Cold Vengeance (audio story)

But there are cracks in the ice, and something scuttles under the floors. Soon, Rose and the Doctor encounter robots, space pirates and... refuse collectors.

As Coldstar's tunnels begin to melt, an even greater threat stirs within. An old enemy of the Doctor puts a plan into action - a plan for retribution.

Nobody's vengeance is colder than an Ice Warrior's.

Plot[]

The TARDIS materialises in what seems to be an ice cave and the Doctor and Rose emerge, immediately feeling the cold. Rose remarks that she can't complain as they can't go skiing without a bit of ice. When asked where the snow is, the Doctor explains that he asked the TARDIS to land on the nearest place with optimum temperatures for downhill slaloms. Rose thinks that the TARDIS has landed inside of an ice hotel similar to the one that Anne-Marie went on for her honeymoon, then wonders if they're in Sweden, a theory that is shot down by the Doctor pointing out that the gravity is wrong.

The Doctor finds a sign that says "Coldstar - Frozen Food Storage", leaving Rose wondering if they're in a frozen food shop. Exploring even further, they find rows of frozen peas, then decide to continue exploring in hopes of finding choc-ices. The Doctor notices some cracks in the ice and then Rose steps in a puddle of water, making the Doctor realise that the frozen food storage has been thawing for a while.

Elsewhere, Ice Lord Hasskor watches as his warriors awake from their slumber. When his second-in-command, Slaan, asks him what his command is, Hasskor replies by saying "We have slept long enough. It is time to exact our vengeance!"

A transport vessel docks at Coldstar as Lorna and Bert are busy collecting the recycling from the blue, green and brown bins. Bert asks Lorna if she wants a tea break, but Lorna decides to continue working on her own.

The Doctor and Rose are walking down a service corridor, while the Doctor points out the porthole, which they both look out of to find themselves looking into deep space. The Doctor realises that what he and Rose have found in the food storage area could feed millions of people on the planet that Coldstar is orbiting. They then hear a noise coming from inside the hull. The Doctor uses his Sonic Screwdriver to try and open the plating that the noise is coming from, but it seems to aggravate whatever is making the noise. They both begin to follow the source of the noise back towards the ice.

Meanwhile, Brona Volta and her son, Callum, are waiting in reception for an order they have made. Lorna appears in reception so she can leave her bins there. The management droid tells her to attend the desk and explains that he attends to all the matters pertaining to the station. Lorna gives the droid some papers to sign, then turns her attention to Callum who she seems to recognise. Brona explains that people always mistake Callum for someone who won "Supernova Star Makers" last year due to them both having similar eyes. The management droid finishes signing the papers and hands them back to Lorna, but before Lorna can make her way to maintenance so she can collect the recycling, Brona suddenly holds her at gunpoint.

The Doctor manages to find the source of the noise that he and Rose heard earlier: a robotic crab which the Doctor identifies as a Wrecker. He explains that the Wreckers were used by privateers to scuttle ships and that it sabotaged Coldstar's temperature controls, causing the ice to start melting. But as they decide to and scan the Wrecker in the TARDIS, they find that the TARDIS has vanished and the ice wall has been broken into pieces. Rose thinks that someone couldn't wait to get some frozen lasagna, but then notices that the ice splinters are in the area where they are standing, realising that someone broke out of the ice wall instead of breaking in.

They then hear a hissing voice calling to its fellow warriors. The Doctor and Rose go to investigate and see an Ice Warrior blasting the ice with his sonic weapon. The Doctor hopes that everything will be fine, but this hope is squashed when he hears the warrior telling the others to prepare for the attack against the human resistance, having been awoken by the raising temperature. Rose and the Doctor decide to go and tell the people in charge of Coldstar about the presence of the Ice Warriors.

The management droid explains to Brona that he is responsible for the comfort of all visitors to Coldstar, to which Brona replies that no one will be hurt if Lorna (Who she misnames as "Laura") stays calm. Lorna asks Brona and Callum if they're hijacking Coldstar, to which Callum replies that they're not hijackers. Just then, the Doctor and Rose rush in telling everyone to evacuate, only to find themselves being held at gunpoint by Brona who orders Callum to move them both over to where Lorna is.

