Warfare (audio story)

Warfare (identified on the cover simply as Chapter Eleven) was the second story of the third series of Big Finish's Gallifrey audio series. It was written by Stewart Sheargold.

Publisher's summary
"You shouldn't even exist. You're an anomaly. And we Time Lords stamp them out."

The dark days have come again. It's the end for Gallifrey. The most learned civilisation in the universe has come to war. The Capitol is in ruins; pitched battles are an everyday occurrence, futures are being changed. The first Imperiatrix, back from the dead, has stolen power and nothing will stop her ambition.

Except, perhaps, for a small band of opposition who believe that it is time to stop running and fight back. But war demands sacrifice, and Romana will have to make a very great one to rid Gallifrey of Pandora.

That is, if she can remember which Romana she actually is.

Plot
In the ruins of the Gallifreyan Academy, Romana remains affected by Aesino's machine but tells Leela otherwise. Leela says that she is Romana's friend, having accepted that she was not responsible for killing Andred, and that she can tell her anything; she also says that she no longer feels out of place in the Capitol during wartime and that they must take the fight to Pandora. Romana does not believe that rushing in thoughtlessly would not be a good idea and that she has a plan.

Pandora has been unable to find Romana and fights with the voice of Romana's first self in her mind, a voice which says that she is falling apart at the seams.

Commander Hallan directs the construction of an inconspicuous barricade around the Academy. Narvin wonders, however, whether or not it would be better if the group made their presence there known to Pandora to show that they are not running scared and are still prepared to fight. He plans to partition the Academy once Romana is in no position to disagree, which sound to Hallan like sedition, but Narvin denies this.

Romana thanks Lord Matthias for maintaining morale and taking care of the surviving students. He suggests that she should absolve herself of some of the stress that she is under by delegating her responsibilities to one of her friends, something that she is hesitant to do. Romana plans to capture the APC Net Chamber to gain full control of the Matrix and defeat Pandora, whose future the Matrix cannot predict due to her being Pandora's future aspect.

Pandora asks K9 why she is still waiting for the new version of the Dogma Virus, which he says he is still working on, and whether or not he is telling the truth when he says that Romana has not accessed the Matrix. She would feel more comfortable if K9 were to be infected with the virus, but he says that it is unnecessary and that once they have eliminated the threat of the dark partition, she will be able to access the Matrix and assess his loyalty for herself. Valyes visits, informing Pandora that Captain Janartis and his guards have come under fire at the ruins of the Academy; she has K9 fetch Darkel.

Despite Hallan's protestations, Leela insists that she join him in fighting Darkel and her guards. She suggests that, as the Academy will not hold out for long as a fortification, they should use it as a trap and attack the guards from behind. Hallan agrees.

Janartis attacks Captain Annos, having his guards use a pulse cannon to get access to the Academy. They are then ambushed by guards led by Leela and Hallan. Meanwhile, Narvin tells the wounded Annos to use solar panels to absorb the pulse energy and to ensure that a terminal is functional; he has set up the partition and needs only to enter the Academy boundary coordinates. The Sensor Net then detects a second group of guards and Narvin sends Annos to fetch Leela and Hallan. Janartis has the pulse cannon used again, but it has no effect due to the group's defences. Darkel arrives with reinforcements and takes Leela, Hallan and Annos captive.

Hearing Darkel's voice outside, Narvin sets the countdown for the partition, giving Leela ten microspans to get within the boundary. Leela and Annos pick up the unconscious Hallan and carry him into the boundary as Darkel's guards open fire, narrowly making it in time.

Darkel declares a truce and asks to speak with Narvin, who reveals that he is the only person who can cross the partition and agrees to meet with her outside in the absence of her guards. She asks him to join her once again, saying that they both believe in the old Gallifrey and that Romana is no longer viable as President; in fact, she intends on usurping Pandora once she has won the war. Narvin refuses, as he will always be loyal to the true President. Returning to the partition, a hostile device is detected and Narvin realises that Darkel has discreetly implanted a bomb into his shoulder. Leela is able to cut it out and throw it away, where it explodes.

