Soldier Obscura (audio story)

Soldier Obscura was the second audio story in the anthology Time War: Volume One, the ninth series of Gallifrey.

Publisher's summary
Braxiatel has always planned for contingencies. As hostilities escalate, he takes Ace into a deadly region of spacetime – The Obscura – to locate an ancient research station.

But Ace is about to learn more about Irving Braxiatel than anyone should know.

Some soldiers are ready for this fight, but some will not make it through the first round.

Plot
In Braxiatel's TARDIS, Ace tries to fix the scanner when Braxiatel tells her that he has disabled it to keep her from seeing where they are going. He shows her some strange drawings in a dusty book, The Art of the Obscura, which act as a guide to the Obscura, a broken battlefield from a time war in the Dark Times which is so paradoxical that looking at it can shatter one's mind. Not telling her why they are going there, he powers down the TARDIS and lets them drift on manual steer to reach the battlefield.

Braxiatel and Ace arrive on an ancient Time Lord research station which was pulled into the threshold of the Obscura and, leaving the TARDIS to rest and recharge, they head off, with Braxiatel leading the way. Ace deduces that he has been here before and, from the stale and recycled air, that they are not alone and notices drawings of landscapes on the shutters which she examines using the torch function on her sonic screwdriver. They reach the control room and meet Danna, a military strategist and Braxiatel's mentor whom he has not visited for twelve years.

Danna takes Braxiatel and Ace to the hold and shows them 284 smashed Daleks which show up dead or insane, drawn to the station by its system for gathering interstellar debris. Whilst this has been happening for a long time, the Daleks who have arrived in the past twelve years look, having metal wings in an apparent attempt to steer into the Obscura. One arrived a week ago and is still living, apparently sending a transmission back to the other Daleks. Braxiatel tells Ace that the Obscura would be an ideal base for the Daleks and that there is a weapon here that she does not have clearance to know about. The trio go to the control room to block the transmission.

Braxiatel runs a jamming signal but fears that it might not be enough to cancel out the Dalek's transmission. He plans to remain in the control room monitoring the readings whilst Ace and Danna boost the station's shields. Ace helps Danna using her sonic screwdriver and notices that Danna's hands are shaking. She learns more about Braxiatel's past and military education and that Danna does not actually know what the weapon here is. When Ace realises that something does not seem right, she goes to speak with Braxiatel, not telling Danna what the problem is.

Ace finds Braxiatel drinking tea and in a laboratory which has become a makeshift library for Danna, having showed one of the books to the Dalek in the hold and caused it to begin screaming. She asks why there is only one transmission, that of the alleged jamming signal, and how they coincidentally arrived just after a Dalek managed to get to the station alive. Braxiatel says that she is simply paranoid, but then an alarm sounds.

The Daleks have located the Time Lord station and prepare to enter the Obscura with a fleet. They send a message telling those on board to surrender.

Ace believes that Braxiatel has brought the Daleks here and demands to know about the weapon. When he refuses, she heads to the hold to salvage some Dalek weapons whilst Braxiatel addresses the Daleks and makes an offer for the Supreme Dalek.

to be completed

Cast

 * Romana - Lalla Ward
 * Ace - Sophie Aldred
 * Narvin - Seán Carlsen
 * Braxiatel - Miles Richardson
 * The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs
 * Danna - Zulema Dene

Continuity

 * Braxiatel mentions the siege of Capra. (PROSE: Winging It)
 * Romana says that the Doctor won't help them. (TV: The Night of the Doctor)