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Number Ten (short story)

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Number Ten, also called Aftermath of Number Ten and prefixed as Operations Board: Number Ten on the story's page, was the tenth short story and fourteenth release published exclusively on the U.N.I.T. website on 23 April 2005[nb 1] by the BBC webteam to coincide with the broadcast of World War Three. Number Ten was the third release in the Operations Board series of in-universe chat logs between UNIT personnel.

This short story was set concurrently with another, Number Ten Pays Tribute to UNIT.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

In an operations board, Major Jenny Maguire mournfully announces the deaths of Major Frost and her Geneva EVA team, and informs them that she has spoken to the UK based families, with Geneva dealing with the others, and that a statement and tribute will be issued soon. A. Frederick (now a captain) responds, saying that they[nb 2] were knew what they were doing.

Maguire is flummoxed by the recent events, as Number 10 has been destroyed, the UK's defence system is completely compromised, UNIT's computer security has been "ripped open", the world's nuclear deterrent is offline, Europe's top counter-alien squads have been assassinated, and the PM is someone she has never heard of.

Out of habit, Frederick tells Maguire that the acting PM wants to brief Maguire at No10, before correcting herself, telling Maguire to go to the acting office in Westminster. The PM wants to brief her on what happened to Frost's team and the Doctor's involvement. Maguire remarks that the PM is going through that "starry-eyed phase", and states that she'll travel there as soon as she sees the coffins of the deceased off the air strip.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Referenced only[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The acting PM has, according to Maguire, the same hairstyle as her mother.
  • The acting PM is impressed that Maguire has met the Doctor, though Maguire evidently thinks little of him.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Up until this point, Annie Frederick had always been a Staff Sergeant. Becuase she is now a Captain in this story, it implies she was promoted shortly after the London UFO crash; however, from this point onwards, stories depict her as just a Sergeant, implying a demotion.
  • The previous two stories in the Operations Board series featured times and dates for the messages and the operations board, respectively, however this story doesn't follow suit, perhaps due to the BBC webteam not wanting to keep using the dates established in earlier stories due to their overall contradictory nature.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. As this was released alongside World War Three, it is likely it was released on 23 April.
  2. It is unclear if Frederick is referencing the Slitheen or sarcastically referencing Frost and her team.
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