Breaking Bubbles (audio story)

 was the first story in the audio anthology, Breaking Bubbles and Other Stories, which comprised the one hundred and eighty-eighth release in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by LM Myles and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown.

Publisher's summary
The Doctor and Peri find themselves in the palatial gardens of the deposed Empress Safira Valtris where nothing is ever quite what it seems.

Plot
In a garden on a spaceship, the Doctor and Peri meet Safira Valtris, who invites them to tea and explains that she has been imprisoned after her cousin the Emperor, whom she herself deposed, supplanted her following ten years of rule. She is being transported from one prison to another as executing her is unthinkable on account of the Emperor wanting to avoid setting a precedent for members of the imperial family being killed. The ship's systems are frozen thanks to her sabotage and Officers Laris and Tondra come down to the garden, assuming that the Doctor and Peri are stowaways until Valtris claims that they are from Imperial Intelligence.

After Valtris uses a short-range teleport to disappear with Peri to a holographic replica of her library, the Doctor convinces Laris to take him to the bridge so that he can get the computers working again and perform an internal scan to locate his companion. He realises, upon supposedly arriving on the bridge, that Valtris has tricked them with a hologram and that they have not actually managed to leave the massive prison cell, but he manages to get to the real one where Laris detects a spaceship coming to rescue Valtris. Laris sends a call for military assistance and tracks Valtris, who is holding Peri hostage and knocks Tondra out when she arrives to get revenge for the bombing of her home planet in Valtris's war.

General Akros's ship docks and Valtris heads to the airlock with Peri, only to find that the Doctor has used holograms to trick her. Learning that the Imperial Flotilla is approaching and that there will likely be significant loss of life, Peri manages to persuade Valtris to abandon her plan and avoid the inevitable deaths. Valtris sends Akros away and surrenders to Laris, who imprisons Tondra to await trial for attempted murder and is offered help against becoming the scapegoat for the day's events in return for Valtris's freedom. The Doctor and Peri head back to the TARDIS whilst Laris thinks about the offer.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Colin Baker
 * Peri Brown - Nicola Bryant
 * Safira Valtris - Jemma Churchill
 * Laris / General Akros - Andy Secombe
 * Tondra - Allison McKenzie

Worldbuilding

 * Peri once visited gardens at a chateau in France.
 * The Doctor and Peri drink tea with Safira.

Continuity

 * Peri has been collecting plants during her adventures. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks, etc.)