Vengeance (audio story)

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 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.

Continuing to fight the Daleks, Vienna tells the Master and Lila that she was hired by Magnus Drake and tells them about his clones, a prospect which excites the Master as it means that he can kill him again and again. The Daleks retreat and the Master orders Vienna and Lila to take care of any stragglers whilst he heads to the saucer, telling them to meet him there. With the Master gones, Vienna admits to Lila that it was, strictly speaking, the Dalek Litigator who had hired her and she plans to capture the Master on his way to the saucer so that she can deliver him.

The Litigator orders that a taskforce be dispatched to apprehend the Master whilst all other Daleks return to the saucer and prepare to depart. When questioned by the Supreme Dalek, he tells him that his orders come directly from the Dalek Parliament on Skaro, who have decided that the invasion of the Earth is not a priority and have postponed it. The Supreme Dalek commands a Dalek Commander to destroy Drake, ignoring the Litigator's wish for him to remain alive.

On his way to meet the Supreme Dalek, the Master encounters and kills a number of Daleks, one of whom tells him that both the Supreme and the Litigator want him.

In the bunker, Vienna and Lila take Yellow Brick back from Drake, who tells them that it belongs to the Daleks. When Drake draws his gun, Lila tells Vienna to kill him, but her conscience demands that she wait until he makes a move.

The Master destroys another Dalek and dares the Dalek Supreme to exit his saucer. The Supreme does so and tries to exterminate him, but he has a personal shield which protects him from his gunfire. The Litigator emerges and is recognised by the Master as the Dalek who sentenced him to execution.

Drake tells Lila that Vienna had all but retired before taking on the Litigator's contract on the Master and will not kill him. This prompts Lila to take a neutron gun to kill him, but Vienna just about manages to talk her down when a Dalek Commander enters and attacks Drake. Vienna kills it and prepares to hunt after the Master, but Lila says that she will be staying and that they must transport the Yellow Brick equipment to Trafalgar Plaza. Before they leave, however, Vienna says that they have to torch the clone factory.

Whilst the Dalek Supreme wants to exterminate the Master, the Litigator wants to question him, confirming that he escaped his execution as a Deathworm Morphant. The Master offers to ally himself with the Daleks, but only if they beg for his assistance. The Supreme moans in pain, which the Master says is him giving the Supreme a lesson in power.

Vienna and Lila arrive at Trafalgar Plaza with the equipment, transported on hovercarts. Lila plans to send the saucer into the Time Vortex and the Daleks and the Master along with it and wishes Vienna good luck as she enters it.

The Master destroys the Dalek Supreme, which he says puts the Litigator in charge. Believing the Master to be impossible to negotiate with and his mind to be completely deranged, the Litigator uses an emergency temporal shift to escape his torture, telling him that they will meet again. Lila enters and the Master takes her hand, destroying the remaining Daleks and planning on leaving the planet in the saucer with her to lay waste to Earth. With the equipment in position, Lila disembarks the saucer, having realised that the Master has been using her the whole time and finally decided that she is on her own side.

Lila tells Vienna to activate Yellow Brick, which drags the saucer and the Daleks into the Vortex. The Master still has Lila's hand, but she tells him that he was nothing before she helped him and gives him a push into the wormhole. Vienna reaches for Lila's hand and saves her.

On Meteor Shower, Jake Azezello reports on the departure of the Daleks, crediting it to a new weapon built by Raxle Technologies. Raxle Technologies have allied themselves with Drake Interplanetary, among others of the Dalek business cull, to protect the Earth from future attacks with a shield in the Earth's upper atmosphere.

Vienna visits Lila, who hands her pieces of Daleks as souvenirs. Now in control of Drake Interplanetary, Lila offers her a short-range shuttle to take her to her orbiting ship, a flight which will be expensive but, she says, worth it. She thanks Vienna for giving her a future and worries about whether or not the Master will return. Capable of doing so much for Earth, she does not plan on accepting Raxle's offer of a buyout and promises Vienna that she will do her best to try not to destroy the world.

Cast

Worldbuilding

Individuals

Jake Azezello is a newsreader for Meteor Shower.
Raxle survives the Dalek business cull by running and hiding.

Locations

The Daleks congregate at Trafalgar Plaza.

Science and technology

Magnus Drake used warp fields and time corridors.
The Master has a personal shield.

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)
Lila remembers looking away when the Master killed Drake. (AUDIO: Faustian)
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