Hesperus (spacecraft)

The Hesperus was a spaceship owned by Vinvocci, humanoids with spiky green skin. It was a salvage vessel, chiefly used to trawl asteroid fields for junk.

History
Two Vinvocci, Rossiter and Addams used the ship to come to Earth in search of the Immortality Gate. After the human race got transformed into the Master Race, the two aliens rescued the Tenth Doctor and Wilfred Mott and teleported them to the ship in orbit. The Doctor then fried the ship's teleport link to Earth which was permanently destroyed by the Master and then fried the ship's systems to keep the Master Race from detecting them. The Doctor repaired the ship in secret and after learning of the arrival of a White-Point Star diamond on Earth, realised that the Time Lords were returning. The Doctor promptly powered the ship back up and ordered Rossiter and Wilfred on the asteroid lasers to defend the ship against the missiles that were sure to come. The Doctor flew the ship to the Naismith mansion, under attack by missiles the whole time. Thanks to Wilfred and Rossiter's defence and the Doctor's flying, the ship was able to evade or destroy all the missiles and reach the mansion. The Doctor then skydived from the ship into the mansion while Adams planned to fly off. However, Wilfred, unwilling to abandon the Doctor, had Adams land the ship so he could go help. Afterwards, as Gallifrey appeared in the sky, Adams decided to abandon Earth, telling Rossiter that the planet was going to be ripped apart. The two Vinvocci then departed Earth in their ship. (TV: The End of Time)

Description
The Hesperus was two or three hundred feet in length, and had a structure like a dorsal fin on top, and two other fins angled on its underside. It had thrusters in the rear and rows of yellowish lights running along the head. (TV: The End of Time)

Armament
Though not intended for combat, the Hesperus was armed with asteroid lasers to blast away meteoroids and asteroids. These lasers proved sufficent to destroy human-made missiles as the ship came under attack from the Master Race. (TV: The End of Time)

Behind the scenes

 * The name Hesperus was never used in-narrative. Instead, it derives from the script for The End of Time.
 * The ship bears similarities to Starbug from the television series Red Dwarf.