The Dogs of War (LS short story)

The Dogs of War
Main character(s):	Lethbridge-Stewart
Featuring:	Gilmore, Travers
Main enemy:	Robot Yeti, Leslie Johnston
Main setting:	May 1969
Key crew
Publishers:	Candy Jar Books
Editor:	Andy Frankham-Allen, Shaun Russell, Hayley Cox
Writer:	Andy Frankham-Allen
Cover by:	Will Brooks
Designer:	Simon Williams
Release details
Release date:	17 November 2015
Reprinted in:	The HAVOC Files
Format:	E-book
Lethbridge-Stewart short stories
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You may be looking for the Short Trips story of the same name.

The Dogs of War was a short story released by Candy Jar Books in 2015.

Publisher's summary

The London Event was only the beginning, or so Colonel Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart believed. Until he was ordered to meet with Air Vice-Marshal Ian Gilmore. It began in 1963 – for Gilmore, at least. But the alien codenamed Cosmic Hobo visited Earth a lot earlier than that.

It's not only Lethbridge-Stewart who wishes to learn the truth of these visits. He is being watched, and soon Lethbridge-Stewart and Gilmore find themselves in the deserted tunnels of the London Underground chased by a familiar furry form...

Summary

to be added

Characters

• Colonel Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
• Air Vice-Marshal Ian Gilmore
• Leslie Johnston
• Reynolds
• Professor Edward Travers

Worldbuilding

• Gilmore says he doesn't think science is the lead needed in alien defence, something Lethbridge-Stewart is sympathetic to; this is a twist on how the Brigadier will in later years, having worked with the Doctor, tell Kate Stewart that "science leads".
• Army files assume that the Second Cosmic Hobo and Seventh Cosmic Hobo are the same person ("Cosmic Hobo"), based on their descriptions, and (now they know he's a time traveller) that the First Cosmic Hobo may be an older version of the same man. It's also believed other versions are other agents using the same alias.
• This story is set three days after the events of PROSE: Beast of Fang Rock.
• Lethbridge-Stewart is naively surprised that Piccadilly could have so many distinguished establisment clubs and also so much vice trade.
• While Gilmore and Hamilton believe the UK should be sorted out first, Lethbridge-Stewart still believes a global effort is needed to fight aliens.
• Department C19 is given as an example of powerful, dangerous figures who have a vested interest in aliens remaining secret: hence Hamilton treading carefully.
• Various clandestine agencies have secret research bases under London, similar to the Citadel nuclear bunkers. Lethbridge-Stewart realises that Hamilton is being cautious about creating a counter-alien force because there are powerful men with a vested interest in keeping it secret and under their control.
• Leslie Johnston says the Vault is working on wireless transmission and enthuses about the possibilities of a global wireless computer network.

Notes

• References are made to the then-recent Counter-Measures audio dramas, with Lethbridge-Stewart hearing Counter-Measures was destroyed in 1966: the ending of Clean Sweep. This led to a continuity error as the subsequent Who Killed Toby Kinsella reveals Gilmore is presumed dead and hiding under a fake identity until 1973. (The Enfolded Time would later establish that this story simultaneously happened in 1969 and 1975, which could handwave it) Similarly, he's married to Jensen here but this had yet to happen by The New Counter-Measures.
• Candy Jar Books received permission to use Ian Gilmore for the story from his creator Ben Aaronovitch, the writer of TV: Remembrance of the Daleks.
• Gilmore refered to the Seventh Doctor as a "Cosmic Hobo." This description is often associated with the Second Doctor.

Continuity

• The meeting between Lethbridge-Stewart and Gilmore was first mentioned in PROSE: Downtime and expanded upon in PROSE: The Scales of Injustice.
• The Colonel mentions how he was talked out of going to the United Nations in The Forgotten Son.
• The mention of the Home-Army Operational Corps in PROSE: One Cold Step is fleshed out.
• Gilmore mentions that his first encounter with aliens occurred in Shoreditch in 1963. "Cosmic Hobo" helped defeat the aliens at this time. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
• Gilmore refers to the Vault and the Forge as examples of shadowy groups trying to squirrel away technology without telling the government. The Vault is currently the main problem. Reference is made to "the General", the shadowy boss first mentioned in PROSE: The Schizoid Earth.
• Leslie Johnston, the Brigadier's old Sandhurst friend, was first mentioned in The Forgotten Son.
• The Royal Air Force use 76 Totter's Lane as a field base. (TV: An Unearthly Child, Remembrance of the Daleks)

External links

to be added