvage history. Grash thus accuses her of unnecessarily endangering her crew, places her under arrest, and orders Vol and Ike to take the ship back to Garazone Central. But when they try to obey, they find that the intruder has reached the engines; the Vanguard isn't going anywhere now. Grash has no choice but to let Deeva and the Doctor cross over to the destroyer as they wish -- but Charley must remain here as a hostage, and if Vol gets the engines working, Grash isn't going to wait for them to return. Once the Doctor and Deeva have gone, Ike finally gets the chance to tell Grash about his earlier encounter with the Doctor and Charley; but if they really are from Customs and Excise why haven't they reported Ike to the captain? Grash doesn't know, and he doesn't care; Charley poses a threat, and he knows how to deal with it and solve their engine problem at the same time. Ike and the reluctant Vol thus force Charley to accompany them to the engine room, where she realises that they intend to use her as bait to lure the intruder out into the open -- and get rid of her in the process... The Doctor suspects that there's more to Deeva, and her interest in the destroyer, than she's letting on. But another mystery gets answered first, for moments after he and Deeva board the destroyer, they are attacked by Kelsey's killer -- a rogue Cyberman. To the Doctor's surprise, one blast from Deeva's gun is enough to destroy it, and she knows what it is even though the Cybermen have been entombed on Telos for some time. She claims to have studied that period in military history... which again raises the question of what such a well-educated and trained officer is doing in charge of a scrapship. The Doctor studies the dead Cyberman, and finds that its cyber-neural systems were damaged by faults caused when it was prematurely woken from cryogenic stasis. The Doctor now suspects that the thing on the Vanguard is a Cybermat -- and as the signal from the Cybermat wasn't meant for this rogue, that implies that there are other Cybermen aboard. The Doctor and Deeva must find them and prevent them from waking... But it's too late. The Cybermen are already awake. And they're reviving their Leader. |
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| + | [[The TARDIS]] lands in a bazaar on the [[Garazone Central]]. Charley tries to communicate with a merchant to get help for Ramsay, but Charley is slightly disturbed by the merchant’s suggestive compliments to her. She gives up and meets up with the Doctor, who also hasn’t found anything. The Doctor and Charley then check out another shop in the bazaar and decide to look around. The Doctor convinces the shopkeeper, [[Ike (Sword of Orion)|Ike]], that they are Customs and Excise officials so they can browse peacefully and the Doctor comes across a recorder. The Doctor and Charley then find a golden plated [[Cyberman]] head in the shop and the Doctor recognizes it. |
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| + | Outside, Ike contacts a man named [[Grash]] and Ike expresses concern about the disappearances of Thinnes and Digly as well as the Silver Jackal. Grash orders him to calm down, but Ike thinks that his shop is about to be “rumbled” by two individuals. Grash then tells Ike that Captain [[Obermann]] has been transferred to the Vanguard. And a new captain has been brought onboard and brought forward the disembarkation time. Grash urgently tells Ike to leave the shop and get to the docking bay immediately. |
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| − | While some of the revived Cybermen attempt to overcome the power failures plaguing their ship and revive their Leader, two warriors cross over to the human ship to begin the next phase of the operation... Ike forces Charley into the engine room, where she finds the Cybermat waiting for her. Grash orders Vol and Ike to wait until it kills her before destroying it, or else kill her themselves and claim that it did. However, Vol can't bring himself to do that, and he shoots the Cybermat first, putting it out of action and saving Charley's life. However, when he and Ike enter the engine room they find that the engines themselves are beyond repair. Meanwhile, Chev and Grash detect someone at the airlock, and, assuming that the Doctor and Deeva have returned, go to arrest them again. But when the airlock opens two Cybermen enter, and Grash and Chev's guns have no effect on them. Chev flees as the Cybermen shoot Grash with a stun-bolt and condition him to obey their commands. Deeva's tracker locates a large chamber worth investigating, but the door has been fused by a power surge -- perhaps the same one which caused the rogue's hibernation unit to malfunction. Deeva suggests that the surge may have been caused by one of the ion storms common to the sector, and when she and the Doctor force the door open they find evidence to support this theory -- a conversion chamber filled with corpses. This is a factory ship, sent out from Telos to kidnap humanoids and convert them into Cybermen -- but when the storm hit the conversions were halted midway, and these half-converted prisoners died in agony. Beyond the conversion chamber lie the cryogenic units, where the Doctor and Deeva see the Cyber Leader finally waking. The other Cybermen inform their Leader of the systems failures caused by the ion storm, and of the fact that a Cybermat has sent the reactivation signal; a human ship is alongside, and its crew are to be converted. The Doctor and Deeva have heard enough, and the Doctor decides to retreat to the TARDIS while he ponders what he's seen -- and why the Cybermen seem to be reviving their warriors one at a time. However, the Cybermen reactivate their ship's security systems and detect the presence of intruders, and the Doctor and Deeva are forced to retreat to the airlock. For some reason, the Cybermen don't follow them out. The Doctor wonders why, not realising that two warriors are already aboard the Vanguard, waiting for them to arrive... As Charley and Vol study the Cybermat it comes back to life, but without its weaponry it seems harmless. The Vanguard's engines, however, are a total write-off. Chev arrives, terrified and believing that Grash is dead, but as she tells the others about the invaders Grash arrives; he seems somewhat out of sorts, but claims to have killed the invaders. However, he also claims that there are more on their way, and insists that the others help to drive them off. They reluctantly return to the airlock with him, to find that the Doctor and Deeva have just entered -- and that Deeva has destroyed the waiting Cybermen. Grash collapses when he sees the warriors lying dead, and the others decide that the mutiny is now over; they'll all have to work together to escape the Cybermen. While Ike and Chev carry Grash back to his cabin, Vol jams the servo-mechanisms of the airlock, and then takes the Doctor and Charley to the flight deck. Deeva will join them later; she has other business to take care of first. Meanwhile, the Cybermen prepare to take the Vanguard by force. Contact is re-established with the Cybermat; it has lost its offensive capability, but it has other programming... Vol warns the Doctor and Charley that if Grash thinks they know about Ike's sideline, they're in bigger trouble than they can imagine. They might claim not to care about petty criminal activities, but there's nothing petty about Grash... Ike and Chev then arrive, and the Doctor questions them about Deeva; he wants to know why someone like her is captain of a scrapship, and how she got hold of a gun which can destroy a Cyberman with virtually a single shot. Ike tells the Doctor about the classified file he was unable to access, but before the Doctor can investigate, an alarm sounds; the Cybermen are trying to break in. Ike calls Deeva to warn her, interrupting her as she uses the secure computer server to look up information on the "Doctor" and his "TARDIS". Apparently her mysterious visitor is an expert on Cybermen... Deeva joins the others at the airlock, where the others suggest letting them in so Deeva can blast them. However, she can only take down one at a time, and if she misses just one, there will be no hope for any of them. The Doctor has an alternate plan, albeit a dangerous one; as soon as the Cybermen enter the airlock, he jettisons the outer door. Since the Cybermen want the humans alive for conversion, and they can no longer open the inner door without evacuating all of the air from the Vanguard, they are forced to remain where they are. The Doctor has bought some time, but not as much as he thought; the Cyber-Leader re-establishes contact with Grash and the Cybermat, and puts its backup plan into motion. By closing the bulkheads around the reception area, Grash can create a secondary airlock. The Cybermat will assist him; its weaponry may have been destroyed, but it is still capable of bringing any further humans it encounters under Cyber-control... Leaving Vol on watch, the others retreat to the flight deck to consider their next move, while Chev checks on Grash. However, in this moment of calm it occurs to Charley to wonder why Grash passed out earlier, and Ike and Vol realise belatedly that if Deeva hadn't returned when she did, then Grash would have led them straight to the waiting Cybermen. The Doctor realises too late that Grash was under Cyber-control; when Chev arrives at Grash's cabin, he's gone, and he's taken his gun with him. Deeva orders Chev to follow him to airlock reception and sets off to join her there -- and the Doctor decides to take the opportunity to access the classified file which Ike failed to get into earlier. He manages to do so, and discovers that it's a Garazone space patrol report; the Silver Jackal was found abandoned near these co-ordinates, and the presence of the star destroyer was reported to military intelligence. All further data is locked under Tellurian security classification Orion D-7, and the computer shuts itself down when the Doctor tries to access it anyway. Charley recalls that when Grash accused her and the Doctor of being androids, Deeva claimed that there were no androids outside Orion. It seems the time has come to learn why. As Chev approaches the airlock reception area she hears something moving. At first she fears that Grash has found her. But it's worse. It's the Cybermat. |
