Breach of Trust (audio story)

Breach of Trust was the second story in the audio anthology Revisitations, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by David K Barnes and featured Jemma Redgrave as Kate Stewart and Ingrid Oliver as Petronella Osgood, James Joyce as Josh Carter and Ramon Tikaram as Vikram Shindi.

Publisher's summary
An alien vessel arrives on Earth, its occupants seeking refuge, and Osgood takes them in.

But there is reason to mistrust this cry for help. The files show that UNIT has faced the Kalvyri before. What else they reveal will set Kate at odds with her most trusted friends.

Plot
A capsule from space crashes outside the Tower of London and opens to reveal two singing women inside, with violet skin and three mouths. Josh welcomes her to Earth, but the song hurts him. Kate leaves a disastrous dinner with Richard and is harrassed by a drunk man on her way back to the Tower, where Shindi admonishes Osgood and Josh for making contact with the aliens without him. Shindi has the aliens observed in the cells whilst Osgood works on a translator.

Despite Osgood's misgivings, Kate enters the cell and uses her tone of voice to try to earn the two women's trust. Osgood completes the translator, allowing them to understand that the women, Vara and her daughter Norei, are Kalvyri. Vara was part of a resistance against the dictator Jarrak and came into possession of a list of worlds that he planned to invade, Earth among them, so Shindi puts all UNIT bases on standby and has Josh warn NATO. Vara says that a Kalvyri weapon currently stored in the Black Archive is the only hope that humanity has against them.

Osgood locates the weapon, a black box, amongst the oldest artefacts in the archive but cannot find any information on it or the Kalvyri. Kate tells Osgood to work with Vara on the device with soldiers present, believing that Vara is lying about something; Vara explains to Osgood that the weapon is a harmonic cannon capable of focusing a Kalvyri's song to devastating effect. At Kate's command, Josh looks through the old records and finds a report by Mike Yates detailing how Kalvyri suspected of being in league with killed several UNIT soldiers until the Third Doctor neutralised them, having had his offer of peace declined.

In light of the report, Kate stops Osgood and Vara after they power up the harmonic cannon and Josh has his men restrain Vara and Norei, whom Osgood still trusts. When Shindi informs them that forty Kalvyri ships have arrived, Kate has Josh bring Vara and the harmonic cannon to the ops room, leaving Norei with Sergeant Crosbie, and questions why so few have arrived. The Kalvyri take out UNIT's communications, but Kate wants to find a diplomatic solution and has Vara fire a warning shot at the fleet.

Jarrak denies that the Kalvyri have come to invade and asks for the return of Vara and Norei, his wife and child, who are to be executed. Should Kate refuse, he will attack Earth. Kate is angry with Vara for keeping this from her and, having Vara returned to her cell, discusses the situation with Osgood, Shindi and Josh and agrees with the two men that they have to be handed over. Osgood storms out and visits Vara, who asks for her help.

Shindi informs Kate that Osgood and Josh have escorted Vara and Norei to the capsule to be returned to the fleet. Upon learning that Vara is to be tortured and Norei forced to watch, Kate calls the operation off, but Jarrak draws the capsule to his flagship and prepares to attack Earth for her change of mind. Unbeknownst to all but Osgood and Josh, Vara was alone in the capsule and emerges to use the harmonic cannon to destroy herself and the fleet. Later, Osgood visits Kate at the top of the tower and apologises for disobeying her orders. Kate sends her home and says to herself that she doubts she will be able to get any rest.

Cast

 * Kate Stewart - Jemma Redgrave
 * Osgood - Ingrid Oliver
 * Colonel Vikram Shindi - Ramon Tikaram
 * Captain Josh Carter - James Joyce
 * Vara / Norei / Technician - Lizzie Stables
 * Jarrak / Richard / Man / Technician 2 / Soldier / Sergeant - Richard Earl

Worldbuilding

 * UNIT has bases in Athens, Cairo and Cape Town.
 * Josh finds a report written by Mike Yates detailing how the Third Doctor neutralised Kalvyri believed to be in league with.
 * The harmonic cannon dates back to the Ninth Gryndimian Empire.
 * Sergeant Crosbie is good with children and has three of his own. Josh leaves Norei with him.
 * Kate utters Spock's famous quote about how "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few".
 * Jarrak is Supreme Overlord of the Kalvyri and the Twelfth Gryndimian Empire.

Continuity

 * Kate mentions her children. (HOMEVID: Downtime, TV: Death in Heaven)
 * Following a failed invasion of Earth, the Kalvyri's Harmonic Cannon was stored in the Black Archive as articule 12. (TV Day of the Doctor)
 * Osgood recalls the previous Sontaran and Cybermen encounters. (AUDIO: The Sontaran Project, Code Silver)