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fardell24Chapter 1: Invasion at the Azores - Part IV - Enter UNIT
“Of course I will, Doctor, there is no point in remaining in it!” Kellira said. She turned to the guards who were waiting for her near the door. “Guards; March! Leave this Time Lord Timeship,” she ordered.
The guards stood up.
A guard opened the door and the Drahvin guards left the TARDIS. Kellira left the TARDIS after them.
“What happens now?” Sigrun asks.
“Now, we see if UNIT is responding to the message that the TARDIS sent before it appeared in the Drahvin ship,” the Doctor said. She changed the scanner focus from the Drahvin plan file to a view of the Earth. “Very good, an entire fleet of Valiant-Class ships are on their way here,” she said.
“You mean the earliest version of flying ships?” Jia'hale asked.
“Yes,” the Doctor said.
“So, we wait for UNIT to show up? Or do we do something?” Sabir asked.
“At the moment the Drahvin forces on the ground should be in disarray following the destruction of the flagship, we will have to make sure it stays that way,” the Doctor said.
In the meantime, Kellira was not idle, she was giving orders to her soldiers over a radio she had on her person – the Drahvins were not as in disarray as the Doctor thought.
“Converge on the site of the explosion, arrest the Doctor! Don't let him take off in his Timeship!”
The Drahvin soldiers acknowledged the order from the commanding officer and started moving. They immediately began to surround smouldering park, where the TARDIS was standing.
The Doctor and her companions had not been idle either. They stood around the TARDIS surveying the scene; hence they could see the Drahvin soldiers approaching...
“What do we do Doctor?” Sabir asked.
“We go to the UNIT force, they may need my help,” the Doctor said.
“Sounds like a good idea, those soldiers look like they may be firing their guns soon,” Sigrun said.
“In disarray? I wouldn't like to see them when they are not!” Jia'hale said.
“Not so much as I thought then, quick! Into the TARDIS!” the Doctor said. she and her companions bolted into the TARDIS, she closed the doors with a click of her fingers as she passed through them. And just in time too, as a Drahvin energy bolt slammed into one of them as they closed.
“You were not fast enough,” Kellira said.
“My apologies, Mistress,” the soldier in charge said.
“You will be punished! But first, the Doctor will be captured; no doubt she is planning something. He might have sent a message to the United Intelligence Taskforce, it cannot be a coincidence that a fleet of theirs is approaching,” Kellira said.
“Are we going to the UNIT fleet?” Felicia asked.
“We are going now,” the Doctor said. She set the TARDIS in motion.
“No, it is too late” Kellira said, as the TARDIS dematerialised.
“What happens now Mistress?” the soldier asked.
“We prepare for the arrival of UNIT,” Kellira said.
UNIT Ship Valiant II
The TARDIS materialised on the Bridge, the soldiers there jumping to attention as it materialised.
The Doctor stepped out.
“Doctor, we started mobilising as soon as we saw the emergency signal,” the captain of the Valiant II said.
“Status of the Azorean situation and the Drahvin forces following the explosion, Captain...?” the Doctor asked.
“Captain Roberta Anderson. The explosion of the Drahvin ship had an EMP effect that has affected everything in the Azores. We are not reading anything. Sensors are showing another Drahvin fleet in geosynchronous orbit over the mouth of the Amazon,” the captain said.
“How large is it?” the Doctor asked. She hoped that it would not be so large that UNIT would not be able to handle it.
“There are over twenty ships,” Captain Anderson said. The companions then began to leave the TARDIS.
“So this is what a UNIT ship looks like? Very functional and yet still aesthetically pleasing. Exactly what flying aircraft carriers should look like,” Sabir said. He had been waiting for an opportunity like this since he first started traveling with the Doctor.
“These are your companions Doctor?” Captain Anderson asked, her voice showing concern.
“Yes. I can vouch for all of them. They are either from Earth, or their ancestors come from Earth,” the Doctor said.
“The Drahvins need to be driven away from Earth,” Jia'hale said, with vehemence.
“Of course they do. But it needs to be done without too much collateral damage,” Captain Anderson said.
“Good that we agree on that,” the Doctor said. Felicia looked at a display of the Azores as the image was refreshed.
