Stalemate! (short story)

Stalemate!
Main character(s):	Steve Zodiac
Featuring:	Twenty One, Tina, Loover
Main setting:	Earth and Astra, 2069
Key crew
Publisher:	Network Distributing
Editor:	Martin Cater
Release details
Printed in:	TV21 247
Release date:	October 2014
TV21 Stop Press crossover stories
← Previous	XL5 Crew Detained on Astra!
Next →	Thunderbirds Film for Sale!

Stalemate! was a TV21 Stop Press short story containing elements from the Doctor Who universe which was published in 2014 as part of Network Distributing's Supermarionation boxset.

The story featured the inhabitants of the planet Astra, which was first mentioned in Doctor Who's The Rescue ^[+]Loading...["The Rescue (TV story)"]. The Astrans, meanwhile, were a semi-regular fixture during TV Century 21's original run, having been introduced in the The Daleks story Duel of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Duel of the Daleks (comic story)"].

Summary

After following signals from a tracking device in the luggage of millionaire passenger Jeff Tracy, International Rescue's Thunderbird machines successfully intercept the Fireflash and force it down just inside the Bereznik border, where a rendezvous has been arranged by the hijacker. The Fireflash itself soon becomes a fortress, heavily defended by machine gun fire, with Thunderbird 1 and Thunderbird 2 standing sentinel alongside the stolen airliner. The hijackers' demands do not change by Tuesday: all four operational Thunderbirds, as well their designer and fifty billion dollars. It is feared that if these specifications are not met then the atomic reactor onboard the aircraft will be deliberately exploded.

Elsewhere, Sam Loover of the World Intelligence Network's London branch presents the Psychotron will-control device to journalists at a press conference following its recovery from Bereznik. During the conference, Loover denied reports that WIN had made use of a legitimate school trip to Bereznik and once again insisted that reports of a nine-year-old agent were "gross exaggerations".

On Astra, unconfirmed reports which are just reaching Earth claim that Colonel Steve Zodiac has been shot and fatally wounded while attempting to escape custody. Meanwhile, the Universal Secret Service reports that its agents Twenty One and Tina Palamac are poised to enter a SOFRAM base on the Moon.

Characters

• Steve Zodiac
• Sam Loover
• Agent Twenty One
• Tina Palamac

Worldbuilding

• Reports from Bereznik suggest that several passengers on board the Fireflash were planted by the Hood in order to help him achieve his aim.
• Twenty One and Tina are assisted by their robotic dog named Kingdom.

Story notes

• This story is another crossover with Fireball XL5, Thunderbirds, 21 and Joe 90.

Continuity

• Jeff Tracy was previously reported to have been one of the VIP passengers aboard the maiden flight of the Fireflash Mk II. (PROSE: Fireflash Mk II Bound for New York)
• Steve Zodiac was being held on Astra following the guilty verdict recorded against himself and the rest of the Fireball XL5 crew. (PROSE: XL5 Crew Detained on Astra!)
• World Intelligence Network chief Shane Weston had refused suggestions that the organisation was involved in activities at the Bereznik border. These rumours surfaced after the Psychotron device was stolen from Geneva. (PROSE: XL5 Crew Detained on Astra!)
• A different account stated Tina Palamac was killed in 2047. (COMIC: Andromeda Or Die)

Gallery

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  Thunderbird 1.

• 

  Steve Zodiac.