Death and Diplomacy (novel)

In the far-off Magellan Cluster, the savage Dakhaari, the militaristic Czhans and the evil backstabbing Saloi are at each other's respective throats over the tiny, peaceful planet of Moriel. The Hollow Gods have decreed that a satellite be built in which they must settle their differences or else. But just who has the tact and diplomacy to arbitrate these talks?

Meanwhile, Roz and Chris are on Moriel with the Czhanist army, knocking seven bells out of the native populace. Why have they launched this sneak attack? Will it wreck the talks completely? Are they participating in the Hollow Gods' hidden agenda — a plan that will result in the death of billions?

And while the others are otherwise occupied, Benny is stranded, lost and alone, facing the most terrifying challenge of her life — someone who will haunt her for the rest of her days. He's called Jason.

Plot

to be added

Characters

References

Books

Roz reads The All-Consuming Fire by Dr John Watson.

Conflicts

The battle of the Rigel Wastes took place in 2697.

Currency

Plaques is the form of currency on Jaris.

The Doctor

If the Doctor had a penny for every time he heard "You will obey our command!" he'd have 47 pounds, nine shillings and four pence.

Fashion and clothing

Jason wears UV shades.
Jason wears mismatched spacer clothing.

Individuals

Jason Kane has slept with at least fourteen humans (male and female) and at least six aliens.
Jason has been away from Earth for around fifteen years.
Bernice has sex with Jason after a bar crawl.
Shug says that Benny has an Electra complex.
Bernice goes on to say that she has had "the best sex in her entire life" with Jason.
There exists footage of Peri, Mel and Ace in the bath (separately).

Locations

The Magellan Cluster is only referred to on the cover. In the novel it is always called the Dagellan Cluster.
Anrici IV is part of the Czhanos Empire and has crystalline forests with silicate inhabitants.
Kalas is a Dakhaari outpost.
Makrath is a desert planet and is one of the gaming centres of the Cluster.
Shivri is a Czhan-occupied planet with an area on it known as the Ghost Marches.
The Citadel of Unending Delights is the closest thing on Jaris to a tourist trap. It is a three-levelled warehouse.
Jaris explodes one thousand, four hundred and seventy local years after Bernice Summerfield's arrival, due to her materialisation on the planet causing a catastrophic environmental cascade-process. Some of the fissioning material collided with Jaris' sentient sun, leading to a metasizic chain-reaction that killed it about two million years with the stellar equivalent of cancer.

Species

Through the act of sex (or possibly procreation) six-armed arachnid women from Glomi IV inject gastric acid into their mates and then suck their intended's pureed internal organs out through the individual's urethra.
Darian septilateral gestalt have a mobile interfacing node used for sex (or something). It is telepathically linked to six separate glistening membrane sacs full of pus.
On Glomi VII, there are piglet people.
Jason describes the Daleks as "seriously clunky exo-support, limited vocabulary, can't go down stairs".
Jason knows of time travellers, the Time Lords and Gallifrey.

Notes

Jason Kane left Earth in 1996 and he estimates fifteen years have passed, setting this story circa 2011.
This was originally titled Summit and then Tact and Diplomacy before settling on Death and Diplomacy.
According to author Dave Stone, this is the second part in a trilogy consisting of Sky Pirates!, Death and Diplomacy and Oblivion.
This story includes a one-page promotion (in the form of a wedding invitation) for PROSE: Happy Endings.
This was the final release using the cover design introduced in 1991 with PROSE: Timewyrm: Genesys.
The final Virgin New Adventures novel to feature the Seventh Doctor as the incumbent Doctor, as TV: Doctor Who would be broadcast and introduce the Eighth Doctor shortly before the release of PROSE: Happy Endings.

Continuity

Benny and Jason get married in PROSE: Happy Endings.
Some events depicted in this novel are dramatised in flashback in AUDIO: The End of the World.

External links