“Doctor, Captain, the sensors seem to be working,” she said, as she noticed a lot of blips.
“The Drahvins seem to have survived the destruction of their ship quite well, Doctor,” Captain Anderson said. “They seemed to have prepared for the possibility of the Doctor interfering.”
“They have,” the Doctor said. She turned to Sabir. “Would you go into the TARDIS and transmit the plan file to the Valiant II?” she asked.
“Yes, I will,” Sabrina said. He went back into the TARDIS.
“Plan file?” Captain Anderson asked, wondering why the Doctor didn’t fill her in about it as soon as he exited the TARDIS.
“The Drahvin in charge of the invasion had a file containing her plan for the invasion of the Azores in the computer of the ship that exploded,” the Doctor said, being careful not to say anything about the reason for the explosion.
Sabrina accessed the plan file with ease and transmitted a copy of it to the Valiant II. ‘I hope that this situation does not get too out of hand,’ she thought as she turned around and headed back to the exterior door.
“We are receiving a transmission from the TARDIS now, ma’am. A plain text file,” the Valiant II’s communications officer, Kevin Geraldton, said.
“Save it, and bring it up on the secure viewer,” the captain said. She didn’t want the plan to be known to all of the crew, which would be the case if it wasn’t stored in a secure location.
“Done, Captain. The file is ready for us to see,” Geraldton said, after a few moments spent copying the file to said viewer.
Sabir exited the TARDIS and joined the Doctor, the Captain, Felicia and Daniel at the secure viewer.
“The TARDIS has translated the file from the original Drahvin into English. There may be grammatical errors here and there,” the Doctor said. She knew that such errors were few, compared to the length of the document.
“That is noted, Doctor,” the Captain said, after a moment. Grammatical errors were the least of their problems.
They started going over the file. Very quickly they had found very interesting information to use against the Drahvins.
Back in Ponta Delaga, Kellira was not idle. She knew that the Doctor had got a hold of the plan and was now talking to the captains of the ships in orbit about changes to it.
Ten minutes later the Drahvin fleet in orbit began to move, firing their retrorockets and then moving out of the equatorial plane...
“Captain! The Drahvin fleet has changed its orbit, it is now on a path to the Azores,” the Valiant II's Tactical Officer, Theodore Franks, said.
“How soon until they enter the atmosphere?” the Captain asked, hoping that they had time to prepare for their arrival.
'“Ten minutes,” Franks said.
“Kellira is changing the plan!” Sabir said. It was not entirely unexpected, but Sabir still was annoyed at the fact.
“That she is,” the Doctor said.
“Maybe she isn’t changing all of it, we can still review the rest of the plan,” Felicia said.
“That is true. But we need to be ready for the arrival for the fleet,” Captain Anderson said. To Sabrina, she seemed rather anxious.
‘Of course, so would I if I were in her place.’
“I know that,” Felicia said. Captain Anderson walked over to Geraldton, ready to give him the next order.
“Contact the Defender and the Hornblower. Tell them to prepare the plasma cannons, we may need them,” she said.
“Yes, Captain,” Geraldton said. He relayed the Captain’s orders to those two ships.
The Doctor looked at the sensor display. It appeared that the new Drahvin fleet was getting ready to land near Ponta Delaga. Maybe the UNIT ships could attempt to block it from landing? Of course the Drahvins would probably just attempt to land elsewhere, but it had to irk Kellira and it would also disrupt her new plan. The Captain was coming back. She shared her plan with her.
“It is worth a shot, but it is incredibly risky,” she said.
“We have to do something about the fleet,” Felicia said.
“Absolutely, Elisa,” the Doctor said. Captain Anderson was then in thought.
“It is a good idea, but it not a good idea to use the whole fleet. We can use two thirds for your strategy, and the rest as a reserve,” the Captain said.
“Good idea,” the Doctor said. He then listened to the rest of the Captain’s plan, hoping that it would succeed.
“The fleet is approaching, Mistress,” Drahvin Soldier 4W32.iii said.
“Excellent,” Kellira said. She was sure that they would be successful in establishing their base in the Azores before the day was out.
The UNIT fleet moved in towards the city of Ponta Delaga. But the Drahvin fleet was passing through the upper levels of the troposphere as they took up their positions over the city. The Battle of Ponta Delaga was about to begin.