The Doctor tries to tell everyone about the Ice Warriors, but Brona refuses to listen. When reminded about the robotic crab they found earlier, the Doctor realises that he is talking to a pirate. Rose is puzzled about why Brona and Callum are trying to rob a supermarket, and Lorna introduces herself to Rose. Brona explains that 200 tonnes of Viltranium Caviar is held in Coldstar and it is going for a very high price. She also explains that she has turned off the freezers in an attempt to persuade everyone in Coldstar to give her the caviar. When Rose asks if they're going to let all the other food rot, Callum explains that they'll turn everything back on when they leave.

Lorna recognises Brona and Callum from the news and Volter's Pearl, the ship that she and Bert parked next to, prompting Brona to explain that it was handed down through her family's generations. The Doctor is amazed to see the 2 pirates and the management droid who welcomes him to Coldstar. Rose asks the droid if there are any choc-ices, but the droid gets reports of non-human life forms approaching, just as the Ice Warriors appear and tell Brona and Callum to lower their weapons. The squad leader, Slaan, informs Lord Hasskor that they have taken the control area, to which Hasskor replies that he is taking a patrol to asses the strategic value of the ships that are docked nearby. The Doctor tells Rose to keep playing it cool for now.

Meanwhile, Bert is waiting for Lorna, when he is approached by Lord Hasskor and his warriors warning him not to try and flee. Bert produces a taser prod in an attempt to attack the Ice Warriors, thus angering them even more. Hasskor realises that Bert is from the planet Enyo and says "Vengeance is ours!" before Bert is swiftly killed by the warriors' sonic weapons. Hasskor then goes on to order his warriors to examine the vessels and destroy anything that is deemed unnecessary.

The Doctor asks Slaan what happens next after their first objective is completed, but Slaan orders him to return to Brona, Rose and Lorna so that he can await Lord Hasskor's judgement. Rose talks with the Doctor about the Ice Warriors, surprised that they are from Mars. She remarks that they are "a bit turtle-y". Brona asks the Doctor and Rose if they're archaeologists, prompting the Doctor to respond by saying that they dip into history once in a while. He explains that the Ice Warriors have a strict hierarchy and that Lord Hasskor will be the one who decides what will happen to them before deciding that they should leave before Hasskor arrives.

With the TARDIS still unavailable, Rose suggests that they use Brona's ship to leave Coldstar, an idea that the Doctor agrees with. The Doctor asks the Management droid what his power source is, to which the droid answers that he has a series 9 plasma battery and his function is to protect all humanoid visitors to Coldstar, of which there seem to be none on Coldstar. He suggests that the droid could turn up the thermostat, but Brona tells him to sit down and keep quiet, surprised that she is actually seeing Ice Warriors that she thought were gone after the wars between the humans and the Ice Warriors that happened across countless systems 500 years ago, thus allowing Rose to realise why Lord Hasskor was talking about his revenge. The Doctor explains that the humans and Ice Warriors saw sense eventually. After explaining that the Ice Warriors can survive for 500 years in deep freeze, he asks whether the Ice Warriors came first or the ice itself. Brona suggests that they should do as the warriors say, but the Doctor says that whether they will escape depends on how Lord Hasskor feels about humans.

Rose is told to shuffle over to check on Lorna and Callum and tell them to prepare to move, which she does so. Brona tells the Doctor that Callum is not afraid of anything, to which the Doctor replies "Mother like you, I'm sure he's not.", before wondering what the Ice Warriors are doing to Coldstar's controls. The management droid begins targeting his sensors to increase the temperature as Rose checks on Lorna and Callum and assures them that the Doctor will find a way to escape from the Ice Warriors and that they need to be ready to run outside the door.

Slaan goes to confront the management droid who the Doctor says is looking after everybody as it's what the nice robots do, before introducing himself to Slaan. He asks Slaan if he ever gets frustrated about not being an Ice Lord, but this does nothing to prevent Slaan from realising that the management droid is interfering with the climate controls and increasing the temperature, a distraction that allows Rose and the others to escape before the droid explodes due to the high temperatures. The high discharge from the plasma battery results in a lot of smoke and heat. Before they leave, the Doctor takes the management droid's head and rushes out with the others.

Unfortunately, in the confusion, Brona and the Doctor are separated from Callum, Rose and Lorna. Brona asks the Doctor why he is keeping the head of the management droid, to which the Doctor replies "As a friend of mine once said, if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs." As the Ice Warriors' reinforcements begin to show up, Brona rushes off and the Doctor tells the droid to scan for the others, but his servers are disconnected, leaving the Doctor to follow Brona just as Lord Hasskor shows up to ask Slaan what has happened to the prisoners.