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| + | Back in the shop, Charley asks the Doctor the length of the [[Cyber-Wars|Cyber-War]]. The Doctor answers that it was a very long time and informs her that the Cybermen remain in their tombs on [[Telos]] for the time being. The Doctor and Charley then notice that Ike has abandoned them. Charley thinks that he has gone to get his “smuggler friends” to beat them to a pulp, but the Doctor disagrees. Charley reminds the Doctor that he told Ike where the TARDIS was and confirms that the Doctor is indeed worried. The Doctor orders Charley to take a [[grav-pad]] and the nearby book of ancient remedies. Charley protests that this would be theft, but the Doctor remarks that it’s probably stolen anyway and they run from the shop. |
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| + | A man named [[Vol]] contacts the Vanguard captain from the docking bay. The Captain asks for the status of the supplies. Vol answers that they are in place, but he has to check each of them. The Captain responds that this would take too long and they are to load them immediately, disobeying procedures. |
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| − | The Orion war; to Ike it's current events, to the Doctor it's past history he needs reminding of, and to Charley it's an appalling glimpse of her race's future. Humanity has been building androids for some time, and they've finally made them advanced enough to think of themselves as real and start demanding rights. When the authorities refused, the androids withdrew to the Orion sector, where most of them had been made, and ordered the humans there either to accept them as equals or get out. War was declared on the "rebel" androids, and it's been going on for eight years now, with no end in sight. The Doctor still doesn't know how this connects to events here, and he's too concerned with the immediate problem to pay much attention to a brief movement he spots on the main viewport, off in the distance. Whatever it is has gone when he looks again, and as Ike doesn't have the power for a long-range scan, the Doctor dismisses it as unimportant and sets off to break into the secure computer module... Deeva contacts Vol, who informs her that the Cybermen are attaching a control device to the inner door. Realising what they intend to do, Deeva orders him to get out of there and join her. He doesn't need telling twice, and as they shelter outside the reception area Deeva calls Ike and tells him to send the Doctor down. Ike is forced to tell her that the Doctor isn't there, and, realising what he must be doing, Deeva sets off to stop him, leaving Vol alone. As he waits, Chev arrives and tells him that she's found something for him to look at. He steps forward -- to find the Cybermat waiting for him... The Doctor and Charley break into the secure computer module, which recognises the Doctor from Deeva's earlier research. The Doctor programmes it to believe that since it knows who he is, he must have security clearance, and although hesitant at first it eventually starts to tell him all it knows about Orion classification D-7, the "Sword of Orion". The destroyer has been spotted by several ships in this area, and military intelligence has determined its nature; as the Doctor had suspected, "Deeva Jansen" is not a merchant corps captain at all, but an Earth security operative on a mission to locate the star destroyer and determine the military value of the Cybermen. Deeva arrives and switches off the system before the Doctor can learn more, but he's heard enough to utterly disgust him; if Deeva thinks he's going to help her recruit the Cybermen to help win the war in Orion, she's very much mistaken. However, it appears that she has something else in mind... Ike contacts Deeva to warn her that Vol, Chev and Grash are letting the Cybermen into the ship through their secondary airlock. Furthermore, he too has spotted something in the distance of deep space. The Doctor, Deeva and Charley return to the flight deck, arriving just in time to save Ike from the first of the Cyber-scouts, but there are more coming and there's no other way out of the ship. Deeva orders the others to don their suits, and shoots out the main viewport, intending to spacewalk over to the destroyer and try to escape in the Doctor's TARDIS. For some reason, the Cybermen don't follow the fugitives; it's almost as if they can't find them. Which is exactly the case, as the Doctor realises when he finally gets a good look at what he and Ike spotted through the viewport earlier. There's an ion storm on its way, and even at this distance it's making a mess of the Cybermen's scanners. The Cybermen also detect the approach of the ion storm, and realise that they must return to hibernation at once. In the meantime they will convert the humans they have already captured. Vol, Chev and Grash are taken to the conversion chambers and put in place, and the control over their minds is relinquished while the conversion process begins. It's terribly painful, and as they enter the secondary stage Vol and Chev give in to the process... but Grash simply keeps raving. He's the criminal kingpin of the Garazone system, and nobody does this to him and his people; nobody! The Cybermen, realising that Grash has gone insane and is no longer suitable for conversion, terminate him. The survivors' oxygen supplies are limited, and they are forced to board the destroyer through the airlock despite the risk that the Cybermen may be waiting for them. As indeed they are. To the Doctor's great disappointment, Deeva identifies him to the Cybermen and claims to have a proposition from the Earth Alliance. Despite the Leader's conviction that logic will find a way out of any situation, they can't deny that it will be difficult to return to Telos and revive their race in a ship devastated by ion storm damage. Deeva claims to have the authority to repair this ship in exchange for the Cybermen's help in fighting the androids; the Cybermen would become the Sword of Orion. Deeva is surprised by Charley's disgusted reaction, but the Doctor and Charley insist that they don't simply support the androids over the humans; it's not that facile a question of morality. If humans made androids as intelligent beings, then it's humanity's responsibility to face up to the consequences. The Leader dismisses both the moral discussion and Deeva's proposition, and orders that the Doctor be frozen for analysis on Telos while the humans are sent to the conversion chamber. But the Doctor offers a counter-proposal, and backs it up with logic. If the Cybermen's main drive was active they'd be moving now, to get out of the way of the ion storm; if their weapons were active they'd have taken a shot at the Vanguard earlier to prevent it from leaving; and if their revival systems were functioning properly they wouldn't have to revive their warriors one at a time. The previous storm did more damage than they're willing to admit, and the next will likely tear the ship apart... unless they agree to release their captives, in which case the Doctor offers to use his TARDIS to rig up a defensive shield. The ship is struck by the outer fringes of the ion storm, and the Leader reluctantly accepts the Doctor's proposal -- but rather than wait for the Cybermen to betray them, Deeva immediately opens fire on her guards. The Doctor, Charley and Deeva escape, but Ike is recaptured and sent to the conversion chamber. Deeva is hit by a glancing blast while fleeing, and as they near the TARDIS the Doctor insists upon seeing to her injury. She resists at first, and the Doctor realises why when he sees fibre-optic circuitry sticking out of the wound. Deeva is forced to reveal her final secrets; she's an android double-agent sent to infiltrate this mission. The Earth Alliance never intended to make a deal with the Cybermen at all; Deeva made that up to buy time. In fact, the Alliance intended