The Diamonds of Sartor (comic story)

Opening narration box
The TARDIS has brought the Doctor to a distant planet …

Summary
As soon as he arrives on the planet Sartor, the Doctor is caught in a conflict. Androids are attacking the human colonists. The Doctor takes cover in a nearby shelter. There, Lieutenant Kamini explains they are under attack from a Quarsian pirate ship. Their protective forcefield has been attacked and damaged, leaving them vulnerable, while the androids steal the planet's diamonds, which the colonists mine and use for trade.

The Doctor and Kamini race across the desert landscape, dodging enemy fire. They make their way to the central control tower. Once inside, Kamini disappears, but scientist Nadia, though suspicious that the Doctor is an android saboteur, lets him repair the force field. Another attack sends the computer into an emergency shutdown. While the power lasts, the Doctor's localised force field gives the colonists protection.

As android stormtroopers rush the base, Kamini reappears in the control room. Recognising her as an android duplicate of her dead sister, Nadia destroys her with a portable sonic disruptor she has made. Examining one of the diamonds, the Doctor has a plan. He wants to meet the Quarsians. Just as the stormtroopers break into the control centre with the aim of destroying all the humans…

Characters

 * Tenth Doctor
 * Nadia
 * Kamini
 * Quarsians

Original print details

 * 1/3 DWBIT 34 (4 pages) TO BE CONTINUED...
 * No reprints to date.

The Doctor

 * The Battles in Time comic strip sought to reinforce the association of its Doctor with the one seen on screen with "props" from the TV series: blue/brown suit, sonic screwdriver, psychic paper and his intelligent glasses.

Planets

 * Nadia was lead scientist of the colonists on the planet of Sartor.

Technology

 * The Quarsians are experts at android construction, from crude storm trooper soldiers to facsimile copies of people.
 * Kamini, an army lieutenant and the sister of Nadia, was killed during the first attack by the Quarsians, then duplicated by their android technology.

Continuity
to be added