Cobalt Blue

Cobalt Blue was a dangerous substance used by the Sontarans as the basis of much of their weaponry.

Nature

Cobalt Blue, despite the name, had no atomic or chemical kinship to cobalt, and defied conventional analysis by 20th century human scientists even after they learned how to synthesise it. Most bafflingly, it sometimes remained inert without a reagent, and other times exploded unexpectedly on its own terms.

In addition to use as an explosive, Cobalt Blue could also be used to fuel a small fusion reaction to power a pulse rifle. (AUDIO: Old Soldiers ^[+]Loading...["Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)"])

History

After being pressed by Winston Churchill to contribute technology that could help the Allies win the Second World War, the captive Sontaran Commander Brak worked with a team of scientists at a top-security air base and succeeded in synthesising Cobalt Blue on Earth; Cobalt Blue-based bombs went on to be employed at the bombing of Dresden. However, Brak had deliberately given the humans insufficient information on how to control the substance, hoping that, in the long run, the chaos it would cause would drive humanity to become more violent and militaristic until they became a foe worthy of the Sontaran Empire.

Indeed, starting in the 1960s and leading up to 2000, more and more nations and terrorist groups got their hands on the formula to Cobalt Blue, creating a variety of weapons utilising it; it remained poorly understood, leading to numerous accidents, including one in Prague involving a device that contained only "Cobalt Blue, putty and string". The United Nations formed a covert Weapons Crisis Committee in Geneva to investigate, with UNIT Captain Alice Wells being assigned to investigate the Brak connection. After lengthy interviews with him, she managed to get him to admit that he had introduced Cobalt Blue to Earth, and to agree to testify before the Committee on how to better control it. However, before he could do so, he was ambushed by a Sontaran envoy sent to track down the deserter. (AUDIO: Old Soldiers ^[+]Loading...["Old Soldiers (BBV audio story)"])