to learn the secret of Cyber-conversion, and use it to transform their own men into cybernetic troops with which to win the war. Deeva's real mission was to bring that information to Orion, where the androids would convert prisoners of war into cybernetic troops for their own side. The main body of the storm is now starting to hit, and the TARDIS is their only way out -- but the Doctor refuses to open the door until Deeva agrees to his terms. He will take her home, but only if she agrees to erase the information she has stored in her memory about the conversion process. He's aware that she can use force and threats against him and Charley -- everything a real human is capable of -- but he won't be moved. Perhaps it's the casual way in which he refers to Deeva's "people", or the fact that he admits he can only trust her to keep her word, which wins her over. She informs him that she has erased the data from her memory -- but they've left it too late. The Cybermen catch up to them, and the Leader seizes Deeva's gun and destroys it before she can bring it to bear. One of his warriors grabs Charley, threatening to dismember her if the Doctor doesn't let them into the TARDIS -- but then the ion storm strikes in earnest, breaching the hull. In the confusion, Charley finds that she can't breathe; her suit is secure but the Cyberman which was holding her has crushed her life support pack. As the ion disruption becomes too much for the Doctor to handle, he passes out, and the last thing he hears is Charley struggling with Deeva... When the Doctor wakes, the destroyer has been torn to pieces, and the Cybermen are floating helplessly in space around him and Charley, slowly shutting down in the cold. There's no sign of Deeva, who removed her own life support pack and gave it to Charley; the last thing she said before they were separated was "trust". The Doctor and Charley use their jetpacks to cross space to the TARDIS, but they are unable to locate Deeva, who must have shut down from the cold without her life support pack. Perhaps one day someone will find and revive her. As Charley goes to check on Ramsay, she and the Doctor ponder Deeva's nature, as compared to the Cybermen. They started as humanoids, and turned themselves into monstrous machines -- but Deeva started out as a machine, and took on the best parts of humanity... |
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| + | The Doctor and Charley activate the grav-pads, which excite Charley and head to the warehouse, where the TARDIS is parked. They then spot the TARDIS being loaded onto the Vanguard as cargo. Charley sees that the cargo number is 38B. The Doctor then tells Charley that they have less than ten minutes to get onboard before it takes off. Ike arrives onboard and Captain Jensen orders Vol to blast them off. The Vanguard leaves the docking bay. |
||
| + | |||
| + | It is then revealed that the Doctor and Charley were successful in stowing away onboard thanks to the [[Sonic Screwdriver]]. They then begin to search for the TARDIS in the cargo area for 38B. Charley feels a vibration on the wall and the Doctor confirms that this is from some sort of interstellar drive for ship that is moving really fast. The Doctor sees that the Vanguard is a scrap ship and wonders why they are in such a hurry. Charley sees that they are now in 38A, but then hear a noise that indicates that there may be something wrong with the engines. |
||
| + | |||
| + | On the bridge, a proximity alarm sounds and Vol then orders Ike to cut the power on the engines. The engines die just when Charley finds 38B, but the Doctor remarks that they better get off the ship because cutting off the engines in midflight of this ship is dangerous. |
||
| + | |||
| + | The Vanguard then picks up on radar that they have come across an abandoned star destroyer. Captain Jensen orders a maneuver, but the engines have been cut off. Jensen reluctantly orders to initiate the hyperdrive. Ike and Vol protest that they just cut the engine off and that restarted would be dangerous and would also take time to power up again. Jensen insists her orders. |
||
| + | |||
| + | The Doctor and Charley come across the TARDIS and enter. The Doctor runs to the console and patches the TARDIS’ scanner to visual transmission of the Vanguard, meaning that from the TARDIS, they’ll be able to see what the Vanguard sees. They then see that there is a cold-looking star destroyer in front of the Vanguard. Charley sees that the star destroyer is moving towards them, but the Doctor sees that rather the Vanguard is moving towards it. The Doctor rushes the controls and decides it’s time to go. The TARDIS then stops suddenly. The Doctor then sees that the TARDIS has been caught in the Vanguard’s warp field, preventing them from travelling away. Ramsey would feel better from the temporal time feedback that surged when the TARDIS failed to leave. The warp field’s energy has dissipated and the TARDIS has materialized. It feels cold and Charley senses a foul stench. The Doctor and Charley look outside the TARDIS and realized that they have landed onboard the star destroyer. |
||
| + | |||
| + | Grash and Captain Jensen argue about spacewalking, but Jensen offers to double their bonuses if they investigate. Grash then takes crew members Chev and Kelsey to investigate. |
||
| + | |||
| + | On the star destroyer, the Doctor and Charley hear the sounds of the Vanguard crew approaching from afar. The Doctor decides that it’s time to leave, but as they approach the TARDIS, they hear a howling sound. The crew members hear this as well and decide to split up. Crew member Kelsey then discovers the TARDIS. Kelsey calls out for the others to look at what he found just when an unseen figure appears and attacks him. The figure utters “destroy." |
||
| + | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| + | A scream is heard. [[Jansen]] calls for the recon group and [[Ike]] responds that [[Kelsey]] is in some sort of trouble and requests backup. Jansen requests that she and [[Vol]] join them. |
||
| + | |||
| + | [[Eighth Doctor|The Doctor]] and [[Charlotte Pollard|Charley]] hear the scream as well and come across [[the TARDIS]] and a severely injured Kelsey. The Doctor checks for a pulse, but it’s very weak and finds from his space suit that he’s a crew member of [[the Vanguard]]. Charley checks the name tag which reads Mark Kelsey. As Charley and the Doctor wonder who Kelsey’s assailant is, they hear footsteps approaching. [[Chev]] and [[Grash]] reveal themselves and are horrified to discover Kelsey’s body. The Doctor urges that Kelsey needs immediate medical attention ASAP, but Jansen’s crew draw their weapons and hold the Doctor and Charley at gunpoint, thinking they were responsible for Kelsey’s attack. Grash contacts Jansen and reports to her that Kelsey’s body has been found as well as the “murderers”. The Doctor then checks for a pulse from Kelsey, but he has succumbed to his wounds. Jensen orders Grash and Chev to turn on their cameras for a visual confirmation and Jansen sees it for herself. Grash requests permission to kill the Doctor and Charley on her authority. Jansen, however, is convinced that there may be something else that killed Kelsey. Jensen orders them to bring the Doctor and Charley to the Vanguard and Charley is thankful that there’s a woman in charge. |
||
| + | |||
| + | As the Doctor and Charley are being brought on the Vanguard, Jansen orders Ike to examine Kelsey’s body. The Doctor and Charley introduce themselves to Jansen as travelers. Jansen asks why they were on the star destroyer and the Charley responds that they were “getting exercise” and looking around. Suddenly, Vol contacts Jansen and says that he has picked up a transmission, but can’t find where it’s coming from. Jansen orders Grash to scan them and finds the [[sonic screwdriver]] from the Doctor as well as a tracking device. The Doctor assures them that they are not transmitting anything. Jansen decides to confiscate them and Vol still picks up a transmission and the Doctor sees something moving in the shadows, but it vanished. Jansen asks what it was and Charley sees that it lead to the air locks and left behind scratch marks on the deck plates. Jansen then comes to the conclusion that the Doctor and Charley are not indeed responsible for Kelsey’s death. Grash then thinks that they could be androids, feeling from the Orion War, but Jansen tells him that the [[Orion War]] is light years away. Suddenly, the lights begin to flicker. Vol reports that there is some sort of power failure in their area and has activated several emergency batteries, but they’re not working. |
||
| + | |||
| + | Kelsey’s body is examined by Chev and Ike and they, too, notice the lights flickering. They try to contact Jansen, but they lose contact with her. The Doctor asks Jansen where the nearest power system maintenance is located on the ship and they go look for it. They then see that someone has burned a hole through the hatch as well as more scratches. The Doctor sees that whatever caused it has a highly focused weapon or an energy beam. Jansen hands the sonic screwdriver to the Doctor and he sees that the impact of the beam has damaged the cables and sees that the life support cables have been remained unharmed. Because of this, the Doctor realizes that something doesn’t want to kill them and whatever it is, it’s moving fast. |