The Doctor, her companions and Captain Anderson were looking at the tactical display on the secure viewer. “It looks like the Drahvins are surrounding us on all sides, including upwards,” Jia’hale said.
“It does look like that, but we are prepared. All we can do is hope for the best,” Captain Anderson said.
“The UNIT fleet has been surrounded, Mistress,” 4W32.iii said. Kellira looked at the display and noted that their forces had indeed surrounded the UNIT ships, boxing them in.
“Open a channel to the lead ship!” she said.
“Yes, Mistress,” another of the soldiers, 4W31.iii.iip, said.
“We are receiving a signal from the Drahvins,” Geraldton said.
‘That’s unexpected,’ Sigrun thought.
“On the screen, please,” Captain Anderson said. Kellira appeared on the screen.
“This is Kellira, High Admiral and Commander in Chief of the Drahvin forces in this system to the commander of the United Intelligence Taskforce fleet and the Time Lady known as the Doctor. I ask that you surrender, or your ships will be fired upon and destroyed.”
“Doesn’t mince words at all does she?” Sigrun asked, rhetorically. ‘She is quite consistent,’ she thought.
“This is Roberta Anderson, Captain of the UNIT ship Valiant II and overall commander of this fleet. We refuse to surrender to those who invade our planet for any purpose.” The tone of her voice showed her resolve to defend Earth at all costs.
“Then prepare to die!” Kellira said, her voice showing the full intent of her threat...
“You know that I won’t surrender ‘Ira. But I ask you, this one time, to leave Earth!” the Doctor said.
“I will not leave Earth until my purpose is realised, Doctor,” Kellira said, and she cut the signal.
“Whatever her purpose here is, she wants to carry it through,” Felicia said. Sigrun knew Felicia well enough to know that she had been hoping that the situation could be resolved peacefully.
‘Unfortunately, Felicia, that is not the case,’ she thought.
“Yes, that, and if she abandons her plan without a fight the Matriarchy will declare her an outcast. She would then have a price on her head,” the Doctor said. Sigrun knew what the Doctor meant...
‘There is absolutely no chance that she will give up,’ she thought.
Kellira sat back in her chair with a huff.
“Tell the ships to open fire. Destroy all of the ships except the Valiant II. Capture the Valiant II and the TARDIS which should be aboard,” she said. She wanted the TARDIS, but she wouldn’t have been able to capture it earlier, what with those two rather competent companions...
The Drahvin ships opened fire on the UNIT ships with energy weapons. Two ships, the Manchester and the Yamato, were destroyed almost instantly. The rest of the ships, including the Valiant II were engaged in evasive manoeuvres.
The UNIT ships then returned fire, with lasers and plasma guns, which struck the shields of the Drahvin ships, weakening them. Then missiles were fired, most of which penetrated the shields and detonated on contact with the hulls of the ships. One Drahvin ship was destroyed, when several missiles impacted its engineering decks, one after the other. Each penetrated deeper, until the final missile damaged the containment mechanisms of one if its fusion reactors...
Kellira saw one of the sensor blips indicating one of her ships blip out. “A ship has been destroyed! Launch fighters!” she commanded.
“Message acknowledged, Mistress,” 4W32.iii said.
Most of the Drahvin vessels launched swarms of fighters. They moved in on the UNIT ships and opened fire...
“There are too many of them, Captain. The Brisbane has sustained hits to its lift pods and is beginning to fall,” Franks said.
“Do you think, Kellira, that we would not be prepared for this?” Captain Anderson asked.
“Begin flight operations!” She said.
“Begin Flight Ops, Begin Flight Ops, Begin Flight Ops,” Geraldton said.
“Affirmative,” came the reply from most of the ships.
From the UNIT ships, many fighter jets began taking off. They were mostly Harrier-based jumpjets, but there were many of the more traditional variety also. Helicopter gunships also took off. Almost immediately they began to take on the Drahvin fighters.
At the bottom of the battlefield, the Brisbane was having difficulty remaining aloft.
