The Instruments of War (comic story)

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The Instruments of War was a comic story published in Doctor Who Magazine. It featured the Twelfth Doctor, Clara and the Sontarans.

Summary

Part 1: The Instruments of War

In the desert, several camel riders watch a plane crashing using advanced binoculars. One orders the others to activate "the device".

In the TARDIS, Clara is eagerly awaiting her arrival at the Frost Fair of 1641, having decided to go and see for herself because some of her students are doing a project on the subject. The Doctor is a bit grumpy about going at Christmas, considering how long he lived in the town, as well as some odd readings on the TARDIS console, and isn't cheered up by Clara referring to his being carried around in her handbag a week earlier. Unfortunately, the TARDIS arrives in sand, not snow, with no buildings in sight - it's the Sahara Desert. While looking for someone to ask directions from Clara spots a tank, which the Doctor identifies as a Matilda model, used by Allied forces during World War Two - it seems they're in 1941, not 1641. The tank, unfortunately, turns out to be a German tank, which takes them prisoner.

In German Headquarters, Field Marshal Rommel is arguing with Oberst Bruckner about orders to use saturation bombing against the Allies, despite his troops having settled into winter quarters with established supply routes. They are interrupted by "Doctor Johan Schmidt and his assistant Fraulein Oswald" from Berlin, but Rommel is able to see through the psychic paper that got them to him. It turns out that the Germans' Tuareg allies have reported "new friends from the sky", making the Doctor realize that the TARDIS brought them here for a reason. He arranges to go with Rommel to meet the Tuareg, whilst Clara stays behind to snoop around. She quickly strikes up a friendship with the young Unteroffizier Hans Engel, who turns out to have been a cellist in civilian life, but they are interrupted by an equally nosy Bruckner, unconvinced of "Fraulein Oswald's" credentials.

The Doctor and Rommel head to the rendezvous, with the Time Lord sadly remembers all the wars he's been involved in, and that he always tries to find another way out where everyone lives. When Rommel says that how they comport themselves at death is the measure of a man, the Doctor refers obliquely to the Field Marshal's own death in 1944. When they do find the Tuareg, they are using energy weapons; the Doctor promptly uses his sonic screwdriver to cause a light-show that impresses the tribesmen rather than hurts them and demands to be taken to their chieftain.

Back at German HQ, Bruckner orders Engel to prepare a rescue party to "save" Rommel from the Doctor, but also quietly tells Clara that he knows she's not a spy despite her 1641 gown "because I am"...

At the Tuareg camp, their chieftain, Bhaki, welcomes the Doctor and Rommel and happily agrees to introduce them to the men from the stars. The Doctor becomes visibly concerned after recognising the weapon in the tent, proclaiming "This is bad, this is very very bad...", and with good reason: the visitors are Sontarans, led by Kygon Brox of the Eighth Sontaran Battle Fleet.

Part 2: War Song

Bruckner orders Engel to bring "Fraulein" to the grief; Engel fails to believe that Clara is innocent. That said, Engel and Clara are heading towards the Doctor, giving Clara some hope.

Back at the Tuareg camp, the Doctor urges Rommel and the Sontarans not to fight; after all, they have a good amount in common, and there is little cause for battle. Brox, however, is interested in something else - the Doctor. Recognising the time traveler as nonhuman, Brox assumes the Doctor to be an enemy searching for the Warsong.

Clara admits to Engel that she is not German, but also maintains that she isn't a spy. After she explains Bruckner's unfaithful intentions, Engel concludes that Clara cannot be a spy after all - a spy would not say such a ridiculous, implausible thing.

The Sontarans, still convinced that the Doctor is in search of the Warsong, order him to say what he knows, eventually using a mind scythe to get the information out. Bhaki, having seen men "reduced to a husk" with the device, concludes that the Doctor is beyond help...

Engel notices that Bruckner is not going in the direction of the Tuareg encampment. Bruckner orders his driver to halt at this point; he and his soldiers unload their crates of wooden planks, building a structure. Back with the Sontarans, the Doctor is showing Brox "holiday snaps" of past adventures, before explaining that the mind scythe can in fact go both ways. He proceeds to probe the mind of a shocked Brox.

While Engel is incredulous of Clara's claim to be a time traveller, Bruckner sees the notion as perfectly plausible; in fact, her revelation has resolved a conflict he had been working on for a good amount of time. He then confesses that he is indeed a spy - but not a British one...

Using the mind scythe, the Doctor discovers that the Warsong Brox was referring to is a "world engine" which changes the course of war. Despite creating the weapon, the Sontarans struggled to deploy it, so they took it to a primitive world. The weapon lay dormant on Earth for years, only activating when it sensed aggressive technology; however, once Earth reached a level of technological advancement that could be viewed as threatening, the Warsong began to awaken. Hearing the weapon's "overture", Brox's battle fleet came to Earth; however, its signal is not yet strong enough to be fully utilised, so the Sontarans can currently do nothing but try to stop the enemy that seeks it. After convincing Brox that both himself and Rommel can be useful to the Sontarans' goal, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to destroy the mind probe.

Meanwhile, Engel attempts to relieve Bruckner from his command; however, after acknowledging Engel's less-than-satisfactory life, the spy shoots Engel with bolts of green energy. Back at the Tuareg camp, the Doctor and Rommel discuss Bruckner's recent behaviour. The Doctor suggests that his depletion of forces and resources may mean he is wishing to do something more than win the war - more specifically, something involving the Warsong. What's more, the Doctor believes that Bruckner may not be who - or what - everyone thinks he is...

Bruckner uses the Warsong to kill all of his soldiers who are at the location. He explains that the TARDIS' energy is what powered the weapon enough to do so, and that she has helped him satisfy his people: the Rutans.

From a distance, the Doctor and the Sontarans see the Warsong's energy. Brox explains that the weapon's description of "world engine" is quite literal: it will take the energy from people, buildings, and natural formations to turn the entire planet into a weapon...

Part 3: Gotterdammerung

To be added

Characters

References

  • Despite being a well-known figure on the Nazi side of World War II, Erwin Rommel is portrayed as a protagonist and ally of the Twelfth Doctor, rather than an antagonist. In real life, Rommel earned the respect of the allies and unlike many of his contemporaries was never accused of war crimes. Clara Oswald asks the Doctor if Rommel turned out to be "one of the good guys", to which the Doctor refers to Rommel's part in the plot to "remove the Führer", acknowledging that, as in real life, Rommel was forced to commit suicide after being implicated in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
  • The Warsong was a Sontaran world engine weapon created during the Fifty-first Star Fall Campaign to counteract their heavy losses at the hands of the Rutan Host.

Continuity

External links

to be added

v • e
DWM Twelfth Doctor comic stories
Clara
Solo
Collins family
Bill
v • e
Sontaran stories
For the purposes of this list, a "Sontaran story" is one in which one living, authentic Sontaran plays a part within the confines of the story, outside of flashbacks to previous stories and cliffhangers that lead into the following story. For this reason, stories such as The Halloween Apocalypse and Survivors of the Flux are not counted due to the Sontarans' appearance being defined by their importance to following stories. Stories like The End of Time and The Time of the Doctor are also not included due to the Sontarans' appearance being no consequence to the plot of the story. Stories featuring Strax of the Paternoster Gang are only included on the Paternoster Gang story template.
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Complete list of appearances


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