||
| + | |||
| + | On the flight deck, Jansen asks Vol if there is any way to track down the intruder, but there doesn’t seem to be any. Chev berates Charley for killing Kelsey, but Charley remarks that if they weren’t so busy accusing her and the Doctor he’d still be alive. The Doctor calms everyone down and tells them that he can help them find out who did kill Kelsey. The Doctor then sees that everyone hasn’t changed her spacesuit since she got back and orders everyone to turn around. The Doctor notices that Grash’s backpack has a scratch mark on it, meaning that it snuck onboard the Vanguard while no one was looking. The Doctor then decides that the game plan is to reboot the power cables by shutting down the life support systems in deserted areas to draw out the intruder. Jansen, Grash and Charley stay on the flight deck while the Doctor, Vol and Chev try to shut down the life support systems. Charley assures Jansen and Grash that once they are done, they’ll be heading off, but the TARDIS is still on the star destroyer. |
||
| + | |||
| + | As the Doctor is doing his work, Vol and Chev ask the Doctor why he was on the star destroyer. The Doctor responds that he was “discovering, not murdering” and wants to head back there once this is over because that’s where he parked his “transport”. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver and the security systems are back online. Vol tells the Doctor that he picked up a signal that is transmitting from the stern of the ship and it’s the same signal from earlier. |
||
| + | |||
| + | Meanwhile, the others see that the security systems are back online and there’s a signal in the star destroyer’s stern. The Doctor, Chev and Vol return to the others and Jansen asks the Doctor to join her on her salvage on the star destroyer. The others refuse and Grash accuses Jansen of endangering her whole crew and suddenly holds her at gunpoint and orders Ike and Vol to their stations and get them out of here. They reluctantly obey and set course for the Garazone system, but there is a malfunction—the engines are dead. The Doctor sees that the intruder as sabotaged the Vanguard’s engines. Jansen and the Doctor decide to go onboard the star destroyer, but Grash orders Charley to stay behind and won’t be waiting for them as soon as he gets the engines repaired. |
||
| + | |||
| + | The Doctor and Jansen enter the star destroyer and the Doctor asks Jansen why she cam here. Jansen says that this would be worth a lot in salvage. The Doctor hears a noise and tells Jansen to keep her gun in handy. |
||
| + | |||
| + | Meanwhile, Ike and Grash discuss about the Doctor and Charley and Ike recognizes them from his shop earlier. Chev asks why didn’t the Doctor and Charley say that recognize Ike and report to Jansen, but Ike doesn’t know. Grash deduces that they could blow this operation. Vol reports that the engines remain unresponsive. Grash orders Vol and Ike to go down to the engine room and repair the main drive. Charley says that whatever is down there could be hostile, which is why Grash will be sending Charley down there as bait. |
||
| + | |||
| + | The Doctor and Jansen continue their search, but then the Doctor runs into a [[Cyberman]]. The Cyberman lunges to attack them, but Jansen destroys it with her weapon and it alls to the floor. As the Doctor examines it, Jansen reveals that she knows about the Cybermen from majoring in galactic military history at a university and thought that they were extinct, much to the Doctor’s fascination. The Doctor opens the Cyberman’s faceplate open and sees a signal being transmitted. The signal that is being transmitted in the engine room onboard the Vanguard is a Cybermat. Suddenly, the Cyberman jerks violently, scaring Jansen. That was the Doctor tampering with the nervous system, meaning that something happened in the refrigeration process, and this was rogue. Jansen then realizes that there are other Cybermen onboard this ship, frozen in hibernation. |
||
| + | |||
| + | It is then revealed that the Cybermen are already awake…and have revived their Leader. |
||
| + | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| + | The power is low due to the humans’ interference, but the Cybermat is still transmitting. One of the Cybermen orders two others to proceed to the Vanguard while the Cyber Leader will be restored. |
||
| + | |||
| + | Meanwhile, the Doctor and Jansen find a door to a large chamber, but it is locked. The Doctor sees that the controls have been disrupted by some sort of energy blast. Jansen suggests that it may have been an ion storm, which is common in the Garazone system. The Doctor then sees that this was why the hibernation unit malfunctioned as Jansen prepares to open the door. As they try to pry open the doors, an odor arises. The Doctor and Jansen realize that the odor is the smell of a thousand corpses onboard, which were in the middle of Cyber-conversion and the chamber was once active before the ion storm. The Doctor deduces that the Cybermen hibernated themselves hoping that they would be safe from the ion storms. Jansen detects that there is another chamber nearby. |
||
| + | |||
| + | In the engine room, Ike and Charley find the Cybermat. Grash orders Ike and Vol to wait until the Cybermat kills Charley and then kill it themselves. Vol disobeys and shoots the Cybermat, destroying it. Afterward, they see that the Cybermat has damaged the engines severely beyond repair. Grash then contacts Ike, who reports that the Cybermat has been destroyed. As Grash expresses his dismay, Chev says that someone is trying to open the airlock. Grash and Chev investigate the airlock, thinking that the Doctor and Jansen have returned. But it is revealed that they are actually two Cybermen. Grash opens fire on them, but they are unharmed. Chev runs away, but they stun Grash and prepare a controlling device for him. |
||
| + | |||
| + | The Doctor and Jansen then come across the chamber where the Cybermen are, but hide to avoid detection. There, they witness that the Cyber Leader has finally been restored. The Cyber Leader asks why his revival has been delayed. The Cybermen explain that there was a system failure from the humans. The Cyber Leader orders the humans on the Vanguard to be taken and converted. The Doctor and Jansen quietly sneak away and the Doctor informs her that they have got to find his ship, the TARDIS. |
||
| + | |||
| + | After the destruction of the Cybermat, Vol, Ike and Charley inspect it. The Cybermat then springs to life, but its weapon has been disabled. Vol decides to play with it, just when Chev appears, looking terrified. She informs them that Grash has been killed by whoever was in the airlock. |
||
| + | |||
| + | The Cybermen |
||
| + | have restored the security systems and detect that two humans have been |
||
| + | detected nearby. The Cyber Leader orders them to be captured immediately. Jansen |
||
| + | and the Doctor hurry on their way to the TARDIS, just when they are cornered by |
||
| + | the Cybermen. The Doctor and Jansen then hurry into the airlock to escape. |
||
| + | |||
| + | Charley and the others realize that the Cybermat was responsible for sabotaging the engines. Charley then sees something in the corridor as the others prepare their weapons. Grash then appears, much to Chev’s surprise. Grash calmly assures them that he has killed them, but there are more on the way, so they must fight back. Charley questions this, but Grash insists. |
||
| + | |||
| + | In the airlock, the Doctor tells Jansen that it’s a bit odd that the Cybermen on the star destroyer just gave up on chasing them. The Doctor and Jansen leave the airlock, but Cybermen confront them. Jansen fires and kills them just when Charley and the others meet up with them, just when Grash loses consciousness. Charley wonders what is going on and the Doctor explains that they are Cybermen, who were once humans like them, but have been converted into machines, removing emotions. Vol tells the Doctor that the Cybermat on the Vanguard has been disabled, but the Doctor tells them that since these two Cybermen have been killed, more will be coming. Jansen orders the airlock systems to be deactivated and Ike to take Grash back to his cabin. Jansen then orders the Doctor and Charley to return to the flight deck as she goes in alone. |
||
| + | |||
| + | Meanwhile, more Cybermen have been assembled. They managed to establish contact with the Cybermat, but it has been damaged. The Cyber Leader assures that it will be programmed with new instructions soon. |
||
| + | |||
