The Ambush! (short story)
The Ambush!, styled in republications as 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
Extended edition
- Colonel Spencer Pemberton
- Professor Edward Travers
- Lieutenant Whittaker
- Squadron Sergeant Major Stephens
Worldbuilding
- Evans is a a member of the Royal Engineers Corp, 33 Regiment.
- Lethbridge-Stewart is in the Scots Guards, 2nd Battalion.
- The 33 Regiment and Lethbridge-Stewart are travelling from the Elm Park Command Post to Holburn Station.
- Lethbridge-Stewart has been brought back from Libya to assist with the crisis.
- Lethbridge-Stewart served as a Private in Korea during his National Service.
- On his arrival in England, Lethbridge-Stewart was rushed to General Hamilton's office in Fugglestone.
- Lethbridge-Stewart briefly saw Sally before he went to Hamilton's office.
- Lethbridge-Stewart and the 33 Regiment are ambushed at Aldwych station.
Extended edition
- The fungus had reached Charing Cross Station by the time Pemberton's squad reached it.
- Pemberton is a member of the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment.
- The 33 Regiment drives through Camden.
- The previous year, Trafalgar Square was filled with people protesting the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War.
- After reaching Trafalgar Square, Pemberton's men are attacked by Yeti advancing from the Strand, the National Gallery and Cockspur Street.
- Travelling from Aldwych towards Leicester Square, Lethbridge-Stewart is certain that he's travelling down the Piccadilly Line. From Leicester Square, he plans to take the Northern Line to Goodge Street.
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 on 5 April 2015 and again in The HAVOC Files on 12 April 2016.
- 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 [+]Loading...["The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)"])
- Lethbridge-Stewart references the base at Goodge Street. (TV: The Web of Fear [+]Loading...["The Web of Fear (TV story)"])
- Lethbridge-Stewart hears about Pemberton's demise from Captain Knight. (TV: The Web of Fear [+]Loading...["The Web of Fear (TV story)"])
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