Hacked (comic story)

When Ninth Doctor, Rose and Jack arrive at the Eye of Orion, the most tranquil place in the universe, they notice the planet being changed right in front of their eyes, with ziggurats and hanging gardens appearing out of thin air. The Doctor finds the source of the changes using his sonic screwdriver, but his probe is detected and the trio is transmatted to a ship orbiting the planet.

Jack uses the local newsnet to identify their captor as Taggani, a criminal sought in nine systems. The Doctor has heard of him. He is the most famous geohacker in history, whose "art" caused a genocide on Campra. The Doctor also recognises the helmet completely obscuring Taggani's face as an Aesirian world-shaper, which explains his unmatched geohacking record.

Expressing his surprise that not all such world-shapers have been destroyed along with the Aesirians, the Doctor lets slip that he's a Time Lord. Taggani immediately probes into his mind and realises that this is the Doctor, the Time Lord who offered his mind for sale on Fluren's World. Jack threatens Taggani with a gun, which is waved away into non-existence by the world-shaper.

Meanwhile, the Doctor uses the link between their minds to reverse the roles. By reading Taggani's mind, he discovers his real identity and that he stole the world-shaper helmet from the Braxiatel Collection after being fired from there. The Doctor proceeds to write "Taggani is Brian Carrios! Come and get him!" on the surface of the Eye of Orion in gigantic letters, switches off the helmet except for transmat and transports himself and his two companions back to the planet surface.

As they contemplate Jack's face still looming over them from the side of one of the moons, where Taggani drew it earlier, the Shadow Proclamation ships full of Judoon surround Taggani's ship.

Characters

Worldbuilding

Taggani geohacks the Eye of Orion by conjuring up a giant ziggurat and recreating the long destroyed Hanging Gardens of Slarvia.
Slarvian vines are maroon.
The Doctor detects a ship in the Eye of Orion's orbit using his sonic screwdriver.
Taggani transports the Doctor, Rose and Jack to his ship using transmat beams.
The Doctor believed the Aesirians were all destroyed millennia ago, during a war involving every cosmic superpower, including the Daemons, Osirons, Euterpians and the Time Lords. In a flashback to this war, Sutekh can be seen.
The Doctor calls upon the Shadow Proclamation to deal with Taggani, with Judoon ships arriving.
Taggani worked at the Braxiatel Collection.

Notes

A Bok-like gargoyle

The Doctor feels the Eye of Orion looks a lot like Wales. The sequences in The Five Doctors featuring the Eye were shot in Plas Brondanw, in North Wales.
In the flashback to the cosmic conflict, two animated gargoyles that resemble Bok are present.

Original print details

to be added

Continuity

The Doctor describes the Eye of Orion as "the most tranquil place in the universe". (TV: The Five Doctors)
The Doctor says he is not a fan of stories where everybody dies. (TV: The Doctor Dances)
Taggani remembers the Doctor putting his mind up for sale on Fluren's World. (COMIC: Weapons of Past Destruction)
Jack wonders if there is another weapon from the Time War present. (COMIC: Weapons of Past Destruction)
The Doctor dealt with another Worldshaper before. (COMIC: The World Shapers)