| + | Vol asks the Doctor and Charley if they knew Ike because they met him back in his shop. The Doctor reminds him that now’s not the time as they are facing bigger concerns. Ike appears and the Doctor tells him that he’s not interested in his criminal activities. Charley then tells Ike that this is why they haven’t told Jansen. They then try to find Jansen on their security scan and they are fascinated to discover that she’s in the ship’s computer command module. Meanwhile, Jansen looks up information on the Doctor and discovers that he’s an alien who owns a “TARDIS”. Charley then tells the others that Jansen doesn’t seem to be like them. Chev agrees, seeing how Jansen’s always calm and never out of place. The Doctor agrees and also finds it odd how her weapon can take out Cybermen while they can’t. The Doctor asks Ike to get him into the computer’s databases just when an alarm alerts them. It is the Cybermen making their way through the airlock. The Doctor calls Ike to tell her that they need her to stop the Cybermen with her weapon as he leads the others away. |
||
| + | |||
| + | Jansen sees that the Doctor is from a different time period and has valuable information about the Cybermen. Ike then contacts Jansen and informs her that the Cybermen are breaking through the airlock and need her weapon. She confirms and heads back. |
||
| + | |||
| + | The Doctor orders Chev to open a shutter to see the Cybermen’s activities and sees that they are indeed trying to get in. Jansen arrives and they see that there are more Cybermen than they have ever encountered. Jansen arms her weapon as the others step back. The Doctor then finds another way of stopping them by discarding the outer door, trapping them in there since they only want the humans for conversion. The Doctor initiates this and they are trapped. |
||
| + | |||
| + | The Cyber Leader then initiates contact with the damaged Cybermat and the “human subject”. Jansen calls Vol and asks for an update about the trapped Cybermen, which are still unable to move. Chev has gone to check on Grash and Jansen tells the others that they should be safe. Charley then suspects something odd seeing how Grash just simply passed out earlier. And even before, Grash was attacked by the Cybermen and turned out too perfectly okay afterward. The Doctor then realizes that Grash has been under Cyber control. |
||
| + | |||
| + | The Cyber Leader establishes contact with Grash as Chev enters the room where Grash is, but he has gone. Suddenly, Jansen calls Chev and asks if he has taken his gun. Chev is skeptical, but the Doctor informs her that Grash is under Cyber control and he regained consciousness because the Cybermen have regained contact with him. Jansen orders Ike to alert Vol and Chev to step aside. Ike calls Vol and warns him that Grash is being controlled by the Cybermen and is heading towards him. Jansen decides to stop Grash herself, leaving the others behind. The Doctor then decides to look into the command access only computer file. |
||
| + | |||
| + | The Cybermen establish contact from the Cybermat and conclude that there is another way to the humans by creating another airlock by blocking off all reception areas. This will be carried out by Grash. The Cyber Leader initiates this and orders the Cybermat to assist Grash. Jansen calls Chev and Chev says that something might be following her. |
||
| + | |||
| + | The Doctor finds a Garazone Space Patrol file on the computer and finds information about a ship called the Silver Jackal. Ike confirms that it was a salvage ship that went missing along with its crew and its last known coordinates were located nearby where they are. On the file, it also says that the star destroyer was also found. Before they can look any further, they are locked out by the Tellurian military classification Orion D7 and the computer shuts itself down. Charley then remembers that she and the Doctor were mistaken as androids when they were first discovered. Ike tells them that according to Jansen, there were no androids outside Orion. |
||
| + | |||
| + | Chev approaches the airlock reception area and hears a noise. She calls out Grash’s name, but no response. Instead, she hears a high pitched sound and finds the Cybermat and screams. |
||
| ⚫ | |||
| + | ''to be added'' |
||
== Cast == |
== Cast == |
||
| Line 63: | Line 143: | ||
== References == |
== References == |
||
| + | |||
| + | === Real World === |
||
| + | * Charley mentions Aladdin's cave. |
||
| + | |||
| + | === The Doctor === |
||
| + | * The Doctor finds a [[recorder]] in the smugglers shop and plays it to Charley; he has lost practice. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Power of the Daleks (TV story)|The Power of the Daleks]]'' et al.) |
||
| + | * The Doctor tells Charley to grab a book and take it with them from the smugglers' shop without paying for it. Charley makes note of this but the Doctor claims that "it's probably stolen anyway". |
||
| + | * While on board the star destroyer the Doctor mentions feeling something waking up, unknowingly referencing his encounter with the Cybermen on Telos in his [[second incarnation]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tomb of the Cybermen]]'') |
||
| + | |||
=== Conflicts === |
=== Conflicts === |
||
* The [[Orion War]] began eight years earlier in [[2495]]. |
* The [[Orion War]] began eight years earlier in [[2495]]. |
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| Line 78: | Line 167: | ||
* This story marks the first appearance of the Cybermen in an audio drama. |
* This story marks the first appearance of the Cybermen in an audio drama. |
||
* This audio drama was recorded on [[16 May (production)|16]] and [[17 May (production)|17 May]] 2000 at studios in Bristol. |
* This audio drama was recorded on [[16 May (production)|16]] and [[17 May (production)|17 May]] 2000 at studios in Bristol. |
||
| + | * Nicholas Briggs' score to this story was released on the CD ''[[Music from the Eighth Doctor Audio Adventures]], ''alongside the other three initial Eighth Doctor audios. |
||
| + | * The story formed part of an Eighth Doctor series on [[wikipedia:BBC Radio 7|BBC Radio 7]] in 2005, alongside the stories ''[[Shada (audio story)|Shada]], [[Storm Warning (audio story)|Storm Warning]], [[The Stones of Venice (audio story)|The Stones of Venice]], [[Invaders from Mars (audio story)|Invaders from Mars]] ''and ''[[The Chimes of Midnight (audio story)|The Chimes of Midnight]],''and has been repeated on multiple occasions since. This led to the commissioning of the original series''[[Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories#The New Eighth Doctor Adventures|The Eighth Doctor Adventures]], ''debuting on the digital station in December 2006. Due to a limited timeslot, scenes were edited out of these versions; excluding ''Shada ''and''The Chimes of Midnight, ''these were collated into ''The Eighth Doctor Collection ''in 2008 with an exclusive behind-the-scenes documentary and booklet. ''[[Minuet in Hell (audio story)|Minuet in Hell]] ''was excluded from broadcast due to its adult themes. |
||
== Continuity == |
== Continuity == |
||
| + | * [[Ramsay (Storm Warning)|Ramsay]] is feeling sick for being outside the [[Time Vortex]] for too long. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Storm Warning]]'') |
||
* The Cybermen refer to their encounter with the Doctor on [[Planet 14]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Invasion (TV story)|The Invasion]]'') |
* The Cybermen refer to their encounter with the Doctor on [[Planet 14]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Invasion (TV story)|The Invasion]]'') |
||
* A secret government organisation called Scorpius was formed in the aftermath of the Sword of Orion incident. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Scorpius (audio story)|Scorpius]]'') |
* A secret government organisation called Scorpius was formed in the aftermath of the Sword of Orion incident. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Scorpius (audio story)|Scorpius]]'') |
||
== External links == |
== External links == |
||
| − | * {{bigfinish|releases/v/sword-of-orion-642|Sword of Orion}} |
+ | * {{bigfinish|releases/v/sword-of-orion-642|Sword of Orion}}; note that it is out of print and is available as download only. |
* {{dwrefguide|who_bf17.htm|Sword of Orion}} |
* {{dwrefguide|who_bf17.htm|Sword of Orion}} |
||
* {{tetrap|8/sword.html|Sword of Orion}} |
* {{tetrap|8/sword.html|Sword of Orion}} |
||
| + | * Transcript of '''''[http://www.chakoteya.net/8Doctor/Main17CD.html Sword of Orion]''''' at [http://www.chakoteya.net Chrissie's Transcripts Site] |
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{{BFA monthly}} |
{{BFA monthly}} |
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Revision as of 04:24, 26 April 2015
Sword of Orion was the seventeenth monthly Doctor Who audio story produced by Big Finish Productions. This was a double first, being the first Big Finish story to feature the Cybermen, and the first Eighth Doctor story to feature the Cybermen. This is also another of Big Finish's stories which was originally created as part of the Audio Visuals, a fan produced series which featured many people who went onto create and work for Big Finish and BBV Productions. Nicholas Briggs filled many roles in the production of this story — he provided the voice of the Cybermen, sound design, music, direction, and writing; his appearance as the voice of the Cybermen here predates TV: Rise of the Cybermen.
