Vengeance (audio story)
Vengeance was the third and final story in the audio anthology Master!, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Matt Fitton and featured Eric Roberts as the Bruce Master, Chase Masterson as Vienna Salvatori, Laura Aikman as Lila Kreeg and Nicholas Briggs as the Daleks.
Publisher's summary
The Daleks are returning. Their plan, long in the making, is complete. Earth will be theirs once more.
But someone stands against them. Someone with his own reasons for revenge – and Vienna and Lila are caught in the crossfire. Because Earth's greatest hope against the Daleks lies with the Bruce Master.
Plot
Various news channels report on the approach of a flying saucer and hundreds of Daleks towards Earth, the Daleks chanting "descend!" and firing their weapons. The Dalek Supreme broadcasts a message to Earth authorities informing them of their return and threatening to exterminate any and all resistance. The Bruce Master says that the position of Master of Earth has, however, already been taken and tells Lila that he cannot wait to catch up with them.
The Daleks demand that everybody returns to their homes to await their instructions. Vienna uses Artie's cranial unit to crack a code lock and enter a technology store where she hopes to be able to repair him, but he is beyond repair. She asks him who the contractor is and, when he says that it is confidential, she starts looking inside of him to find an answer.
In the Vauxhall Building, the Master and Lila watch the Daleks clear the streets. The Master assures Lila that they are safe and activates shielding made of promethium alloy, a security measure which has not yet been tested. He refuses to allow Lila to leave and holds her at gunpoint, demanding to know if she had been the one to hire Vienna, which she fervently denies. He believes this for now.
Vienna enters a bunker, identified as the location of the contractor, and meets Magnus Drake, who claims to be one of the real ones.
London City's government building is captured by the Daleks, but the Dalek Litigator tells the Dalek Supreme that power is held by corporations in this era, the most powerful ten of which the Litigator has identified. The Supreme orders that their leaders be assembled and argues with the Litigator when he says that they should be looking for Magnus Drake, the Supreme telling him that he does not have authority and his presence is only tolerated. Warning him not to interfere with his invasion, the Supreme tells the Litigator that he can go and search for Drake.
Drake has access to the Drake Interplanetary mainframe and has been keeping an eye on everything that the Master and Lila have been doing. He has been improving Lila's Project Yellow Brick designs and shows Vienna that he has a number of clones to which his stored memories can and have been uploaded to if the live Drake dies. He informs Vienna that the Master is still alive and that she will not be being paid, as well as that the Daleks are on their way. He directs her to a secret passage which will lead her to the Vauxhall Building where she can complete her task. Once she has gone, a Dalek demands that he go to the government building.
Lila has realised that the Daleks' plan was to allow humanity to rebuild only to return and steal everything that they have built, including all of her own discoveries. The Master tells her that the Daleks once killed him and that he will fight them, planning on having his vengeance.
The leaders of humanity are brought into the government building. Li Zhao claims that Earth has nothing to offer the Daleks, but Drake refutes this, saying that he was at the forefront of all of the planet's advancements and telling Li Zhao that she had been dealing with his usurper. Although Li Zhao believes that they were there to negotiate, the Dalek Supreme tells her that that is not the case and she and the other leaders are exterminated. The Supreme has, however, spared Drake for the Litigator. Drake confirms for the Litigator that the Master is on Earth.
Lila tracks sixty Daleks closing in on the Vauxhall Building and arms the building, but the Master tells her to wait. She detects the usage of the underground lift and Vienna arrives, throwing down her weapon and offering to tell the Master who the contractor is in return for assistance in getting off of the planet to her ship. The Master tells Lila to lock her in a storeroom and heads to the roof to hear the Daleks scream.
Alone, the Litigator and Drake speak freely, Drake confirming that he knows that he is a Dalek duplicate who was installed after the last invasion by the Litigator. The Litigator says that the invasion is his strategy and that the Supreme is merely his tool; he oversaw the Master's trial on Skaro and is here to ensure that the sentence that he passed is carried out, unless there is a useful alternative. He was the one that contracted Vienna.
The Daleks continue to attack the Vauxhall Building, realising that approaching the promethium alloy barriers fries them. They await reinforcements and the Master tells Lila to send in his drones.
In the storeroom, Vienna is contacted by the Litigator who tells her that Drake was only a middle man. The Litigator promises full payment in return for being delivered the Master, alive if possible. She agrees and is then taken to the roof by Lila, who heard the conversation and demands 20% of her fee for her silence. With the Master having become erratic, Lila no longer believes that the partnership is one of mutual convenience and is happy for Vienna to deliver him to her contractor. They agree to 15% and join the Master.
Drake tells the Litigator about Project Yellow Brick and promises to collect all data on it for the Litigator, who is told by the Supreme that it is against protocol to allow Drake to live. However, the Litigator believes that Drake could still be useful.
The Daleks' reinforcements arrive. The Master, armed with a gun, puts Lila in charge of the drones and Vienna in charge of the anti-dalekanium defence rays. They massacre the Daleks.
The Litigator tells the Supreme of the losses being sustained at the Vauxhall Building. In response, the Supreme orders that the survivors fall back to receive weapons upgrades so that they might be able to destroy the promethium alloy. The Litigator advises against this, but the Supreme does not listen and demands that he accompany him to the saucer.
to be completed
Cast
- The Bruce Master - Eric Roberts
- Vienna Salvatori - Chase Masterson
- Lila Kreeg - Laura Aikman
- Magnus Drake - Alistair Petrie
- The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs
- Artie - Andrew James Spooner
- Li Zhao - Susan Hingley
References
Locations
- The Daleks congregate at Trafalgar Plaza.
Science and technology
- Magnus Drake used warp fields and time corridors.
Notes
- The Dalek Litigator is mentioned to be a reference to the Dalek Litigator from PROSE: The Dalek Generation in the 'Behind the Scenes' of the story. Writer Matt Fitton stated in issue 144 of Big Finish's magazine Vortex that the Dalek Litigator of Vengeance and the Dalek Litigator of The Dalek Generation are the same individual, confirming that the Dalek Litigator of Vengeance's true identity is the Dalek Time Controller.
Continuity
- The Daleks announce and repeat over the airwaves that "Daleks are the Masters of Earth." (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Stolen Earth, AUDIO: Masters of Earth)
- Magnus Drake is a Dalek duplicate. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks) He mentions his belief that "the Black Dalek", who acts as the Dalek Supreme of the invasion, is "in charge" of the Daleks' military strategies. (COMIC: Duel of the Daleks)
- The Dalek Litigator was the one who prosecuted the Master at his trial. (TV: Doctor Who)
- The Master mentions that the Daleks actually succeeded in killing him. (TV: Doctor Who)
- The Bruce Master once again says life is wasted on the living. (TV: Doctor Who)
- The Dalek Litigator mentions that the Master was on trial for crimes against the Dalek race. (TV: Doctor Who, PROSE: The Eight Doctors) This included the Master betraying the Draconian gambit and the army on Spiridon (TV: Frontier in Space)
- The Dalek Litigator escapes using an emergency temporal shift. (TV: Evolution of the Daleks)
- The Master is returned to the Time Vortex. (AUDIO: The Lifeboat and the Deathboat, Day of the Master, Mastermind)
External links
- Official Vengeance page at bigfinish.com
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