Meanwhile, Rose and Callum are making their way out of the area. Callum asks Rose where his mother is, to which Rose tells him that they must have gone the other way. Callum reasons that they will be heading back to Volter's Pearl, which is in the Docking Bay where the Ice Warriors will be investigating. The young pirate is forced to admit that they're lost due to him not mapping the part of Coldstar that they are in before realizing that Lorna will have a map of the area, only for Rose to notice that Lorna is missing.

Slaan informs Hasskor that the damage that was caused by the Management Droid's interference has been undone. Hasskor states that the droid will not meddle in their affairs again now that its body is useless and the Doctor has taken its head. Now that the command center is in their power, Hasskor decides to have the escapees tracked down.

Slaan orders one of the other warriors, Fosspur, to take a patrol of Ice Warriors to locate the humans before telling Hasskor that the other warriors want to know how they ended up in Coldstar. Hasskor replies that he became conscious as soon as the ice began to melt with his bio-suit connecting to the control systems, and they they have not moved far from their enemies on the planet Enyo which is below Coldstar. He also explains that he analyzed the satellite and devised a strategy while his body was thawing and that it was an honor to have his fellow warriors by his side. With the engines functioning as he anticipated, Hasskor assumes control of Coldstar.

The warriors hear a noise from under the instrument panels where they find Lorna attempting to hide from them.

The Doctor is trying to navigate the tunnels of Coldstar with the help of the Management Droid's head. He tells Brona that the Ice Warriors have the control room and they have the next best thing: maintenance. He then tells Brona to call the wreckers back to meet them, to which Brona obliges and uses her isomorphic control pad to command the wreckers, a feat which she claims to be able to do while blindfolded.

Brona tells the Doctor that he knows a lot about piracy, to which the Doctor replies that he knows about a lot of things, but not much about Coldstar. The Management Droid explains that Coldstar Incorporated operates over 2000 cold storage facilities throughout the galaxy. The Doctor asks where the facilities get the ice, to which the Droid explains that the Coldstar satellite that they are on was created by compacting polar ice extracted from KZ Alpha-9, the next planet which is out from the sun. Brona says that she doesn't feel bad about robbing from Coldstar because they always maximize their profits.

The Doctor explains that the satellite was built by scooping up vast chunks of unfiltered ice from where it was able to be found, and remarks that the arrival of the Ice Warriors is very similar to finding a fly in an ice cube, big green angry flies with sonic weapons. Brona thinks that the Ice Warriors are no longer a threat, but the Doctor says that it depends on how long they have been frozen and that the ones on Coldstar have woken up on the wrong side of the iceberg.

The Management Droid tells them that the Maintenance area is 200 meters in front of them, allowing the Doctor to find out what the Ice Warriors are up to so he can stop their plans.

Rose and Callum wait until the Ice Warriors have gone so they can try to reunite with the Doctor and Brona. Callum asks Rose what they can do against the Ice Warriors, to which Rose answers that she'll figure it out, and that the Doctor will also be working out a way to find them. Suddenly, Coldstar appears to change its course.

Lord Hasskor informs Lorna that they are now on course, much to her concern. Slaan says that Coldstar will collide with the planet below within the next hour. Hasskor says "Vengeance is ours! A fist of ice plunged into the heart of the human world!" When Lorna asks why the Ice Warriors are doing this, she is shot non-fatally and secured to the controls and gagged by by Slaan before Hasskor informs her that she will die along with millions of other humans when Coldstar makes impact with the planet, but if she makes one more sound, she will die now.

The Doctor finds out that the Ice Warriors have changed Coldstar's course. Confused, Brona says that Coldstar is a moon that doesn't have a course, but instead orbits around a planet which they are now falling towards and will destroy half of the planet if Coldstar makes contact with it. The planet's name is Enyo, a name that the Doctor has never heard.

The Management Droid apologizes to the Doctor that its function will cease soon, but the Doctor tells it not to worry as he has everything that he needs. After the management's schematics are uploaded into Brona's control pad, the Doctor decides to have Brona's wreckers sent on another mission: to properly wreck Coldstar. He then tells the Management Droid that he has one more job for him before he can take a well-earned retirement and that if they escape, it will be thanks to the Management Droid. The droid states that it is glad to have been of assistance before it loses power for good.

The Doctor takes the droid's memory wafer, stating that they never know when it will come in handy. He then says that he wants to get Lord Hasskor's attention, and he does this by activating the alarm system calling for all personnel to evacuate Coldstar immediately.

