Time Agency
The Time Agency was a time-active organisation which operated from the 49th, 51st, and 52nd centuries. The Agency employed human Time Agents, (PROSE: Trading Futures, TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, AUDIO: The Time Machine, et al.) often equipped with vortex manipulators. (TV: The Empty Child)
One account stated that, "The Agents' purpose is to change without interfering, to leave an effect with no evidence of cause. To be untraceable, undetectable, invisible. To all intents and purposes, the Agents do not exist." (PROSE: Sometime Never...)
Jack Harkness notably had a career in the Time Agency prior to meeting the Ninth Doctor. (TV: The Empty Child) The Doctor was also well acquainted with the Time Agency, (COMIC: A New Beginning) having numerous interactions with the Agency in their Eighth (PROSE: Eater of Wasps, et al.) and Thirteenth incarnations. (COMIC: A New Beginning, PROSE: Time Lapse, et al.)
History
Origins and Magnus Greel
Missing info from The Stuff of Nightmares.
The Time Agency originated in a version of reality lacking Time Lord supervision due to the outcome of a time war. (PROSE: Trading Futures, COMIC: Weapons of Past Destruction) By one account, the Agency — alongside phenomena such as Isolation Station Forty, the Blithe Pinking Shears, and Sabbath Dei — was part of a history-wide natural emergence of time travel in the reality that followed the War in Heaven. (PROSE: Trading Futures) Another account indicated the Agency existed to fill the power vacuum left by the Gallifrey's absence after the Last Great Time War, asserting itself as protector of the Web of Time after the position was fought over by other factions such as the Sontarans, Cybermen, and Unon. (COMIC: Weapons of Past Destruction) An apparently contradictory account shows the Shadow Proclamation holding this position after the Last Great Time War, (COMIC: Fugitive) although the Shadow Architect did have some association with the Agency. (COMIC: Secret Agent Man)
The Time Agency was established at some point after the 42nd century, as the Agency set up time treaties with eras before its existence as far back as the 42nd century. (AUDIO: The Time Machine)
The Onihr were aware of the 51st century's Chronodev. (PROSE: Trading Futures) By World War IV in 5000, Findecker researched zygma energy for Magnus Greel and developed a time cabinet which Greel used to flee to 19th century China (TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang) when an Icelandic Alliance division led by Razum Kinzhal overran his base. Kinzhal appropriated Greel's zygma experiments and spent the next year developing time-travelling Transit Belts to be used by "temporal paratroopers". In 5000, Kinzhal mentioned he had plans to develop his paratroopers into "a unit for policing the past and preserving our future", reverting damage to the timelines and potentially tracking down Greel. (PROSE: Emotional Chemistry)
However, other sources suggest the Time Agency operated as early as the 49th century. (PROSE: Trading Futures, The Man Who Dreamed of Stars) Escaping the 49th century, Free Colony Movement agent Silas expected Time Agents to follow him through his trip back in time to the 20th century. (PROSE: The Man Who Dreamed of Stars) A bio-psionic weapon was put into storage in Kinzhal's personal weapons facility after being recovered from Greel's base (PROSE: Emotional Chemistry) and was later stolen from the Time Agency by rogue time thieves (PROSE: Eater of Wasps) in the 49th century. (PROSE: Trading Futures)
Hiding in the 19th century, Magnus Greel lived in fear of Time Agents, initially suspecting the Fourth Doctor of being one until Li H'sen Chang mentioned the Doctor had asked questions. "A Time Agent wouldn't have asked questions!" exclaimed Greel. "A Time Agent would know." (TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang) By one account, Greel had only heard about the Time Agents from the Fifth Doctor. To avoid revealing his identity before Greel encountered him in the late 19th century, the Doctor claimed he was a Time Agent. (AUDIO: The Butcher of Brisbane)
The Agency used time capsules before the invention of the Vortex Manipulator. (AUDIO: The Time Machine) By the time they searched for Greel, the Agency used vortex manipulators. (AUDIO: The Stuff of Nightmares)
Eighth Doctor and the Agency
Missing info from Eater of Wasps, Trading Futures, Sometime Never....
Having been involved in the Agency's 51st century origins in the post-War universe, (PROSE: Emotional Chemistry) the Eighth Doctor had several other encounters with Time Agents during his travels with Fitz Kreiner, Anji Kapoor, and, later, Trix MacMillan. (PROSE: Eater of Wasps, Trading Futures, Sometime Never...)
Kala and Jode were Time Agents sent from the 49th century to recover a bio-psionic weapon sent back in time to 1933. (PROSE: Eater of Wasps, Trading Futures)
Sabbath recruited several Time Agents into his crew, including Roja and Jaxa. (PROSE: Trading Futures)
The Council of Eight manipulated the Time Agency to manipulate history and remove "Rogue Elements." (PROSE: Sometime Never...)