On the Brisbane's bridge, the crew were running about, amid sparking consoles. "It is no good, Captain. The antigravity stators in the aft and starboard pods are damaged beyond repair, and the last strike severed the primary and secondary power lines to the fore pods. Also the cooling systems for reactors 2 and 3 are damaged. I estimate that we have 5 minutes to evacuate the ship!" the chief engineer said.
"Thanks, Commander," the captain said. 'No doubt about it then,' he thought. He looked at the Drahvin ships on the viewscreen. 'You may have had bested my ship, but you won't defeat UNIT,' he thought. "Prepare to abandon ship!" he said to the bridge crew.
The bridge crew began to prepare to abandon the ship.
The Brisbane began to withdraw from the battlefield, pulling away from the city. Soon, another explosion shook the ship.
"It's done for, Captain. The power to the fore pods is about to give out. And the aft pods have failed! We have to abandon ship!"
The captain hesitated for a second before giving the order that every captain hated to give. "All hands, Abandon ship! Repeat, All Hands, Abandon Ship!"
Escape pods started leaving the ailing Brisbane as more explosions occurred and the ship started dropping.
The engines finally gave out, resulting in the ship plummetting 300 metres into the ocean. The resulting wave swamped most of Ponta Delaga's waterfront. The battered remains sunk to the bottom.
As this was happening many of the fighter jets and Drahvin fighters were engaged in dogfights.
“We have lost the Brisbane, Captain,” Franks said.
“Call in the Defender and the Hornblower!” the Captain said.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Geraldton said.
“That is a lot of destruction,” Sabir said, as he looked at the statistics on the display. ‘UNIT will take a while to recover from this…’
“I agree with you, Sab, but there appears to be no other option at the moment,” the Doctor said.
The Defender and the Hornblower approached the battlefield and opened fire with their plasma cannons, blasting three smaller Drahvin ships out of the sky, one after the other...
Other Drahvin ships noticed this and began to move towards the newcomer ships.
Kellira took notice of this and watched another ship fall out of the sky into the ocean near the remains of the Brisbane. She opened a channel to her other ships. “Evasive manoeuvres, and launch torpedoes at all ships except the Valiant II, but especially at those two newcomers,” she ordered.
The Drahvin fleet took notice of their commander’s orders and began firing torpedoes.
Many of the fighters, missiles and the plasma weaponry of the Defender and the Hornblower took out missiles, but some still found their targets. Three more UNIT ships were destroyed, with debris raining down near the outskirts of Ponta Delaga.
Captain Anderson could see that the UNIT fleet was beginning to loose against the Drahvins. “Call in the rest of the fleet!” she said.
“Affirmative,” Geraldton said. He signaled the reserve portion of the fleet. “All reserve ships move in. I repeat, move in.”
The Drahvin vessels continued to hammer away at the UNIT fleet as the ships held in reserve moved in.
The reserve ships fired missiles and plasma guns, and launched their own fighter jets and helicopter gunships.
These engaged the Drahvin fighters, trying to keep them away from the ships. Immediately dogfights had broken out and fighters from both sides were falling into the ocean and the outskirts of the city below.
For another ten minutes the forces were equally matched, with equal numbers of Drahvin fighters and UNIT fighters being destroyed. The Drahvins lost two ships to UNIT’s three. Then the lead ship destroyed the Hornblower with a concentrated barrage.
A swarm of Drahvin fighters then zerg-rushed the Defender, knocking its plasma cannon off-line and damaging its lift pods.
A fighter then kamakazied into its flight deck. The resulting explosion crippled the ship, causing it to fall into the sea almost on top of the Brisbane remains, and damaging several surrounding ships. Those ships were then listing, as their engines began to lose power...
“We are losing, Doctor,” Felicia said, looking at the tactical display.
“I am afraid so,” the Doctor said.
Jia’hale looked at the Doctor. It wasn’t often that she made such an admission. “Is there anything else we can do?” she asked.
The look on the Doctor’s face said it all.
“We are receiving a transmission,” Geraldton said.
“From the Drahvins?” Captain Anderson asked.
“No, it is coming from somewhere to the North-East,” Geraldton said.
“On screen,” Anderson said.
Geraldton patched the signal through. A logo of a T made of small circles appeared before changing to another screen. A face familiar to the Doctor appeared.
“This is Jack Harkness aboard the Torchwood Institute Vessel Ianto Jones. I see that you are in a spot of bother.”
