Reborn (audio story)

Reborn (identified on the cover simply as Chapter Fifteen) was the first story of the fourth series of Big Finish's Gallifrey audio series. It was written by Gary Hopkins. It was released nearly five years after the previous instalment and took the series in a new direction with the introduction of an alternate Gallifrey, the first of several.

Publisher's summary
Gallifrey survives...

Lady Romanadvoratrelundar has returned to her homeworld, seeking a cure for the Free Time virus that rages across the planet.

Leela of the Sevateem and her companion K9 are revered as heroes. Narvin is a traitor. And Braxiatel knows more than he's letting on.

Amidst all the confusion, the High Council of Time Lords is poised to take the planet into an all-consuming war against the cosmos. They're selling their secrets to the highest bidder, equipping the universe with temporal technology it should never have been allowed.

And Romana's son will lead them into battle...

Plot
As K9 was able to repair the Time Scoop before Elbon could take the cure to the Dogma Virus to Gallifrey, Braxiatel was able to get his TARDIS from the Time Vortex and give the group enough time to find a proper antidote. However, Romana, Leela, Narvin, Braxiatel and K9 have chosen to live on a planetoid which has restored Leela's vision and allows them to live in peace. Leela and Narvin announce that they are to be married in a ceremony officiated by K9 and Braxiatel proposes to Romana, who says that she needs time to think.

Braxiatel is awoken from his dream by Romana and admits to her that they are at the Axis and not at the Braxiatel Collection. Saving Gallifrey was a fantasy of Braxiatel's and, in truth, it is still in danger, but Braxiatel has found an Axis portal which Romana might find interesting.

Chancellor Dondequest asks her secretariat to have Surgeon-Master Rexus meet her and to have the inquisitors' office send her a valeyard. She is interrupted by Lady Romana, who wants to know more about her husband Commander Andred's death whilst putting down an insurrection and why he had not regenerated given that he was in his first incarnation. Aware that he had spoken out against the High Council, she believes that he was silenced, but Dondequest tells her to go home and stop being paranoid.

Commander Faradac informs Rexus that various galactic superpowers seem to be raising battle fleets against Gallifrey and that it is his job to make sure that the Time Lords survive.

Braxiatel leads Romana, Leela, K9 and Narvin to the portal and lets them all know where they truly are. Romana explains to Leela what the Axis is, describing it as a tree of alternative realities, most of which are caused by Time Lord experiments gone wrong and pose a threat to the primary timeline. The group enter the portal in search of a new life in a new reality and find themselves in a desert littered with bones; K9 identifies it as an alternative Gallifrey. Dozens of TARDISes materialise around them and the portal disappears, having moved elsewhere on the planet. The Chancellery Guard, let by Commander Faradac, arrest them and take them to the Capitol.

Dondequest checks in with Rexus and asks him to expand his research beyond Gallifrey as she has expanded their horizons to the galactic superpowers. Rexus warns her that the risk on an alien would be high, but Dondequest believes that it is a risk worth taking. He asks her if she would like one regeneration or two; she accepts just the one.

Romana, Leela, K9, Braxiatel and Narvin are greeted to the Capitol by Cardinal Tallan and the rest of the High Council, who recognise Leela and K9 as the seekers of the Key to Time. When Prime Usher Antonin asks who the others are, Romana cuts across Braxiatel to introduce herself as "Lady Astra", having caught sight of Lady Romana, an alternative version of her first incarnation. Lady Romana tries to make contact with Antonin, but he does not wish to speak with her and has her escorted home.

Anton informs Dondequest of the return of Leela and K9, who have not been seen on Gallifrey for many years. He also tells her about Lady Astra and how she, for reasons he is unsure of, intrigues him. Dondequest is uninterested in whether or not this is the real Leela so long as she can serve her purpose as a figurehead.

Romana and Braxiatel are approached in the street by a man who offers to sell them regenerations, the only thing that he has left to sell. Braxiatel is offended by the idea of exchanging regenerations for money and tries to stop him for an explanation, but he leaves, shouting about them being "freaks".

Rexus is scared of the nearby battle fleets, but Dondequest says that they are only potential customers whom she will join in a conference once the new President has been inaugurated. Rexus worries that it could be months before that happens, but Dondequest says that it will be at most two days. She senses that they are being spied on and calls out for them to reveal themselves. It is Narvin, who claims to have been trying to find the way back to his room, and Dondequest tells Rexus to escort him back.

Leela is bored of waiting with K9 and is visited by Dondequest, who gives her little respect and calls her a savage. She says that she is exactly what she needs and asks her if she would like to be President; her nomination has already been unanimously approved as the only human to ever hold the Key to Time. When Leela refuses, Dondequest threatens to withdraw her protection for her and her friends.

Leela tells her friends that she is now President-elect, which Narvin believes might ensure their safety until the portal returns.

Dondequest announces Leela's acceptance of the offer of President and that the inauguration will go ahead shortly. Tallan is concerned at the haste with which a non-Gallifreyan is being made President and does not believe that it is the right time for investiture given the presence of the battle fleets. Dondequest says that Leela, as a warrior, will be an ideal President for wartime.

to be completed

Cast

 * Romana - Lalla Ward
 * Leela - Louise Jameson
 * K9 Mk II - John Leeson
 * Braxiatel - Miles Richardson
 * Narvin - Seán Carlsen
 * Chancellor Dondequest - Sarah Douglas
 * Technician Hester - Chris Johnson
 * Vansell - Anthony Keetch
 * Surgeon-Master Rexus - Brian Miller
 * Commander Faradac - Lewis Rae
 * Lady Romanadvoratrelundar
 * Prime Usher Antonin - Conrad Westmaas

Individuals

 * Narvin has his remaining regenerations extracted (as a form of torture).

Locations

 * Braxiatel rescued everyone by time scooping them to the Axis.

Gallifrey
Information relates to the alternative Gallifrey.
 * Dondequest asks for a valeyard from the inquisitors' office.
 * Gallifrey is selling technology such as the Oubliette of Eternity (to the Galyari), Time Rings (to the Monan Host) and Battle TARDISes (to the Killorans).
 * Almost everyone on Gallifrey owns a TARDIS.
 * Regenerations can be extracted and sold.
 * The alternative Leela is the only human to hold the Key to Time.
 * The alternative Romana never travelled with the Doctor. She stayed on Gallifrey, married Andred and had a son, Antonin. She eventually regenerates into her second incarnation.
 * Vansell is not the coordinator of the CIA. He is a servant of the House of Heartshaven.

Continuity

 * The Fifth Doctor and his companions Peri Brown and Erimem once visited the Axis. (AUDIO: The Axis of Insanity)
 * Romana mentions that she and the Fourth Doctor searched for the Key to Time. (TV: The Ribos Operation to TV: The Armageddon Factor) In the alternative timeline, it was Leela and K9 Mark I who accompanied the Doctor on his search for the Key.
 * Romana uses the pseudonym "Lady Astra" while in the alternative timeline. (TV: The Armageddon Factor; AUDIO: The Chaos Pool)
 * Braxiatel mentions that Lord Presidents have been assassinated in the past. (TV: The Deadly Assassin)
 * Romana states that a regenerative cycle can be surgically implanted. (TV: The Five Doctors)
 * The Oubliette of Eternity first appeared in AUDIO: Neverland.
 * In this alternative Gallifrey, Tallan was a member of the High Council. (AUDIO: Ascension)