The Vault (The Scales of Injustice)

The Vault, or the UNIT Vault, sometimes referred to as simply "the storage site" for the sake of secrecy, was an underground collection alien artefacts and other objects of interest, located in northern England. (PROSE: The Scales of Injustice, et al.) Originally operated by the Ministry of Technology, (PROSE: Beast of Fang Rock) it came into the control of C19 in the early 1970s (PROSE: The Scales of Injustice) then passed on to UNIT, (AUDIO: Tales from the Vault, et al.) and when the most of the contents was moved to another site nearby, it fell under the Ministry's control and was available for P.R.O.B.E.'s use. (PROSE: A Worthy Successor)

By the 2010s, it was one of several storage facilities supporting the main Black Archive in the Tower of London. (AUDIO: The Screaming Skull)

Original site
The Vault was built under the Cheviot Hills, accessible through a secret tunnel entrance that led to a car park. The tunnel was surrounded by roadworks signs. It led into a foyer, which contained a desk and a lift, which went down to four levels of floors below (PROSE: A Worthy Successor) the fourth originaly having been built in secret. (PROSE: Night of the Intelligence) It had multiple underground warehouses, filled with a mazes of shelves, hallways, at least one office, and the morgue, (PROSE: A Worthy Successor) also known as "the deep freeze". (PROSE: Beast of Fang Rock) There was a door marked "AA23", and the low-risk storage wasn't kept in good condition, with tobacco smoke lingering, and hidden ashtrays, bottles, and snack wrappers. (PROSE: A Worthy Successor)

New site
to be added

Pre-C19
The Vault contained fragments of crystal from Krakatoa and samples of Om-Tsor. It also held the bodies of Ed Hill, Mike Smith, M Krimpton, A Lane, S Weams and Albert Arnold. (PROSE: Beast of Fang Rock)

C19 Ownership
The vault stored a number of alien life forms, including a de-activated Imperial Dalek from the Shoreditch Incident, and a new strain of Venus flytrap found in Rhodesia large enough to catch a rabbit or a small dog. Other organic matter stored were Nestene "blood", a plague created by the Silurians, Krynoid pods, and fruit from Western Australia containing mercurial dioxide due to fallen particles of dust from outer space. (PROSE: The Scales of Injustice)

There were also several human bodies sotred in the vault, belonging to George Ratcliffe, Melvin Krimpton, Stephen Weams, Lane, Mark Gregory, Albert Arnold, Mike Smith, and George Hibbert. (PROSE: The Scales of Injustice)

MOD Ownership
The Vault stored a Noth laser scythe, a Helicron matter gun, a Hytherian multi-tool, an early copy of the prophecy of the Hollow Childe, a copy of the Christmas Needle Agreement, a broken gauntlet that once belonged to Kaetannan, a pistol that belonged to a Retconning Crocodile, a Gendar device, and a Helicron skull crusher. The cold storage contained the corpses of a human soldier who was ravaged by a yeti, a Gendar, a Draxi, a Menith, a Selachian, a Helicron, and a Diashna. (PROSE: A Worthy Successor) It also contained crates (PROSE: A Worthy Successor) of vials of Cyberon. (PROSE: The Last Dose, A Worthy Successor) as well as pamphlets and research relating to it. (PROSE: A Worthy Successor)

Stacey Facade's body was also placed in the storage facility in 2021. (HOMEVID: Lauren Anderson)

UNIT Ownership
Under UNIT control, the Vault contained a deactivated Terravore. Also contained were a few weapons, including Cyber-guns, Excalibur, and Plastic daffodils. Other items stored in the vault were Meteorite globes from the first Auton invasion, WOTAN, Mars Probe 6, samples of Stahlman's ooze, the wreckage from a Sontaran scout ship, an army jacket, a painting, crystal, a wax cylinder, (AUDIO: Tales from the Vault), the Decayed Master's TARDIS — and the Master himself —, (AUDIO: Mastermind) Rees' skull and music box. (AUDIO: The Screaming Skull) and a number of discarded Cyber-parts from the failed Cyberman invasion of Earth. (GAME: Lost in Time)

The Vault was also where the Master was imprisoned when he was captured by UNIT following his escape from the Eye of Harmony. (AUDIO: Mastermind)

The Vault was permanently kept dark, as some objects would react with light. (AUDIO: Tales from the Vault)

1960s
The Vault was initially located in the Cheviot Hills in Northumberland. It was formed by Harold Wilson under the Ministry of Technology, ostensibly to help develop new technologies to enrich British industry: Wilson's "white heat of technology". In truth it located and used alien technology for its own ends, and the MPs who'd approved of it where unaware of what it did. It was run by a mysterious man called the General, who was in fact Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's brother James from the Inferno Earth. (PROSE: One Cold Step, Beast of Fang Rock, Mind of Stone) Gore ensured that his son, Simon, gained employment at the facility. (PROSE: Night of the Intelligence)

Debris from the Shoreditch Incident and WOTAN had been sent to the Vault. (PROSE: The Scales of Injustice)