“Of course I will, Doctor, there is no point in remaining in it!” Kellira said. She turned to the guards who were waiting for her near the door. “Guards; March! Leave this Time Lord Timeship,” she ordered.
The guards stood up.
A guard opened the door and the Drahvin guards left the TARDIS. Kellira left the TARDIS after them.
“What happens now?” Sigrun asks.
“Now, we see if UNIT is responding to the message that the TARDIS sent before it appeared in the Drahvin ship,” the Doctor said. She changed the scanner focus from the Drahvin plan file to a view of the Earth. “Very good, an entire fleet of Valiant-Class ships are on their way here,” she said.
“You mean the earliest version of flying ships?” Jia'hale asked.
“Yes,” the Doctor said.
“So, we wait for UNIT to show up? Or do we do something?” Sabir asked.
“At the moment the Drahvin forces on the ground should be in disarray following the destruction of the flagship, we will have to make sure it stays that way,” the Doctor said.
In the meantime, Kellira was not idle, she was giving orders to her soldiers over a radio she had on her person – the Drahvins were not as in disarray as the Doctor thought.
“Converge on the site of the explosion, arrest the Doctor! Don't let him take off in his Timeship!”
The Drahvin soldiers acknowledged the order from the commanding officer and started moving. They immediately began to surround smouldering park, where the TARDIS was standing.
The Doctor and her companions had not been idle either. They stood around the TARDIS surveying the scene; hence they could see the Drahvin soldiers approaching...
“What do we do Doctor?” Sabir asked.
“We go to the UNIT force, they may need my help,” the Doctor said.
“Sounds like a good idea, those soldiers look like they may be firing their guns soon,” Sigrun said.
“In disarray? I wouldn't like to see them when they are not!” Jia'hale said.
“Not so much as I thought then, quick! Into the TARDIS!” the Doctor said. she and her companions bolted into the TARDIS, she closed the doors with a click of her fingers as she passed through them. And just in time too, as a Drahvin energy bolt slammed into one of them as they closed.
“You were not fast enough,” Kellira said.
“My apologies, Mistress,” the soldier in charge said.
“You will be punished! But first, the Doctor will be captured; no doubt she is planning something. He might have sent a message to the United Intelligence Taskforce, it cannot be a coincidence that a fleet of theirs is approaching,” Kellira said.
“Are we going to the UNIT fleet?” Felicia asked.
“We are going now,” the Doctor said. She set the TARDIS in motion.
“No, it is too late” Kellira said, as the TARDIS dematerialised.
“What happens now Mistress?” the soldier asked.
“We prepare for the arrival of UNIT,” Kellira said.
UNIT Ship Valiant II
The TARDIS materialised on the Bridge, the soldiers there jumping to attention as it materialised.
The Doctor stepped out.
“Doctor, we started mobilising as soon as we saw the emergency signal,” the captain of the Valiant II said.
“Status of the Azorean situation and the Drahvin forces following the explosion, Captain...?” the Doctor asked.
“Captain Roberta Anderson. The explosion of the Drahvin ship had an EMP effect that has affected everything in the Azores. We are not reading anything. Sensors are showing another Drahvin fleet in geosynchronous orbit over the mouth of the Amazon,” the captain said.
“How large is it?” the Doctor asked. She hoped that it would not be so large that UNIT would not be able to handle it.
“There are over twenty ships,” Captain Anderson said. The companions then began to leave the TARDIS.
“So this is what a UNIT ship looks like? Very functional and yet still aesthetically pleasing. Exactly what flying aircraft carriers should look like,” Sabir said. He had been waiting for an opportunity like this since he first started traveling with the Doctor.
“These are your companions Doctor?” Captain Anderson asked, her voice showing concern.
“Yes. I can vouch for all of them. They are either from Earth, or their ancestors come from Earth,” the Doctor said.
“The Drahvins need to be driven away from Earth,” Jia'hale said, with vehemence.
“Of course they do. But it needs to be done without too much collateral damage,” Captain Anderson said.
“Good that we agree on that,” the Doctor said. Felicia looked at a display of the Azores as the image was refreshed.
“Doctor, Captain, the sensors seem to be working,” she said, as she noticed a lot of blips.
