The Time Lord's Story (short story)

The Time Lord's Story was the first short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: Repercussions. It was written by Iain McLaughlin and Claire Bartlett. It featured the Eighth Doctor, Romana II and K9 Mark II.

Summary
In the Department of Administrative Records on Gallifrey, Time Lady Tianna notices that someone had recently gone through the records, something that only an operator with High Council clearance should be able to do. Concerned at this breach of security, Tianna turns to the Doctor for help. He arrives in his TARDIS with Lady President Romana and K9. Romana is annoyed to realise that Coordinator Vansell is already aware of the security breach.

The Doctor, Tianna and K9 investigate the terminal used in the infiltration and track its location to the old Capitol beneath the current one. The Doctor discovers a group of fanatics who have used a time scoop to capture ancient monsters, including a vampire, around the universe. Their leader, Handrel, plans to combine their DNA with Time Lord DNA to achieve immortality through unlimited regenerations. Tianna and K9 contact Romana and request help. Romana and her troops arrive. A battle breaks out. Handrel and his followers are killed. However, in the chaos, Tianna has been bitten and becomes an immortal vampire. The Doctor has to figure out a way to save her.

Characters

 * Eighth Doctor
 * Romana II
 * K9 Mark II
 * Tianna
 * Vansell
 * Handrel

Worldbuilding

 * Tianna reads records on the Master, the Rani and the Doctor.
 * There is an old capitol beneath the current one.
 * A Time scoop is used.
 * One of the creatures Handrel captured was a vampire. A Krynoid was also captured by Handrel.
 * Handrel claims that a single incarnation of a Time Lord can live for around ten thousand years and says that the Doctor is barely over one thousand years old.
 * The Doctor makes reference to Agatha Christie, and offers to lend Tianna his complete set of Miss Marple, which Christie herself had signed for him.

Continuity

 * The Doctor drops Romana and K9 back on Gallifrey after defeating Skagra. (WC: Shada; AUDIO: Shada)
 * The Doctor once again refers to Romana as "Fred". (TV: The Ribos Operation)
 * Tianna reads about 's visit to Tersurus. (TV: The Deadly Assassin; PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks; AUDIO: The Two Masters)
 * The Doctor is a big fan of Agatha Christie. (TV: The Unicorn and the Wasp) He has met her before, and she signed his complete set of Miss Marple, though he never asked her to. Later accounts say that the Doctor never met her until his tenth incarnation. (TV: Last of the Time Lords, The Unicorn and the Wasp) According to the Eighth Doctor, however, she signed The Murder of Roger Ackroyd for him, (AUDIO: Storm Warning) and may have even travelled with the Doctor as his companion. (AUDIO: Terror Firma)
 * Tianna mentions that reports about the Doctor's adventures from his 'very early days' are classified. (TV: The Timeless Children)