The Shadows of Serenity (audio story)

 was the sixth story of the fifth season of Big Finish Productions' Short Trips series. It was read by Nicola Bryant.

Publisher's summary
The Guns of Malgar once defended their planetoid from any who strayed too close; just one gun could obliterate an entire star fleet.

The Malgarians are known as a vicious, belligerent species — so when the TARDIS brings the Doctor and Peri to their homeworld, they are puzzled to be greeted by a pacifistic population.

Peri assumes the Doctor has just got his facts wrong, but he is reluctant to accept the Malgarians' uncharacteristic behaviour. What lies behind it, and what is the secret of the Sisters of Serenity?

Plot
The Doctor and Peri are stranded on a planetoid after the TARDIS's number 2 renticular celluprime runs out of charge and, although Peri wants to wait in the TARDIS whilst it powers back up, they go to explore the nearby ruins. Finding bullet holes and scorch marks, Peri's initial belief that they have arrived on a battlefield is confirmed and the Doctor, who has noticed that something is wrong with the stars, realises that they are on Malgar. He explains that the planetoid is encircled by weapons called the Guns of Malgar, each of which is capable of destroying a star fleet and wipe out approaching spaceships because of the Malgarians' paranoia. They try to flee when six Malgarians appear, but they are soon surrounded.

The Doctor is surprised when Hess and the other Malgarians offer him and Peri their help and that they had been protecting them from beasts in the forest. Peri accepts their help and notices auras around the Malgarians which are caused by the interaction of the Everwhere micro-crystals in the air with their biochemistry, changing colour depending on their mood. Upon reaching a Malgarian homestead, the Doctor and Peri learn that the Malgarians are vegetarians and have sworn against killing any living creature, a massive change to their warlike way of life which makes the Doctor suspicious. Hess, overhearing the Doctor's concerns, tells them that the Sisters of Serenity are responsible for the change.

Della escorts the Doctor to the Abbey of Serenity and he enters despite one of the Sisters asking him not to, but not before sending Della to update Peri. He meets Mother Mercy and Sister Solace and discovers that they are feeding the Malgarians' aggression to the Hyrudex, a leech-like creature in a tank, so that they will be able to steal the Everwhere. The Doctor realises that this is why the stars appeared strange: they are actually a fleet of mining ships waiting to land once all of Malgar has been pacified. The Hyrudex stings the Doctor and he is rendered unconscious, allowing the Sisters to connect him to a machine so that they and the Hyrudex can feast on his darkness.

Hess refuses to allow Peri to join the Doctor at the abbey and she meets Cruce and the Shadow League, a small group of Malgarians who have resisted the Sisters' control and agree to lead her there in the hopes of getting the Doctor's help liberating their people. She saves the Doctor from the Sisters and he cuts off the Hyrudex from the Malgarians, freeing them and leading to an attack on the abbey which the Sisters are able to escape using their teleports. The mining ships abandon the planetoid and the Doctor and Peri head back to the TARDIS with the Hyrudex, which still holds most of the Malgarians' aggression, to leave it on an uninhabited world.

Characters

 * Sixth Doctor
 * Peri Brown
 * Hess
 * Della
 * Lenny
 * Cal
 * Cruce
 * Mother Mercy
 * Sister Solace
 * Hyrudex

Worldbuilding

 * Peri and her friends once drove across the plains of Arizona.
 * Ordinatra Crucis is a constellation.
 * Auras are a vital part of several of Earth's belief systems.
 * Peri wants a hamburger.
 * The Malgarians are vegetarians.
 * The Doctor played in the snow-capped mountains of Gallifrey as a child.

Continuity
to be added