“The Drahvins seem to have survived the destruction of their ship quite well, Doctor,” Captain Anderson said. “They seemed to have prepared for the possibility of the Doctor interfering.”
“They have,” the Doctor said. She turned to Sabir. “Would you go into the TARDIS and transmit the plan file to the Valiant II?” she asked.
“Yes, I will,” Sabrina said. He went back into the TARDIS.
“Plan file?” Captain Anderson asked, wondering why the Doctor didn’t fill her in about it as soon as he exited the TARDIS.
“The Drahvin in charge of the invasion had a file containing her plan for the invasion of the Azores in the computer of the ship that exploded,” the Doctor said, being careful not to say anything about the reason for the explosion.
Sabrina accessed the plan file with ease and transmitted a copy of it to the Valiant II. ‘I hope that this situation does not get too out of hand,’ she thought as she turned around and headed back to the exterior door.
“We are receiving a transmission from the TARDIS now, ma’am. A plain text file,” the Valiant II’s communications officer, Kevin Geraldton, said.
“Save it, and bring it up on the secure viewer,” the captain said. She didn’t want the plan to be known to all of the crew, which would be the case if it wasn’t stored in a secure location.
“Done, Captain. The file is ready for us to see,” Geraldton said, after a few moments spent copying the file to said viewer.
Sabir exited the TARDIS and joined the Doctor, the Captain, Felicia and Daniel at the secure viewer.
“The TARDIS has translated the file from the original Drahvin into English. There may be grammatical errors here and there,” the Doctor said. She knew that such errors were few, compared to the length of the document.
“That is noted, Doctor,” the Captain said, after a moment. Grammatical errors were the least of their problems.
They started going over the file. Very quickly they had found very interesting information to use against the Drahvins.
Back in Ponta Delaga, Kellira was not idle. She knew that the Doctor had got a hold of the plan and was now talking to the captains of the ships in orbit about changes to it.
Ten minutes later the Drahvin fleet in orbit began to move, firing their retrorockets and then moving out of the equatorial plane...
“Captain! The Drahvin fleet has changed its orbit, it is now on a path to the Azores,” the Valiant II's Tactical Officer, Theodore Franks, said.
“How soon until they enter the atmosphere?” the Captain asked, hoping that they had time to prepare for their arrival.
'“Ten minutes,” Franks said.
“Kellira is changing the plan!” Sabir said. It was not entirely unexpected, but Sabir still was annoyed at the fact.
“That she is,” the Doctor said.
“Maybe she isn’t changing all of it, we can still review the rest of the plan,” Felicia said.
“That is true. But we need to be ready for the arrival for the fleet,” Captain Anderson said. To Sabrina, she seemed rather anxious.
‘Of course, so would I if I were in her place.’
“I know that,” Felicia said. Captain Anderson walked over to Geraldton, ready to give him the next order.
“Contact the Defender and the Hornblower. Tell them to prepare the plasma cannons, we may need them,” she said.
“Yes, Captain,” Geraldton said. He relayed the Captain’s orders to those two ships.
The Doctor looked at the sensor display. It appeared that the new Drahvin fleet was getting ready to land near Ponta Delaga. Maybe the UNIT ships could attempt to block it from landing? Of course the Drahvins would probably just attempt to land elsewhere, but it had to irk Kellira and it would also disrupt her new plan. The Captain was coming back. She shared her plan with her.
“It is worth a shot, but it is incredibly risky,” she said.
“We have to do something about the fleet,” Felicia said.
“Absolutely, Elisa,” the Doctor said. Captain Anderson was then in thought.
“It is a good idea, but it not a good idea to use the whole fleet. We can use two thirds for your strategy, and the rest as a reserve,” the Captain said.
“Good idea,” the Doctor said. He then listened to the rest of the Captain’s plan, hoping that it would succeed.
“The fleet is approaching, Mistress,” Drahvin Soldier 4W32.iii said.
“Excellent,” Kellira said. She was sure that they would be successful in establishing their base in the Azores before the day was out.
The UNIT fleet moved in towards the city of Ponta Delaga. But the Drahvin fleet was passing through the upper levels of the troposphere as they took up their positions over the city. The Battle of Ponta Delaga was about to begin.
