After her previous incarnation was shot by the Monk, Pavo had regenerated with the help of the Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon. This new incarnation was a woman, and assumed the alias of "Commander Melanie Flail".
Pavo intended to also arrest the Doctor, but eventually, after the Doctor helped her defeat the Monk and a Seeth invasion, she decided to let him go. She hypnotically wiped the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria's memories of the event, "officially" claiming that this would help her avoid tainting her image by requiring the aid of a renegade to resolve the crisis. (AUDIO: The Black Hole)
Behind the scenes[]
Although not explicitly stated in the story, Simon Guerrier intended for the two Pavos to be earlier incarnations of the Master. "Pavo", Latin for "peacock", was chosen to fit the Master's personality.[1] Hints towards this identity in the story include the "curious silver baton" wielded by Pavo as a weapon, as well as the hypnotic abilities she displayed. The Master had earlier been suggested in the novella Time and Relative to have originally been an agent of Time Lord law enforcement tasked with tracking down Renegades, much as Pavo does in The Black Hole.
However, this is contradicted by Missy, who identifies herself most explicitly in Girl Power! as the first female incarnation of the Master.