Jack Harkness in the Agency
Missing info from Secret Agent Man, Station Zero, Month 25, The Death of Captain Jack, Slaver's Song
After the Last Great Time War, (TV: The Parting of the Ways) Jack Harkness was a Time Agent of the 51st century. (TV: The Empty Child)
Harkness was from the Boeshane Peninsula. This was a matter of great pride to the other citizens of the Peninsula, as he was the first of them to join the agency. They began calling him the "Face of Boe". (TV: Last of the Time Lords) As an Agent, he worked with John Hart, also known as "Captain John". (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)
The Time Agency and Hokrala Corp were both involved in the sinking of Atlantis. The event was considered a failure for the Time Agency. (PROSE: The Undertaker's Gift)
In 5067, Harkness and Hart were sent to Mogar. (COMIC: Station Zero)
The Agency dealt with time loops by containing them in bubble universes. (AUDIO: Month 25)
After the Agency wiped two years of his memory, Jack left the Agency and struck out on his own as a con man and freebooter. (TV: The Doctor Dances) He later became a companion of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors and leader of Torchwood Three. His vortex manipulator proved instrumental in his adventures. (TV: The Doctor Dances, Everything Changes, Utopia et al.)
Thirteenth Doctor and the Agency
Missing info from A New Beginning, Hidden Human History, Old Friends, Time Lapse.
The Thirteenth Doctor had several encounters with the Time Agency as she travelled with Yasmin Khan, Ryan Sinclair, and Graham O'Brien. (COMIC: A New Beginning, PROSE: Time Lapse, et al.) By this point in the Agency's existence, the Agency was aware of at least one other Time Lord: the Corsair. (COMIC: Old Friend)
The Doctor had enough influence to convince the Agency to hire Dr Irene Schulz and Dr Leon Perkins after the pair displayed initiative and aptitude in the course of a shared adventure. (COMIC: A New Beginning)
Agency in Decline
Missing info from Time Fraud.
Under the leadership of Time Marshal Helen Barnes, the Agency built the Hourglass based on a Time Lord weapon, the “galaxy eater”. The Hourglass could predict the certainty of events and remove individuals and locations from time by placing them in a time lock. After it predicted a 96% chance of time travel experiments in Galaxy L-10 leading to time travel proliferating across that galaxy and endangering the universe, Barnes ordered the entire galaxy placed in a time lock. This attracted the attention of the Tenth Doctor, who came to confront Barnes and discovered the Hourglass. Despite having him imprisoned, Barnes feared the odds of him reversing her achievement (which were 99% according to the Hourglass) and ordered for him to be put in a time lock. He appealed to the Hourglass' conscience, knowing it would have one from the weapon it was based on, and it took him inside its core where he modified it to give it more independence and reversed the erasure of L10. Barnes attempted to interrupt the reversal by having the Hourglass destroyed, but her agent Alison was persuaded not to by the Doctor. He left with Alison to influence the time travel experiments to save the universe, warning Barnes that one day the Time Agency may just disappear as time always won. (AUDIO: The Shattered Hourglass)
Adam Mitchell sent a distress signal through time using Cyberman technology. Neal Shaw was sent to investigate the signal, but was frozen in time by Mitchell. The Eleventh Doctor freed Shaw, and Shaw returned to duty after giving the Doctor a way to track his vortex manipulator through time. (COMIC: Mystery Date, The Choice)
A Time Agent was overpowered by Harrison Crane while transporting Crane to the Lunar Penal Colony. Crane escaped to 1894 with a damaged vortex manipulator and was stopped from destroying London by the Paternoster Gang. (PROSE: The Case of the Dissolving Man)
Karina Stirling was kicked out of the Time Agency for counterfeiting proton blasters and sent to the prison planet Contrelli. (COMIC: Station Zero)
The Family of Blood got their hands on a Time Agent's vortex manipulator and used it to track the Doctor through time. (TV: Human Nature, The Family of Blood)
In 5145, River Song acquired a vortex manipulator from the black market that was "fresh off the wrist of a handsome Time Agent". The wrist-strap was presented still on the wrist, until Dorium Maldovar had it removed. The vortex manipulator ended up proving vital to saving the universe, and was used by both River and the Eleventh Doctor. (TV: The Pandorica Opens, The Big Bang) Despite being imprisoned in Stormcage Containment Facility, River somehow hung onto the manipulator and used it during her further travels. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War, The Angels Take Manhattan)
At the time Hart caught up with Jack again, Hart stated that the Agency had only seven Agents left and had subsequently been disbanded. (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)
The Agency was eventually reconstituted as the Intergalactic Defense League. (COMIC: Station Zero)
Equipment
Jack stated that the Time Agency had a large war fleet. (PROSE: The Stealers of Dreams)
The Monk stated that Time Agents wore uniforms. (AUDIO: The Blame Game)
Time Agency regulation strictly forbade the passing of any technology to non-agents. (COMIC: A Little Help from My Friends)
Behind the scenes
- Time Agents make an appearance in the Decide Your Destiny book, The Time Crocodile, where they are shown to have the authority to arrest people. Because the book has no definite storyline — readers determine the story's outcome — it is hard to say with absolute certainty that the event occurred.