Feeling safe with the partition up, Romana is ready to think offensively and admits to Matthias that she should have done something by now. She tells Leela and Narvin that she needs their help by infiltrating the APC Net Chamber using an adapted partition as a personal shield.

Pandora is unhappy with Darkel for her lack of results, but gives her a second chance to get Romana out of the Academy. Darkel meets with Matthias, who says that he will do anything to end the war. She offers him victory.

Elbon has allied himself with Romana as Surgeon-Master, which Romana and Annos believe is only due to Pandora disapproving of his medical station and likely wanting him dead. He asks Romana to visit him at his new hospital at some point and leaves, after which Romana sends Annos to the hospital to get his concussion seen to and to keep an eye on Elbon.

Hallan goes to meet with Elbon and finds that it was actually Matthias who sent for him. Matthias hands Hallan an encrypted data disk supposedly containing imperiatrix codes to the presidential complex and asks him to check it, claiming to be suspicious of how it was allowed to fall into his hands and not wanting it to be given to Romana until they know that it is safe. Hallan agrees to do so and has it analysed by Medic Delta, which finds a secondary command beneath the codes. A message recorded by Darkel reveals that the disk is infected with a technological variant of the Dogma Virus and has now been released. Hallan isolates the hospital to prevent its spread.

With the biohazard alarm sounding, Romana, Leela and Narvin head to the hospital and speak to Hallan, who confirms that the Dogma Virus is within and plays Darkel's message, telling them that Matthias brought the disk. Narvin realises that Pandora has used her own DNA in the new Dogma Virus and that it will sap Hallan of his free will. Hallan is ready to burn himself to death to prevent its spread, but Narvin instead suggests that he go into stasis until a cure can be found. He agrees but Narvin has to activate the stasis himself as the infected computer will not obey Hallan's commands. Angered, Romana goes to speak with Matthias.

Matthias tells Romana that Darkel gave him the disk and that he gave it to Hallan as he suspected that it was a trap. He insists that he is loyal to her and wants Pandora deposed. Their conversation is interrupted by Pandora, who is able to speak with Romana through the Matrix thanks to K9. Believing that Romana has been infected, Pandora uses Contact and the voice of Romana's original self tells her current self that Pandora is falling apart and needs her. Matthias terminates the link, concerned that the virus might have been sent by the line, and Romana says that she has to save her previous self.

When Darkel asks why the virus could not have been transmitted to Romana during the call, K9 says that it would not have been possible without disabling a number of security routines to gain enough power. Pandora remarks that K9 is constantly telling her what she cannot do and Darkel agrees that he seems to be stalling. K9 claims that he has a plan with a calculated success rate of 98.9999999999%.

Narvin has succeeded in adapting the partition technology to create a personal shield. The danger is that, as they will technically be in the Matrix, they risk setting off one of Pandora's booby traps and being detected. Romana has faith, that they can rely on K9, but Matthias does not and suggests that he instead distracts Pandora. Once everybody has gone, Romana asks Leela her opinion on Matthias; whilst Leela is wary of him, she does believe that he supports Romana and wishes to keep her safe.

Pandora and Valyes have decided to use codes supplied by K9 to override the partition. Pandora tells Darkel that she will be sent to the Academy to use the codes and attack the Academy, killing everybody but Romana. Before she can leave, Matthias arrives and, claiming to be interested only in peace, offers to work as a double agent and get Romana's group rounded up. Whilst Darkel does not believe him, Pandora says that, given Darkel's track history, she could use all the help that she can get.

In the APC Net Chamber, Romana gets Pandora's artron imprint and her own biodata extract, planning on using them to control her. Narvin disagrees with the plan, but Romana and Leela are insistent and he hooks them up to the systems.

With his superiors dead, Janartis has been promoted by Valyes to the rank of Commander. Darkel goes with him to the Academy and, once the partition is down, sends him and his guards in. Although Matthias has done what he said he would, she still does not trust him and says that he will be at his President's side when the time comes. Janartis plans to plant a bomb, but Annos and his guards are ready for them and subdue the attackers. Matthias tells Darkel to surrender but she reveals that she has put a bug bomb in Janartis. Annos stuns Janartis and has his men carry him away for the bomb to be removed.