The Doctor, her companions and Captain Anderson were looking at the tactical display on the secure viewer. “It looks like the Drahvins are surrounding us on all sides, including upwards,” Jia’hale said.
“It does look like that, but we are prepared. All we can do is hope for the best,” Captain Anderson said.
“The UNIT fleet has been surrounded, Mistress,” 4W32.iii said. Kellira looked at the display and noted that their forces had indeed surrounded the UNIT ships, boxing them in.
“Open a channel to the lead ship!” she said.
“Yes, Mistress,” another of the soldiers, 4W31.iii.iip, said.
“We are receiving a signal from the Drahvins,” Geraldton said.
‘That’s unexpected,’ Sigrun thought.
“On the screen, please,” Captain Anderson said. Kellira appeared on the screen.
“This is Kellira, High Admiral and Commander in Chief of the Drahvin forces in this system to the commander of the United Intelligence Taskforce fleet and the Time Lady known as the Doctor. I ask that you surrender, or your ships will be fired upon and destroyed.”
“Doesn’t mince words at all does she?” Sigrun asked, rhetorically. ‘She is quite consistent,’ she thought.
“This is Roberta Anderson, Captain of the UNIT ship Valiant II and overall commander of this fleet. We refuse to surrender to those who invade our planet for any purpose.” The tone of her voice showed her resolve to defend Earth at all costs.
“Then prepare to die!” Kellira said, her voice showing the full intent of her threat...
“You know that I won’t surrender ‘Ira. But I ask you, this one time, to leave Earth!” the Doctor said.
“I will not leave Earth until my purpose is realised, Doctor,” Kellira said, and she cut the signal.
“Whatever her purpose here is, she wants to carry it through,” Felicia said. Sigrun knew Felicia well enough to know that she had been hoping that the situation could be resolved peacefully.
‘Unfortunately, Felicia, that is not the case,’ she thought.
“Yes, that, and if she abandons her plan without a fight the Matriarchy will declare her an outcast. She would then have a price on her head,” the Doctor said. Sigrun knew what the Doctor meant...
‘There is absolutely no chance that she will give up,’ she thought.
Kellira sat back in her chair with a huff.
“Tell the ships to open fire. Destroy all of the ships except the Valiant II. Capture the Valiant II and the TARDIS which should be aboard,” she said. She wanted the TARDIS, but she wouldn’t have been able to capture it earlier, what with those two rather competent companions...
The Drahvin ships opened fire on the UNIT ships with energy weapons. Two ships, the Manchester and the Yamato, were destroyed almost instantly. The rest of the ships, including the Valiant II were engaged in evasive manoeuvres.
The UNIT ships then returned fire, with lasers and plasma guns, which struck the shields of the Drahvin ships, weakening them. Then missiles were fired, most of which penetrated the shields and detonated on contact with the hulls of the ships. One Drahvin ship was destroyed, when several missiles impacted its engineering decks, one after the other. Each penetrated deeper, until the final missile damaged the containment mechanisms of one if its fusion reactors...
Kellira saw one of the sensor blips indicating one of her ships blip out. “A ship has been destroyed! Launch fighters!” she commanded.
“Message acknowledged, Mistress,” 4W32.iii said.
Most of the Drahvin vessels launched swarms of fighters. They moved in on the UNIT ships and opened fire...
“There are too many of them, Captain. The Brisbane has sustained hits to its lift pods and is beginning to fall,” Franks said.
“Do you think, Kellira, that we would not be prepared for this?” Captain Anderson asked.
“Begin flight operations!” She said.
“Begin Flight Ops, Begin Flight Ops, Begin Flight Ops,” Geraldton said.
“Affirmative,” came the reply from most of the ships.
From the UNIT ships, many fighter jets began taking off. They were mostly Harrier-based jumpjets, but there were many of the more traditional variety also. Helicopter gunships also took off. Almost immediately they began to take on the Drahvin fighters.
At the bottom of the battlefield, the Brisbane was having difficulty remaining aloft.
On the Brisbane's bridge, the crew were running about, amid sparking consoles. "It is no good, Captain. The antigravity stators in the aft and starboard pods are damaged beyond repair, and the last strike severed the primary and secondary power lines to the fore pods. Also the cooling systems for reactors 2 and 3 are damaged. I estimate that we have 5 minutes to evacuate the ship!" the chief engineer said.
