Free Undead

The Free Undead were a faction of Vampires during the Dark Times. The Vampires were freed from being slaves of the Great Vampires by the Ninth Doctor and began searching for a place to settle, becoming embroiled in the Kotturuh crisis in the process.

Members of the Free Undead before being freed (COMIC: Monstrous Beauty)

History

Liberation

After his companion Rose was captured by a primordial class Vampire, Hugo, during a Curcurbite attack on a shadow planetoid, the Ninth Doctor pursued them back to a coffin ship along with a Gallifreyan scientist, Androkan. There he discovered Vampires forced to serve the Three Mad Sisters and their acolyte, Grystock. During a Gallifreyan attack on the coffin ship the Sisters died and he convinced their commander Drogann to seize the opportunity for freedom. Drogann used a synthetic blood the Doctor and Androkan had created to free the undead slaves from their addictions, enabling them to turn on their captors whilst the Doctor sent the Gallifreyan spaceship he’d stolen out of the coffin ship as a distraction to enable them to escape. The Doctor left Rose to recover from briefly being turned by the Sisters on a nice moon in the care of a freed undead slave, Centia, (COMIC: Monstrous Beauty) and stayed with the Vampires as they began searching for a place to settle. Minor Vampire royal Ikalla became the leader of the newly Free Undead. (PROSE: All Flesh is Grass)

Battle of Mordeela

As they explored, the Ninth Doctor felt something was amiss with the Dark Times. Investigating this led the Vampires to Mordeela, where their coffin ship confronted the Tenth Doctor’s Victis Fleet alongside the Dalek Time Squad and Eighth Doctor aboard a Dalek saucer. After the younger Doctors’ pleas to their future self were rejected, the Battle of Mordeela began with the coffin ship firing ineffectively at the mercenary ships whilst the Daleks destroyed them. When the Daleks were pushed back by Brian’s arsenal of ancient weaprons, the Ninth Doctor asked if the Vampires could “pitch in” more, so Ikalla ordered the unleashing of the Bloodsmen. The Bloodsmen’s abilities enabled them to bypass the mercenaries’ defences and pick off the crew of numerous ships, though the Doctor was horrified by them bringing the crew back to feed on. Despite the Vampires and Daleks successfully destroying all of the Victis Fleet save the flagship, the Battle still resulted in the destruction of Mordeela as the Tenth Doctor had intended and he escaped aboard the flagship. (PROSE: All Flesh is Grass)

Search for a homeworld

In the weeks following the Battle, the Vampires continued searching for a world to settle on and Ikalla sent out a summons for other undead slaves to join them. (PROSE: All Flesh is Grass) The Doctor and Ikalla explored Parvanna together, being hunted by a invisible creature. (COMIC: Tales of the Dark Times)

The original coffin ship was attacked by the Daleks in search of subjects for the Symbiont. However the Eighth Doctor forewarned the Vampires, enabling them to escape, whilst he and the Ninth Doctor went in search of their future self. After the evacuation Ikalla was captured by the Death Brokers and brought to Entranxis. She was presented to the Tenth Doctor and Brian when they came to procure weapons and freed by the Eighth and Ninth Doctors. The Daleks attacked, intending to capture her, however she escaped with the Ninth Doctor. They went in search of the Kotturuh to help them which eventually led them to the last of the Kotturuh, Inyit, on Birinji. When the Doctors mounted the Defence of Gallifrey, Ikalla stayed on Birinji to protect Inyit from the Daleks whilst three coffin ships who’d answered her summons fought alongside the Doctors. In the aftermath, the surviving Free Undead settled on Birinji with Ikalla becoming their scion, finally freeing them from the fates of their original masters. (PROSE: All Flesh is Grass)