Lord Hasskor realizes that Coldstar is accelerating away from the planet's orbit and the controls are not responding. The Doctor's voice emits over the intercoms to tell Hasskor that he has overridden the controls. He also tells Rose to get herself and anyone else she can find over to the docking bay while informing Hasskor that Coldstar is locked on course for the sun. Rose thinks that the Doctor is bluffing and tells Callum that they will find Lorna due to Callum not knowing his way to the docking bay.

Lord Hasskor and his warriors find the Doctor and Brona to inform them that they have condemned everyone on Coldstar to death, which the Doctor downplays by saying that they are not crashing into a populated world before saying that either everyone dies, or no one dies. He demands that the Ice Warriors give him his TARDIS and that everyone who is being held prisoner by them is let go and their war is left in the past. Lord Hasskor tells the Doctor that he already has a ship before telling Slaan to give the order to board Volter's Pearl, much to Brona's anger.

Hasskor orders Brona to go with him and the other warriors, but Brona and the Doctor insist on waiting for Callum, Rose and Lorna. Hasskor threatens to kill Brona if they refuse, but the Doctor reminds Hasskor that they are an honorable race that will listen to reason, only for Slaan to seize him. Again, the Doctor demands the return of the TARDIS, but Hasskor laughs and tells him that there are no ultimatums before he is brought to Volter's Pearl along with Brona despite demanding to stay so he can save the others. Hasskor tells the Doctor that he will demonstrate what happens to his enemies.

Rose and Callum make their way to the docking bay once the Ice Warriors have gone, but there's no sign of the Doctor. They find Lorna still secured to the control panel. Once they ungag her, Brona tells them that she hasn't seen the Doctor or Brona and that the Doctor said they are heading into the sun, causing Rose to realize that he may not have been bluffing about Coldstar crashing into the sun.

They hear the sound of Volter's Pearl taking off, but Rose is certain that the Doctor will come through the door any second now. Callum points out that Coldstar is starting to break apart. Rose tries to find a way to reverse Coldstar's course, but when that fails, Rose tells Lorna and Callum that Tylers like her won't lie down when they're beaten.

Aboard Volter's Pearl, Brona turns the ship to give everyone a view of Coldstar. The Doctor tells Hasskor that they need to go back and that he's a Time Lord. Coldstar's integrity starts to reduce with freezer bays breaking off and burning up. Hasskor tells the Doctor that he should have considered the people still on Coldstar before obstructing his revenge. The Doctor is brought to the viewscreen so that he can get a view of the crumbling Coldstar.

Slaan is ordered to release the Doctor and bring the TARDIS up from the hold. Hasskor explains to the Doctor that he monitored Coldstar's systems from the moment the ice began melting and he and his fellow Ice Warriors awoke. Upon seeing the Doctor's arrival, he realized that it might prove a useful contingency like Volter's Pearl. The Doctor begs for Hasskor to let him use the TARDIS to save Rose and Callum, but Hasskor tells him that he will not allow him to use the TARDIS even if he begs.

Coldstar soon reaches the sun's gravity well. Brona states that Callum, Rose and Lorna will pass out before they are incinerated by the sun, which Hasskor states is his mercy.

Rose, Callum and Lorna manage to escape from Coldstar inside of one of the airtight bins that Lorna uses to collect the recycling due to the warriors blowing up her lorry. Lorna tells Rose that the purpose of her bins is to avoid polluting the environment, including Space. Callum informs Rose and Lorna that the Wreckers which are clamped to the bin's outside are steering them through the debris. Rose tells Callum that they need to catch up with Volter's Pearl which is closer to them than Enyo.

Slaan informs Hasskor that Volter's Pearl is moving towards Enyo. Brona joins the Doctor who is thinking about his TARDIS which is being guarded by the Ice Warriors. Just then, an alarm sounds before something hits Volter's Pearl as it's passing through Coldstar's debris. Hasskor orders Slaan to take Fosspur and Zixil to investigate. The Doctor asks Brona Volta if the wreckers she released on Coldstar have ion-propelled blowtorches, to which she responds in the affirmative.

Slaan orders the warriors to close the docking bay doors only for some of the wreckers to attack them, allowing Rose, Callum and Lorna to begin making their way to the bridge. As Slaan declares that they will die for attacking them, Callum fires a few shots at him, but his gun has no effect and the wreckers have been destroyed. After telling Rose to run, Callum is killed by Slaan, then Rose and Lorna both surrender to the Ice Warriors.

