The Instruments of War (comic story)

 was a comic story published in Doctor Who Magazine.

Summary
Part One

In the desert, several camel riders watch a plane crashing using advanced binoculars. One orders the others to activate "the device".

In the TARDIS, Clara is eagerly awaiting her arrival at the Frost Fair of 1641, having decided to go and see for herself because some of her students are doing a project on the subject. The Doctor is a bit grumpy about going at Christmas, considering how long he lived in the town, as well as some odd readings on the TARDIS console, and isn't cheered up by Clara referring to his being carried around in her handbag a week earlier. Unfortunately, the TARDIS arrives in sand, not snow, with no buildings in sight - it's the Sahara Desert. While looking for someone to ask directions from Clara spots a tank, which the Doctor identifies as a Matilda model, used by Allied forces during World War Two - it seems they're in 1941, not 1641. The tank, unfortunately, turns out to be a German tank, which takes them prisoner.

In German Headquarters, Field Marshal Rommel is arguing with Oberst Bruckner about orders to use saturation bombing against the Allies, despite his troops having settled into winter quarters with established supply routes. They are interrupted by "Doctor Johan Schmidt and his assistant Fraulein Oswald" from Berlin, but Rommel is able to see through the psychic paper that got them to him. It turns out that the Germans' Tuareg allies have reported "new friends from the sky", making the Doctor realize that the TARDIS brought them here for a reason. He arranges to go with Rommel to meet the Tuareg, whilst Clara stays behind to snoop around. She quickly strikes up a friendship with the young Unteroffizier Hans Engel, who turns out to have been a cellist in civilian life, but they are interrupted by an equally nosy Bruckner, unconvinced of "Fraulein Oswald's" credentials.

The Doctor and Rommel head to the rendezvous, with the Time Lord sadly remembers all the wars he's been involved in, and that he always tries to find another way out where everyone lives. When Rommel says that how they comport themselves at death is the measure of a man, the Doctor refers obliquely to the Field Marshal's own death in 1944. When they do find the Tuareg, they are using energy weapons; the Doctor promptly uses his sonic screwdriver to cause a light-show that impresses the tribesmen rather than hurts them and demands to be taken to their chieftain.

Back at German HQ, Bruckner orders Engel to prepare a rescue party to "save" Rommel from the Doctor, but also quietly tells Clara that he knows she's not a spy despite her 1641 gown "because I am"...

At the Tuareg camp, their chieftain Bhaki welcomes the Doctor and Rommel and happily agrees to introduce them to the men from the stars - but the Doctor recognizes the weapon in the tent, proclaiming "This is bad, this is very very bad..." He has reason to worry - the visitors are Sontarans, led by Kygon Brox and other members of the Eighth Battle Fleet!

to be continued...

Characters

 * Twelfth Doctor
 * Clara Oswald
 * Heinz Bruckner
 * Field Marshall Erwin Rommel
 * General Field Marshall Albert Kesselring
 * Hans Engel
 * Bruno Walter
 * Hermann Abendroth
 * Bhaki
 * Kygon Brox

Continuity

 * Clara teases the Doctor about his being carried in her handbag next to her hairbrush and keys "last week". (TV: Flatline). Not surprisingly, he is unimpressed - "I thought we agreed never to mention that again..."
 * The Doctor refers to his lengthy residence in Christmas. (TV: The Time of the Doctor).
 * The Doctor uses a German version of his regular alias John Smith, "Johan Schmidt".