"Thanks, Commander," the captain said. 'No doubt about it then,' he thought. He looked at the Drahvin ships on the viewscreen. 'You may have had bested my ship, but you won't defeat UNIT,' he thought. "Prepare to abandon ship!" he said to the bridge crew.
The bridge crew began to prepare to abandon the ship.
The Brisbane began to withdraw from the battlefield, pulling away from the city. Soon, another explosion shook the ship.
"It's done for, Captain. The power to the fore pods is about to give out. And the aft pods have failed! We have to abandon ship!"
The captain hesitated for a second before giving the order that every captain hated to give. "All hands, Abandon ship! Repeat, All Hands, Abandon Ship!"
Escape pods started leaving the ailing Brisbane as more explosions occurred and the ship started dropping.
The engines finally gave out, resulting in the ship plummetting 300 metres into the ocean. The resulting wave swamped most of Ponta Delaga's waterfront. The battered remains sunk to the bottom.
As this was happening many of the fighter jets and Drahvin fighters were engaged in dogfights.
“We have lost the Brisbane, Captain,” Franks said.
“Call in the Defender and the Hornblower!” the Captain said.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Geraldton said.
“That is a lot of destruction,” Sabir said, as he looked at the statistics on the display. ‘UNIT will take a while to recover from this…’
“I agree with you, Sab, but there appears to be no other option at the moment,” the Doctor said.
The Defender and the Hornblower approached the battlefield and opened fire with their plasma cannons, blasting three smaller Drahvin ships out of the sky, one after the other...
Other Drahvin ships noticed this and began to move towards the newcomer ships.
Kellira took notice of this and watched another ship fall out of the sky into the ocean near the remains of the Brisbane. She opened a channel to her other ships. “Evasive manoeuvres, and launch torpedoes at all ships except the Valiant II, but especially at those two newcomers,” she ordered.
The Drahvin fleet took notice of their commander’s orders and began firing torpedoes.
Many of the fighters, missiles and the plasma weaponry of the Defender and the Hornblower took out missiles, but some still found their targets. Three more UNIT ships were destroyed, with debris raining down near the outskirts of Ponta Delaga.
Captain Anderson could see that the UNIT fleet was beginning to loose against the Drahvins. “Call in the rest of the fleet!” she said.
“Affirmative,” Geraldton said. He signaled the reserve portion of the fleet. “All reserve ships move in. I repeat, move in.”
The Drahvin vessels continued to hammer away at the UNIT fleet as the ships held in reserve moved in.
The reserve ships fired missiles and plasma guns, and launched their own fighter jets and helicopter gunships.
These engaged the Drahvin fighters, trying to keep them away from the ships. Immediately dogfights had broken out and fighters from both sides were falling into the ocean and the outskirts of the city below.
For another ten minutes the forces were equally matched, with equal numbers of Drahvin fighters and UNIT fighters being destroyed. The Drahvins lost two ships to UNIT’s three. Then the lead ship destroyed the Hornblower with a concentrated barrage.
A swarm of Drahvin fighters then zerg-rushed the Defender, knocking its plasma cannon off-line and damaging its lift pods.
A fighter then kamakazied into its flight deck. The resulting explosion crippled the ship, causing it to fall into the sea almost on top of the Brisbane remains, and damaging several surrounding ships. Those ships were then listing, as their engines began to lose power...
“We are losing, Doctor,” Felicia said, looking at the tactical display.
“I am afraid so,” the Doctor said.
Jia’hale looked at the Doctor. It wasn’t often that she made such an admission. “Is there anything else we can do?” she asked.
The look on the Doctor’s face said it all.
“We are receiving a transmission,” Geraldton said.
“From the Drahvins?” Captain Anderson asked.
“No, it is coming from somewhere to the North-East,” Geraldton said.
“On screen,” Anderson said.
Geraldton patched the signal through. A logo of a T made of small circles appeared before changing to another screen. A face familiar to the Doctor appeared.
“This is Jack Harkness aboard the Torchwood Institute Vessel Ianto Jones. I see that you are in a spot of bother.”