Slaan returns to the bridge to report to Hasskor that Fosspur has been killed and Zixil brings in Rose and Lorna. Rose calls the Doctor out for leaving her on Coldstar, to which the Doctor replies that he didn't have a choice in the matter and he was planning to come back for her. When Brona asks where Callum is, Slaan says that he has been killed. Lorna notices the TARDIS and remarks that it's smaller than her recyclers.

Hasskor states that his new objective is to enter the TARDIS, but the Doctor tells him that he's not going without Rose who also says that Lorna is going with her. Brona is ordered to stay so that she can help Slaan with operating Volter's Pearl. Hasskor orders his guards to step aside so that he may enter the TARDIS.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor tells Hasskor that he doesn't take kindly to blackmail.

Cast[]

The Doctor - David Tennant
Rose Tyler - Billie Piper
Lorna - Keziah Joseph
Brona Volta - Maureen Beattie
Callum Volta - Sean Biggerstaff
Management/Bert - Anthony Stuart-Hicks
Lord Hasskor/Commander Slaan - Nicholas Briggs

Worldbuilding[]

The Doctor[]

The Doctor mentions Rudyard Kipling.
The Doctor calls Rose a social justice warrior.

Wars[]

Humans and Ice Warriors fought many wars over countless systems.

Ice Warriors[]

Ice Warrior refugees who fought the War with the humans were given homes on Enyo as part of the Treaty.
Bert calls Hasskor a "greenie".
Rose describes the Ice Warrior as "totally turtley."

Astronomical objects[]

There are over 2000 Coldstars.
Ice Warriors have lived on Bellona for 10 years.
Coldstar scooped ice 20 years ago from Bellona, also designated K-Z-Alpha-9, unaware of the Ice Warriors within.

Technology[]

Hasskor and Slaan's armour, or biosuit, is sleeker than standard armour. It's designed to keep the occupant alive, and is equipped with a self-destruct bomb.
Isomorphic is equated with low level psionic waves.
Memory wafers.
The wreckers are equipped with ion propelled blowtorches.
Ice Warrior refugees who fought the War with the humans were given homes on Enyo as part of the Treaty.

Notes[]

This story was released dubbed in German, as Eiskalte Rache.
In 2018, this story was re-released on vinyl in a limited run of 1250 copies.
This story was recorded on 11 May 2017 at The Soundhouse.
This story was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on 1 October 2022.^[1] It was later edited into two parts which were first broadcast on 20 and 21 November 2023.^[2]^[3] The first part ends after Hasskor orders Slaan to seize the Doctor.

Cover gallery[]

Continuity[]

Rose would later encounter another Ice Warrior with the Doctor. (COMIC: Untitled)
Later, in the same incarnation, the Doctor with Donna would meet an Ice Warrior. (PROSE: Cold)
The Doctor would later encounter Ice Warriors in his eleventh incarnation (TV: Cold War) and his twelfth incarnation. (TV: Empress of Mars)
He previously encountered them in his second incarnation (TV: The Ice Warriors, The Seeds of Death), his third incarnation (TV: The Curse of Peladon, AUDIO: The Prisoner of Peladon, TV: The Monster of Peladon), his fourth incarnation, (PROSE: Red Planet) his fifth incarnation (AUDIO: Red Dawn, The Bride of Peladon, The Judgement of Isskar), his sixth incarnation, (AUDIO: Mission to Magnus) his seventh incarnation (PROSE: Legacy, AUDIO: Frozen Time) and his eighth incarnation (AUDIO: Deimos / The Resurrection of Mars, PROSE: The Dying Days)
The Doctor has seen the Ice Warriors' seeding process before when they tried to terraform the Earth. (TV: The Seeds of Death)
The Doctor remarks that an Ice Warrior who was a member of the Galactic Federation saved his life once. (TV: The Curse of Peladon)
The Doctor tells Vorna about how there used to be laws of time and how the responsibility of them was extensively down to him now. (TV: The Waters of Mars)
"Greenie" is a term that the Doctor heard before. (PROSE: Transit)

External links[]

Official Cold Vengeance page at bigfinish.com
Official Doctor Who auf Deutsch: Eiskalte Rache page at bigfinish.com

Footnotes[]

[1] ttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001cg90

[2] ttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001smht

[3] ttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001sltb

[1]

[2]

[3]

Tardis