In 1969, the remaining Robot Yeti and technology left over from the London Event were transferred to the vault, including Anne Travers. (PROSE: The Forgotten Son) Corpses from the London Event were transferred there as well, so the "web" fungus could be taken off them for study. (PROSE: Beast of Fang Rock) A number of other corpses were taken to the Vault after subsequent alien attacks. (PROSE: The Scales of Injustice)

In 1969, the quartermaster of the vault was Captain Hawkins. (PROSE: The Forgotten Son) Leonard Harkness was a scientist who worked there during the late 1960s. (PROSE: One Cold Step) Another scientist who worked alongside Anne was Tim Gambrell, who assisted Anne in running tests on the Om-Tsor and the body of Ed Hill. Anne later revealed to Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart that she was at the Vault to gather information for General Hamilton.

The remaining Rutan technology and shuttle pod was sent to the Vault following the events at Fang Rock in May 1969. (PROSE: Beast of Fang Rock) Shortly after, Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart and Air Vice Marshal Gilmore uncovered a secret bunker beneath Shoreditch, London, owned by the Vault. It was run by Lieutenant Leslie Johnston, and he was using a captured Professor Travers to control Yeti found in the Underground. Lethbridge-Stewart and Gilmore brought the operation to an end, but Johnston escaped. (PROSE: The Dogs of War)

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart had other personnel inside the Vault following Anne Travers. (PROSE: Ashes of the Inferno)

1970s
General Gore built Level 4 in the Vault, which was hidden from official records. There he held technology that would help him penetrate the dimension where the Great Intelligence resided. He had Owain Vine transported their to further these aims. (PROSE: Night of the Intelligence) The fourth level alter became officially known. (PROSE: A Worthy Successor)

Following the summoning of the Great Intelligence, Department C19 took over the Vault and forcibly retired James Gore. (PROSE: Night of the Intelligence, Ashes of the Inferno) The Pale Man ran the facility. The Vault's items had grown and even included the complete Mars Probe 6. The Pale Man intended to use the technology within to conquer Earth, and the Vault was raided by the Third Doctor and UNIT. (PROSE: The Scales of Injustice) Giles was later told about this. (PROSE: A Worthy Successor)

C19 later retrieved all the hardware and information about TOMTIT and stored it in the Vault. (PROSE: The Quantum Archangel)

In later years, UNIT gained control over the Vault. (AUDIO: The Screaming Skull)

1980s
In 1982, Patrick mentioned UNIT's Vault. (AUDIO: The King of the Dead)

1990s
The contents of the Vault were relocated to another facility nearby, (PROSE: A Worthy Successor) beneath the Angel of the North, (AUDIO: The Screaming Skull) in the 1990s. Patricia Haggard acquired the original Vault for PROBE's use afterwards. (PROSE: A Worthy Successor)

2000s
In 2000, UN soldiers packaged up the remaining vials of Cyberon from PKD and transported them to the Vault. The boffins in the Vault told Patricia Haggard of P.R.O.B.E. that gold created some kind of interference between Cyberon and the human nervous system. (PROSE: The Last Dose) They also stored pamphlets and research relating to Cyberon. (PROSE: A Worthy Successor)

Ruth Matheson began working at the Vault in 2002. (AUDIO: Tales from the Vault)

2010s
In 2011, Charlie Sato joined Ruth Matheson in working at the Vault. (AUDIO: Tales from the Vault) The Decayed Master escaped from the Vault after hypnotising Matheson and Sato into letting him escape in his TARDIS. (AUDIO: Mastermind)

In 2014, Rees escaped from the Vault after possessing every carcass that had been stored in the Vault, in addition to UNIT soldiers who were sent in to investigate the occurrence. (AUDIO: The Screaming Skull)

Petronella Osgood once mentioned the Vault. (AUDIO: Power Cell)

2020s
On 3 March 2021, after Giles was forced to shoot the ravenous love wraith known as "Stacey Facade", P.R.O.B.E. transported the wraith's remains to their "storage site in Northumberland", not being sure that the being was really dead. (HOMEVID: Lauren Anderson)

On 4 April, Giles requisitioned a syringe of Cyberon from "the storage site" as a last-ditch gamble to save the sick Maxie Masters's life. In the ensuing events, Maxie's life was indeed saved, but the Cyberon sample was destroyed. (HOMEVID: The Only Cure)

Behind the scenes
When Gary Russell, the author of The Scales of Injustice, tweeted Mastermind writer Jonathan Morris, asking him if the Vault in Mastermind was the same as the one from Russell's novels, Morris responded, "Possibly, but it's now been moved to a secret base under [the] Angel of the North". When he realised Russell's C19 Vault was a short distance from the one in Mastermind, Morris stated that "it all fits!" AUDIO: The Screaming Skull later gave the in-universe link for this move. It was again mentioned in PROSE: A Worthy Successor, which established the original site was under Ministry of Defence control and was available for P.R.O.B.E.'s use.