Flash: XL5 Crew Held on Astra (comic story)

Flash: XL5 Crew Held on Astra was the Fireball XL5 comic printed in a special one-off edition of TV Century 21 published in 2014 as part of Network Distrubuting's Supermarionation boxset.

The story featured the inhabitants of the planet Astra, which was first mentioned in Doctor Who's The Rescue. The Astrans, meanwhile, were a semi-regular fixture during TV21's original run, having been introduced in the The Daleks story Duel of the Daleks.

Summary
As Astra edges closer to a civil war, Fireball XL5 arrives to evacate the Earth ambassador. Steve and Venus go down to the planet in Fireball Junior, leaving Professor Matic with the main body. Venus comments that it should be a simple job to collect the ambassador who Steve notes the Kaplan has just kicked out. He mentions that he doesn't want to be around when the fighting starts and will be glad once he is back to Earth. Venus questions him on this, asking if there is a chance for peace, but Steve determines the last chance lay with the diplomats from the other planets and that after they have left anything could happen.

In the capital city of Kapland, the Kaplan Minus informs the Kaplan that XL5 has requested permission to land, permission which he grants. Two minutes later, Fireball Junior touches down. Steve observes it is the Kaplan Minus who is present to greet them and speculates to Venus that the Kaplan considers himself "above all this". The ambassador waves at Steve who, from a distance, tells Zodiac his arrival is "about time" and that he will be glad to get off such a "faceless world". This remark illicits a response from Steve who lightheartedly calls him "some diplomat" while talking to Venus.

Back in space, XL5 continues to orbit the planet. Matic thinks to himself that he doesn't like how several ships from the Astran space fleet are shadowing him and decides to take a closer look. As he observes, the Kapt of one of ships is informed that XL5 is scanning them. This was expected and they order that the initiation of the "first phase" is to be prepared. However, without warning, one of the Astran ships is destroyed in an explosion in what appears to be an unprovoked attack from Fireball XL5!

Characters

 * Steve Zodiac
 * Venus
 * Matthew Matic
 * The Kaplan
 * The Kaplan Minus
 * The Kapt
 * The Earth ambassador

Worldbuilding

 * The Astrans refer to humans as "Solarians".
 * Along with the Kaplan Minus, there are two blue Astrans and a green Astran in the group waiting for Fireball XL5.

Story notes

 * Flash: XL5 Crew Held on Astra marked the first Doctor Who universe story to crossover with Fireball XL5 since the short story Rogues Gallery and the end of Action 21 in 1989. A crossover within a Fireball XL5 story itself, however, had not been seen since 1967's Kidnap!.

Continuity

 * Astra has diplomatic relations with Earth. (COMIC: Assassination!, Andromeda Or Die et al.)
 * There has been a civil war on Astra before, specifically involving a brief battle with the 611th Kaplan in 2065. (COMIC: Revolution on Astra, Astra's Final Battle)