K9 tells Pandora that everything has proceeded according to plan. Romana enters the presidential suite and says that time is trying to sort Pandora out as she is an anomaly, inhabiting the body of a dead Romana. Pandora orders K9 to shoot Romana with the Dogma Virus, but K9 reveals his duplicity and that the three of them are actually inside the Matrix. Pandora hears voices calling her back into the partition and the first Romana asks for help before saying that she will have to kill her. Pandora suddenly stabilises thanks to the Dogma Virus which has taken hold of the Matrix. Leela enters and is immune when Pandora fires her Dogma Virus staser at her. She wants revenge for her blindness and for Andred's death and stabs her.

Outside of the Matrix, Elbon cares for Romana and says that her life signs are fluctuating as there are two Romanas within her. Narvin believes that the loss of Pandora's body means that she will be pulled back into the dark partition, but Matthias disagrees due to her past and present aspects being held within Braxiatel and her future aspect being less constant.

K9 says that Pandora will now try to jump into Romana and, per their plan, gives Romana a strong dose of the virus, which will aid Pandora in her transubstantiation. With Pandora in her body, Romana and K9 will sacrifice themselves in the Matrix to destroy her. Leela refuses to allow this, but K9 expels her from the Matrix. Pandora takes hold.

Leela awakes and demands to be put back to save Romana, but Matthias says that it is Romana's own choice.

Romana and Pandora have become one whole. Romana introduces Pandora to the sentience from the Anomaly Vaults, which has been inside her head since the Vaults' destruction, and tells it that Pandora is its new plaything. K9 separates the two biodata extracts as the sentience takes Pandora into the dark partition to play with. He and Romana prepare for the imminent destruction of the Matrix.

Elbon finds that Pandora's imprint is not registering and determines that she has been defeated. Narvin tells Elbon to find a way to save Romana before the Matrix is destroyed.

The virus is erasing the Matrix. Romana and K9 see the dissolving memories of every Time Lord held within the APC Net and, as the end approaches, Romana reminds K9 that he is a good boy. They then find themselves in the presidential suite, outside of the Matrix thanks to the sentience, which K9 believes sent her out when it devoured Pandora as she was no longer an anomaly. Although they are safe, they will need an examination to ensure that Pandora has been eradicated from their systems. Psychologically injured, Romana collapses with exhaustion and Leela says that she will help her through this.

Cast

 * Ex-President Romana - Lalla Ward
 * Leela of the Sevateem - Louise Jameson
 * K-9 Mk II - John Leeson
 * Inquisitor-Prime Darkel - Lynda Bellingham
 * CIA Coordinator Narvin - Seán Carlsen
 * Imperiatrix Pandora - Mary Tamm
 * Lord Matthias - Stephen Perring
 * Chancellor Valyes - Steven Wickham
 * Captain Annos - Dickon Tolson
 * Commander Janartis - Charlie Ross
 * Commander Hallan - Michael Cuckson
 * Surgeon-Master Elbon - Paul Grunert
 * The Sentience - Lisa Bowerman

Uncredited

 * Romana - Mary Tamm

Continuity

 * Romana still feels the effects of Aesino's machine. (AUDIO: Fractures)
 * Leela says that blaming Romana for Andred's death is "wasteful" and that she knows that Pandora is really to blame. (AUDIO: Insurgency, Imperiatrix)
 * Hallan remarks upon "how times change" when Narvin says that he would not be so anarchic as to back Pandora or Darkel. (AUDIO: Lies, Pandora, Insurgency)
 * Pandora mentions how she acquired the original Dogma Virus thanks to Free Time. (AUDIO: Pandora)
 * Elbon had a medical station in the Outlands which was burnt down by Pandora's forces. (AUDIO: Fractures)
 * Romana says that Pandora's body is "wearing a bit thin". The First Doctor and the War Doctor said the same thing about their own prior to regeneration. (TV: The Tenth Planet, The Day of the Doctor)
 * Leela blames Pandora for her blindness. (AUDIO: Fractures)
 * Pandora says "this body. It fits perfectly". The Eighth Doctor said the same thing about a pair of shoes whilst his regenerative dissonance cleared. (TV: Doctor Who)