This story also established the Orion War which would be built upon years later in Big Finish's spin-off series, Cyberman.
Publisher's summary
The human race is locked in deadly combat with the "Android Hordes" in the Orion System. Light years from the front line, the Eighth Doctor and Charley arrive to sample the dubious delights of a galactic backwater, little suspecting that the consequences of the Orion War might reach them there. But High Command's lust for victory knows no bounds.
Trapped aboard a mysterious, derelict star destroyer, the Doctor and Charley find themselves facing summary execution. But this is only the beginning of their troubles. The real danger has yet to awaken.
Until, somewhere in the dark recesses of the Garazone System, the Cybermen receive the signal for reactivation...
Plot
Part 1
Charley is worried about Ramsay looking ill. She and the Doctor can't carry him to the control room and Ramsay is dying from being away too long from the time vortex. The Doctor decides that there is one way to restore Ramsay back to health, but doesn’t tell Charley, who is flustered to know.
2503. The Orion War continues to rage and a ship called the Silver Jackal receives contact from a patrol ship. Onboard the Silver Jackal, Digly convinces the patrol ship to leave so they can salvage an area in space. Digly wakes up Captain Thinnes and then picks up something on radar—an abandoned star destroyer. Captain Thinnes decides to go onboard the star destroyer to investigate and find “souvenirs”.
Captain Thinnes and Digly don their spacesuits and enter the star destroyer. They sense a foul stench onboard, but before they continue, something heads towards them. They open fire, but it is not harmed. They retreat, but they are killed by the figure.
The TARDIS lands in a bazaar on the Garazone Central. Charley tries to communicate with a merchant to get help for Ramsay, but Charley is slightly disturbed by the merchant’s suggestive compliments to her. She gives up and meets up with the Doctor, who also hasn’t found anything. The Doctor and Charley then check out another shop in the bazaar and decide to look around. The Doctor convinces the shopkeeper, Ike, that they are Customs and Excise officials so they can browse peacefully and the Doctor comes across a recorder. The Doctor and Charley then find a golden plated Cyberman head in the shop and the Doctor recognizes it.
Outside, Ike contacts a man named Grash and Ike expresses concern about the disappearances of Thinnes and Digly as well as the Silver Jackal. Grash orders him to calm down, but Ike thinks that his shop is about to be “rumbled” by two individuals. Grash then tells Ike that Captain Obermann has been transferred to the Vanguard. And a new captain has been brought onboard and brought forward the disembarkation time. Grash urgently tells Ike to leave the shop and get to the docking bay immediately.
Back in the shop, Charley asks the Doctor the length of the Cyber-War. The Doctor answers that it was a very long time and informs her that the Cybermen remain in their tombs on Telos for the time being. The Doctor and Charley then notice that Ike has abandoned them. Charley thinks that he has gone to get his “smuggler friends” to beat them to a pulp, but the Doctor disagrees. Charley reminds the Doctor that he told Ike where the TARDIS was and confirms that the Doctor is indeed worried. The Doctor orders Charley to take a grav-pad and the nearby book of ancient remedies. Charley protests that this would be theft, but the Doctor remarks that it’s probably stolen anyway and they run from the shop.
A man named Vol contacts the Vanguard captain from the docking bay. The Captain asks for the status of the supplies. Vol answers that they are in place, but he has to check each of them. The Captain responds that this would take too long and they are to load them immediately, disobeying procedures.
The Doctor and Charley activate the grav-pads, which excite Charley and head to the warehouse, where the TARDIS is parked. They then spot the TARDIS being loaded onto the Vanguard as cargo. Charley sees that the cargo number is 38B. The Doctor then tells Charley that they have less than ten minutes to get onboard before it takes off. Ike arrives onboard and Captain Jensen orders Vol to blast them off. The Vanguard leaves the docking bay.
It is then revealed that the Doctor and Charley were successful in stowing away onboard thanks to the Sonic Screwdriver. They then begin to search for the TARDIS in the cargo area for 38B. Charley feels a vibration on the wall and the Doctor confirms that this is from some sort of interstellar drive for ship that is moving really fast. The Doctor sees that the Vanguard is a scrap ship and wonders why they are in such a hurry. Charley sees that they are now in 38A, but then hear a noise that indicates that there may be something wrong with the engines.
On the bridge, a proximity alarm sounds and Vol then orders Ike to cut the power on the engines. The engines die just when Charley finds 38B, but the Doctor remarks that they better get off the ship because cutting off the engines in midflight of this ship is dangerous.
The Vanguard then picks up on radar that they have come across an abandoned star destroyer. Captain Jensen orders a maneuver, but the engines have been cut off. Jensen reluctantly orders to initiate the hyperdrive. Ike and Vol protest that they just cut the engine off and that restarted would be dangerous and would also take time to power up again. Jensen insists her orders.
The Doctor and Charley come across the TARDIS and enter. The Doctor runs to the console and patches the TARDIS’ scanner to visual transmission of the Vanguard, meaning that from the TARDIS, they’ll be able to see what the Vanguard sees. They then see that there is a cold-looking star destroyer in front of the Vanguard. Charley sees that the star destroyer is moving towards them, but the Doctor sees that rather the Vanguard is moving towards it. The Doctor rushes the controls and decides it’s time to go. The TARDIS then stops suddenly. The Doctor then sees that the TARDIS has been caught in the Vanguard’s warp field, preventing them from travelling away. Ramsey would feel better from the temporal time feedback that surged when the TARDIS failed to leave. The warp field’s energy has dissipated and the TARDIS has materialized. It feels cold and Charley senses a foul stench. The Doctor and Charley look outside the TARDIS and realized that they have landed onboard the star destroyer.
Grash and Captain Jensen argue about spacewalking, but Jensen offers to double their bonuses if they investigate. Grash then takes crew members Chev and Kelsey to investigate.
On the star destroyer, the Doctor and Charley hear the sounds of the Vanguard crew approaching from afar. The Doctor decides that it’s time to leave, but as they approach the TARDIS, they hear a howling sound. The crew members hear this as well and decide to split up. Crew member Kelsey then discovers the TARDIS. Kelsey calls out for the others to look at what he found just when an unseen figure appears and attacks him. The figure utters “destroy."
Part 2
A scream is heard. Jansen calls for the recon group and Ike responds that Kelsey is in some sort of trouble and requests backup. Jansen requests that she and Vol join them.
