The Ambush! was a short story featuring Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart which was published in DWM 483. The story was set during the 1968 television story The Web of Fear when Lethbridge-Stewart was still a colonel, and served as a prequel to Candy Jar Books' Lethbridge-Stewart book series. An expanded edition of the story was later released in the Lethbridge-Stewart anthologies Top Secret Files and The HAVOC Files.
Summary[]
Colonel Spencer Pemberton leads his squad and Professor Travers through the London Underground. The webs block their way, so they head up to the completely empty Trafalgar Square. Suddenly, they are surrounded by Robot Yetis after Travers.
Driver Gwynfor Evans is taking a truck of ammunitions through Camden with Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart and Sapper Terry Russell, followed by a jeep with 33 Regiment. The Colonel is reading Captain Knight's report, which tells him his old friend Spencer Pemberton has been killed by a Yeti, and he is here to replace him. The truck stops when they see a dead police officer. Lethbridge-Stewart and Russell round the corner and find Holborn Station taken by the Yeti. They return to the truck and the Yeti are attacking 33 Regiment. Lethbridge-Stewart tells them to retreat to Aldwych Station while he and Russell hold them off. They fire at and set off the ammunition in the truck, but the Yeti are unaffected. The pair got to follow the rest of the men.
At Aldwych, Lethbridge-Stewart and Russell find the platform empty and the tunnel filled with web, with a leg sticking out. Russell tries to pull the man out, but the web engulfs and kills him, along with the rest of 33 Regiment. Lethbridge-Stewart heads down the tunnel in the opposite direction, unaware that Driver Evans has also escaped the assault. In the tunnels, he encounters a raggedy civilian, and begins to take him to Goodge Street.
Characters[]
- Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart
- Driver Gwynfor Evans
- Sapper Terry Russell
- Colonel Spencer Pemberton
- Captain Ben Knight
- Squadron Sergeant Major Stephens
- Civilian
- Professor Edward Travers
- Lieutenant Whittaker
Worldbuilding[]
- Many London locations are seen or referenced: Charing Cross Station, Goodge Street, the Strand, the National Gallery, Cockspur Street, Camden, Holborn, Aldwych station, Elm Park Station, and Leicester Square.
- The previous year, Trafalgar Square was filled with people protesting the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War.
- Lethbridge-Stewart was a private in the Korean War.
Notes[]
- An extended version of this story was published by Candy Jar Books as part of the free e-book Lethbridge-Stewart: Top Secret Files.
- Colonel Pemberton's given name (and his nickname of "Old Spence" especially) is a nod to David Spenser, the real life partner of Victor Pemberton, the author after whom the colonel was named.
- This story is set during the television story The Web of Fear.
Continuity[]
- Pemberton knows Professor Travers encountered the Intelligence and the Yeti in 1935. (TV: The Abominable Snowmen)
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