The Doctor and Charley hear the scream as well and come across the TARDIS and a severely injured Kelsey. The Doctor checks for a pulse, but it’s very weak and finds from his space suit that he’s a crew member of the Vanguard. Charley checks the name tag which reads Mark Kelsey. As Charley and the Doctor wonder who Kelsey’s assailant is, they hear footsteps approaching. Chev and Grash reveal themselves and are horrified to discover Kelsey’s body. The Doctor urges that Kelsey needs immediate medical attention ASAP, but Jansen’s crew draw their weapons and hold the Doctor and Charley at gunpoint, thinking they were responsible for Kelsey’s attack. Grash contacts Jansen and reports to her that Kelsey’s body has been found as well as the “murderers”. The Doctor then checks for a pulse from Kelsey, but he has succumbed to his wounds. Jensen orders Grash and Chev to turn on their cameras for a visual confirmation and Jansen sees it for herself. Grash requests permission to kill the Doctor and Charley on her authority. Jansen, however, is convinced that there may be something else that killed Kelsey. Jensen orders them to bring the Doctor and Charley to the Vanguard and Charley is thankful that there’s a woman in charge.
As the Doctor and Charley are being brought on the Vanguard, Jansen orders Ike to examine Kelsey’s body. The Doctor and Charley introduce themselves to Jansen as travelers. Jansen asks why they were on the star destroyer and the Charley responds that they were “getting exercise” and looking around. Suddenly, Vol contacts Jansen and says that he has picked up a transmission, but can’t find where it’s coming from. Jansen orders Grash to scan them and finds the sonic screwdriver from the Doctor as well as a tracking device. The Doctor assures them that they are not transmitting anything. Jansen decides to confiscate them and Vol still picks up a transmission and the Doctor sees something moving in the shadows, but it vanished. Jansen asks what it was and Charley sees that it lead to the air locks and left behind scratch marks on the deck plates. Jansen then comes to the conclusion that the Doctor and Charley are not indeed responsible for Kelsey’s death. Grash then thinks that they could be androids, feeling from the Orion War, but Jansen tells him that the Orion War is light years away. Suddenly, the lights begin to flicker. Vol reports that there is some sort of power failure in their area and has activated several emergency batteries, but they’re not working.
Kelsey’s body is examined by Chev and Ike and they, too, notice the lights flickering. They try to contact Jansen, but they lose contact with her. The Doctor asks Jansen where the nearest power system maintenance is located on the ship and they go look for it. They then see that someone has burned a hole through the hatch as well as more scratches. The Doctor sees that whatever caused it has a highly focused weapon or an energy beam. Jansen hands the sonic screwdriver to the Doctor and he sees that the impact of the beam has damaged the cables and sees that the life support cables have been remained unharmed. Because of this, the Doctor realizes that something doesn’t want to kill them and whatever it is, it’s moving fast.
On the flight deck, Jansen asks Vol if there is any way to track down the intruder, but there doesn’t seem to be any. Chev berates Charley for killing Kelsey, but Charley remarks that if they weren’t so busy accusing her and the Doctor he’d still be alive. The Doctor calms everyone down and tells them that he can help them find out who did kill Kelsey. The Doctor then sees that everyone hasn’t changed her spacesuit since she got back and orders everyone to turn around. The Doctor notices that Grash’s backpack has a scratch mark on it, meaning that it snuck onboard the Vanguard while no one was looking. The Doctor then decides that the game plan is to reboot the power cables by shutting down the life support systems in deserted areas to draw out the intruder. Jansen, Grash and Charley stay on the flight deck while the Doctor, Vol and Chev try to shut down the life support systems. Charley assures Jansen and Grash that once they are done, they’ll be heading off, but the TARDIS is still on the star destroyer.
As the Doctor is doing his work, Vol and Chev ask the Doctor why he was on the star destroyer. The Doctor responds that he was “discovering, not murdering” and wants to head back there once this is over because that’s where he parked his “transport”. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver and the security systems are back online. Vol tells the Doctor that he picked up a signal that is transmitting from the stern of the ship and it’s the same signal from earlier.
Meanwhile, the others see that the security systems are back online and there’s a signal in the star destroyer’s stern. The Doctor, Chev and Vol return to the others and Jansen asks the Doctor to join her on her salvage on the star destroyer. The others refuse and Grash accuses Jansen of endangering her whole crew and suddenly holds her at gunpoint and orders Ike and Vol to their stations and get them out of here. They reluctantly obey and set course for the Garazone system, but there is a malfunction—the engines are dead. The Doctor sees that the intruder as sabotaged the Vanguard’s engines. Jansen and the Doctor decide to go onboard the star destroyer, but Grash orders Charley to stay behind and won’t be waiting for them as soon as he gets the engines repaired.
The Doctor and Jansen enter the star destroyer and the Doctor asks Jansen why she cam here. Jansen says that this would be worth a lot in salvage. The Doctor hears a noise and tells Jansen to keep her gun in handy.
Meanwhile, Ike and Grash discuss about the Doctor and Charley and Ike recognizes them from his shop earlier. Chev asks why didn’t the Doctor and Charley say that recognize Ike and report to Jansen, but Ike doesn’t know. Grash deduces that they could blow this operation. Vol reports that the engines remain unresponsive. Grash orders Vol and Ike to go down to the engine room and repair the main drive. Charley says that whatever is down there could be hostile, which is why Grash will be sending Charley down there as bait.
The Doctor and Jansen continue their search, but then the Doctor runs into a Cyberman. The Cyberman lunges to attack them, but Jansen destroys it with her weapon and it alls to the floor. As the Doctor examines it, Jansen reveals that she knows about the Cybermen from majoring in galactic military history at a university and thought that they were extinct, much to the Doctor’s fascination. The Doctor opens the Cyberman’s faceplate open and sees a signal being transmitted. The signal that is being transmitted in the engine room onboard the Vanguard is a Cybermat. Suddenly, the Cyberman jerks violently, scaring Jansen. That was the Doctor tampering with the nervous system, meaning that something happened in the refrigeration process, and this was rogue. Jansen then realizes that there are other Cybermen onboard this ship, frozen in hibernation.
It is then revealed that the Cybermen are already awake…and have revived their Leader.
Part 3
The power is low due to the humans’ interference, but the Cybermat is still transmitting. One of the Cybermen orders two others to proceed to the Vanguard while the Cyber Leader will be restored.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Jansen find a door to a large chamber, but it is locked. The Doctor sees that the controls have been disrupted by some sort of energy blast. Jansen suggests that it may have been an ion storm, which is common in the Garazone system. The Doctor then sees that this was why the hibernation unit malfunctioned as Jansen prepares to open the door. As they try to pry open the doors, an odor arises. The Doctor and Jansen realize that the odor is the smell of a thousand corpses onboard, which were in the middle of Cyber-conversion and the chamber was once active before the ion storm. The Doctor deduces that the Cybermen hibernated themselves hoping that they would be safe from the ion storms. Jansen detects that there is another chamber nearby.
In the engine room, Ike and Charley find the Cybermat. Grash orders Ike and Vol to wait until the Cybermat kills Charley and then kill it themselves. Vol disobeys and shoots the Cybermat, destroying it. Afterward, they see that the Cybermat has damaged the engines severely beyond repair. Grash then contacts Ike, who reports that the Cybermat has been destroyed. As Grash expresses his dismay, Chev says that someone is trying to open the airlock. Grash and Chev investigate the airlock, thinking that the Doctor and Jansen have returned. But it is revealed that they are actually two Cybermen. Grash opens fire on them, but they are unharmed. Chev runs away, but they stun Grash and prepare a controlling device for him.
The Doctor and Jansen then come across the chamber where the Cybermen are, but hide to avoid detection. There, they witness that the Cyber Leader has finally been restored. The Cyber Leader asks why his revival has been delayed. The Cybermen explain that there was a system failure from the humans. The Cyber Leader orders the humans on the Vanguard to be taken and converted. The Doctor and Jansen quietly sneak away and the Doctor informs her that they have got to find his ship, the TARDIS.
After the destruction of the Cybermat, Vol, Ike and Charley inspect it. The Cybermat then springs to life, but its weapon has been disabled. Vol decides to play with it, just when Chev appears, looking terrified. She informs them that Grash has been killed by whoever was in the airlock.
The Cybermen have restored the security systems and detect that two humans have been detected nearby. The Cyber Leader orders them to be captured immediately. Jansen and the Doctor hurry on their way to the TARDIS, just when they are cornered by the Cybermen. The Doctor and Jansen then hurry into the airlock to escape.
Charley and the others realize that the Cybermat was responsible for sabotaging the engines. Charley then sees something in the corridor as the others prepare their weapons. Grash then appears, much to Chev’s surprise. Grash calmly assures them that he has killed them, but there are more on the way, so they must fight back. Charley questions this, but Grash insists.
In the airlock, the Doctor tells Jansen that it’s a bit odd that the Cybermen on the star destroyer just gave up on chasing them. The Doctor and Jansen leave the airlock, but Cybermen confront them. Jansen fires and kills them just when Charley and the others meet up with them, just when Grash loses consciousness. Charley wonders what is going on and the Doctor explains that they are Cybermen, who were once humans like them, but have been converted into machines, removing emotions. Vol tells the Doctor that the Cybermat on the Vanguard has been disabled, but the Doctor tells them that since these two Cybermen have been killed, more will be coming. Jansen orders the airlock systems to be deactivated and Ike to take Grash back to his cabin. Jansen then orders the Doctor and Charley to return to the flight deck as she goes in alone.
Meanwhile, more Cybermen have been assembled. They managed to establish contact with the Cybermat, but it has been damaged. The Cyber Leader assures that it will be programmed with new instructions soon.
Vol asks the Doctor and Charley if they knew Ike because they met him back in his shop. The Doctor reminds him that now’s not the time as they are facing bigger concerns. Ike appears and the Doctor tells him that he’s not interested in his criminal activities. Charley then tells Ike that this is why they haven’t told Jansen. They then try to find Jansen on their security scan and they are fascinated to discover that she’s in the ship’s computer command module. Meanwhile, Jansen looks up information on the Doctor and discovers that he’s an alien who owns a “TARDIS”. Charley then tells the others that Jansen doesn’t seem to be like them. Chev agrees, seeing how Jansen’s always calm and never out of place. The Doctor agrees and also finds it odd how her weapon can take out Cybermen while they can’t. The Doctor asks Ike to get him into the computer’s databases just when an alarm alerts them. It is the Cybermen making their way through the airlock. The Doctor calls Ike to tell her that they need her to stop the Cybermen with her weapon as he leads the others away.
Jansen sees that the Doctor is from a different time period and has valuable information about the Cybermen. Ike then contacts Jansen and informs her that the Cybermen are breaking through the airlock and need her weapon. She confirms and heads back.
The Doctor orders Chev to open a shutter to see the Cybermen’s activities and sees that they are indeed trying to get in. Jansen arrives and they see that there are more Cybermen than they have ever encountered. Jansen arms her weapon as the others step back. The Doctor then finds another way of stopping them by discarding the outer door, trapping them in there since they only want the humans for conversion. The Doctor initiates this and they are trapped.
The Cyber Leader then initiates contact with the damaged Cybermat and the “human subject”. Jansen calls Vol and asks for an update about the trapped Cybermen, which are still unable to move. Chev has gone to check on Grash and Jansen tells the others that they should be safe. Charley then suspects something odd seeing how Grash just simply passed out earlier. And even before, Grash was attacked by the Cybermen and turned out too perfectly okay afterward. The Doctor then realizes that Grash has been under Cyber control.
The Cyber Leader establishes contact with Grash as Chev enters the room where Grash is, but he has gone. Suddenly, Jansen calls Chev and asks if he has taken his gun. Chev is skeptical, but the Doctor informs her that Grash is under Cyber control and he regained consciousness because the Cybermen have regained contact with him. Jansen orders Ike to alert Vol and Chev to step aside. Ike calls Vol and warns him that Grash is being controlled by the Cybermen and is heading towards him. Jansen decides to stop Grash herself, leaving the others behind. The Doctor then decides to look into the command access only computer file.
The Cybermen establish contact from the Cybermat and conclude that there is another way to the humans by creating another airlock by blocking off all reception areas. This will be carried out by Grash. The Cyber Leader initiates this and orders the Cybermat to assist Grash. Jansen calls Chev and Chev says that something might be following her.
The Doctor finds a Garazone Space Patrol file on the computer and finds information about a ship called the Silver Jackal. Ike confirms that it was a salvage ship that went missing along with its crew and its last known coordinates were located nearby where they are. On the file, it also says that the star destroyer was also found. Before they can look any further, they are locked out by the Tellurian military classification Orion D7 and the computer shuts itself down. Charley then remembers that she and the Doctor were mistaken as androids when they were first discovered. Ike tells them that according to Jansen, there were no androids outside Orion.
Chev approaches the airlock reception area and hears a noise. She calls out Grash’s name, but no response. Instead, she hears a high pitched sound and finds the Cybermat and screams.
Part 4
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Paul McGann
- Charley Pollard - India Fisher
- Thinnes - Mark Gatiss
- Digly - Barnaby Edwards
- Ike - Ian Marr
- Grash - Bruce Montague
- Vol - Hylton Collins
- Deeva Jansen - Michelle Livingstone
- Chev - Helen Goldwyn
- Kelsey - Toby Longworth
- The Cybermen - Nicholas Briggs, Alistair Lock
References
Real World
- Charley mentions Aladdin's cave.
The Doctor
- The Doctor finds a recorder in the smugglers shop and plays it to Charley; he has lost practice. (TV: The Power of the Daleks et al.)
- The Doctor tells Charley to grab a book and take it with them from the smugglers' shop without paying for it. Charley makes note of this but the Doctor claims that "it's probably stolen anyway".
- While on board the star destroyer the Doctor mentions feeling something waking up, unknowingly referencing his encounter with the Cybermen on Telos in his second incarnation. (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen)
Conflicts
Cybermen
- A Cybermat is present on the Cybermen's ship.
Weapons
- Deeva has in her possession a powerful gun which is able to destroy Cybermen.
Notes
Illustrated preview from DWM 301.
- Sword of Orion is a remake of the Audio Visuals audio drama of the same name.
- An illustrated preview for this story by Lee Sullivan appeared in DWM 301.
- This story marks the first appearance of the Cybermen in an audio drama.
- This audio drama was recorded on 16 and 17 May 2000 at studios in Bristol.
- Nicholas Briggs' score to this story was released on the CD Music from the Eighth Doctor Audio Adventures, alongside the other three initial Eighth Doctor audios.
- The story formed part of an Eighth Doctor series on BBC Radio 7 in 2005, alongside the stories Shada, Storm Warning, The Stones of Venice, Invaders from Mars and The Chimes of Midnight,and has been repeated on multiple occasions since. This led to the commissioning of the original seriesThe Eighth Doctor Adventures, debuting on the digital station in December 2006. Due to a limited timeslot, scenes were edited out of these versions; excluding Shada andThe Chimes of Midnight, these were collated into The Eighth Doctor Collection in 2008 with an exclusive behind-the-scenes documentary and booklet. Minuet in Hell was excluded from broadcast due to its adult themes.
Continuity
- Ramsay is feeling sick for being outside the Time Vortex for too long. (AUDIO: Storm Warning)
- The Cybermen refer to their encounter with the Doctor on Planet 14. (TV: The Invasion)
- A secret government organisation called Scorpius was formed in the aftermath of the Sword of Orion incident. (AUDIO: Scorpius)
External links
- Official Sword of Orion page at bigfinish.com; note that it is out of print and is available as download only.
- Sword of Orion at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- DisContinuity for Sword of Orion at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide
- Transcript of Sword of Orion at Chrissie's Transcripts Site
