B00DPX9ST8 EBOK

by Parkin, Lance

  As a conclave gathered to celebrate the war’s conclusion, the seventh Doctor presented himself as “Dr Johannes Smither of the House of Gallifrey”. The Doctor and Riga wiped out the revived Cybermen before they could send an activation signal that would awaken thousands of Cyber-tombs across the galaxy, but Riga was killed. Erin of the House of Sarkota gave up her birthright and pledged to work with the new Argentia Magus for peace. Afterward, the Doctor offered two androids that he’d met - Temeter and Sara - a lift back to the Orion Zone.

  The Doctor claimed that Tasak had the best tea in its quadrant.

  c 2514 - “Keepsake” [697]

  The androids Temeter and Sara were called before the Orion War Council to account for their failure to capture a Cybrid infiltrator and saboteur, Corvus, who arranged the deaths of hundreds of androids. The Council judged that Temeter and Sara’s feelings for one another had hampered their effectiveness. Temeter was returned to active duty after his emotional connection to Sara was deleted from his core consciousness. Sara was deemed less fit for service, so her consciousness was deleted and replaced by another operative. What remained of Sara’s persona was redeployed in a servo robot with Grade 3 intelligence.

  Cyberman Series 1 and 2

  On Earth, as the Orion War took a turn for the worse, the predecessor of President Levinson founded the Scorpius Project to make use of Cyber-technology developed from the failed Sword of Orion initiative. The Cybermen usurped Scorpius to their own ends, and manipulated Levinson into officially terminating it. Scorpius proceeded in secret; Paul Hunt, an advisor to the project, was converted into a Cybrid - a Cyber-operative who could pass as human [698] - and vanished from the public record. The Cybermen made plans to replace Levinson with a president more agreeable to using Scorpius as they desired. [699]

  At this time, Article 7 of the Earth spacefleet charter allowed three officers of senior rank to remove a captain from command decisions. [700] Article 92, sub-section 3, paragraph 4 - which hadn’t been used in years - allowed for those of command rank to conscript civilian vessels for military use. The Navy, now part of Earth’s Spacefleet, was equipped with proton rifles. Mark 4 fusion cores - part of a spaceship’s drive systems - were a bit out of date, and Mark 6 cores were available. Earth’s dominions included the Vega colony. [701] The industrial heartland of the British North was currently a bunch of ruined factories. The soil there was so laced with cadmium, even nanosheets couldn’t strip it out. [702]

  c 2515 - Cyberman: Scorpius / Fear / Conversion / Telos [703]

  The Orion War continued to go against humanity. Earth’s Planetary Assault Force Delta on Orius Beta VIII walked straight into an ambush, and although Admiral Karen Brett of the Redoubtable led a counter-assault that destroyed the Android Eighth Fleet - which was hiding just off Orius Beta V - human casualties still numbered fifty thousand. Orius Beta VIII was nuked. The victory, however technical, surged morale on Earth to its highest point in twenty years.

  Brett was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of Earth’s forces. Paul Hunt secretly met with Brett on Reticek IV, and explained to her the potential that Scorpius offered. Soon after, the Cybermen arranged for a shuttle to crash into the White House - President Levinson was assassinated, and his killers teleported away. The Senate invoked emergency powers and made Brett president. She appointed her old friend, Captain Liam Barnaby, as Commander-in-Chief.

  Several months passed, with humanity suffering further defeats. The androids destroyed the Dracian VIII colony’s reactor, causing massive casualties. They also killed millions, including Brett’s parents, in the undefended Vaslovian system.

  Brett increasingly underwent Cyber-hypnosis and conversion, and Hunt became a presidential advisor. Earth was flooded with refugees from the Orion conflict; many of these wound up at a camp on the Isle of Wight, and were then transported off-world for conversion. The fresh Cyber-troops made incursions into Orion territory, and destroyed the android tracking station Beta-4.

  Commander Barnaby became politically ostracised from Brett, and increasingly heard rumours concerning Scorpius. He allied himself with Samantha Thorn - an android secret agent who for years had been Paul Hunt’s lover. Assisted by androids aboard the Orion flagship Antares, they discovered a map of the galaxy identifying a thousand planets with Cyber-hibernation vaults. They realised that if an activation signal were sent from the master vault on Telos, billions of Cybermen would awaken, spelling the end for humanity and androids alike. The Antares immediately left for Telos to prevent this.

  The Cyber-Planner running Scorpius advanced its master plan. Brett revealled the existence of Scorpius to Earth, claiming that “volunteers” augmented with cyber-tech had destroyed key android installations. Cybernetic commando units were stationed in all of Earth’s major population centres, purportedly to protect the public from retribution by the androids. Worldwide martial law was declared. Brett announced that she would personally lead the final assault against the androids - but in actuality, she underwent full Cyber-conversion, and left with a Cyber-task force aboard an advanced XP-900 warship to intercept the Antares. In her absence, Hunt became emergency executive-in-chief.

  Barnaby’s group found that the Cyber-vault on Telos had survived the planet’s break-up, and a dogfight between the Antares and the XP-900 resulted in the Antares colliding with the vault. A thousand Cybermen space-walked from the XP-900 and wiped out the Antares crew save for Barnaby and Thorn. The two of them raised the fuel rods in the Cyber-vault’s reactor, saturating the area with radiation that killed the XP-900 Cybermen, the entombed Cybermen and Brett.

  c 2516 - Cyberman 2: Outsiders / Terror / Machines / Extinction

  Six months passed as Barnaby and Thorn laboured to keep the Antares’ damaged systems running, and the ship limped through space. Back on Earth, Brett was formally declared dead. Hunt became executive-in-chief in her place, extended his term indefinitely and continued martial law. To quell dissent, he engineered several “retirements” of senior officials. He also had Barnaby convicted in absentia of treason and given a death sentence.

  The Cybermen continued efforts to turn Earth into a new Mondas, and staged a number of mass abductions - fodder for Cyber-conversion - in cities such as Lyons and Kiev. Hunt released a number of cover stories, declaring various cities as off-bounds. An eruption was said to have occurred in Hawaii. Bombings were cited across Greater Britannica. Bergen, Norway, was completely emptied, supposedly due to biotoxins that a resistance movement put into the city’s water supply. Eurozone News reported flooding in Birmingham, and that the Stafford metroplex had an emergency curfew. Meanwhile, a resistance movement to Hunt’s rule began striking back, staging demonstrations in a dozen cities that included Moscow, Tokyo, New York City, Mumbai and the Canberra Arcology. Cybermen based in Nevada and the Sudan were targeted.

  Thorn discovered that the Orion war council, fearful of the Cybermen on Earth, had authorised use of an Eclipse-Class device: a fusion initiator that would make Earth’s sun release an intense solar shockwave. This would kill all organic life - human and Cyberman alike - within orbit of Mars.

  Hunt underwent full Cyber-conversion as Barnaby and Thorn directed their attention toward the main Cyber-facility at Bergen. Thorn interfaced her positronic mind with the Cyber-network hub there, and convinced the Cyber-Planner that the Cybermen’s campaign to conquer Earth would result in millions of Cyber-casualties and the complete obliteration of humanity and the Orion androids. The Cyber-Planner judged the cost of victory as too great, and ordered the Cybermen to leave Earth in fleet vessels. The strain of communing with the Cybermen killed Thorn. She was buried on the Norway coast.

  The androids opted to live in peace with humanity, ending the Orion War. In deep space, an android warfleet engaged the Cyber-vessels before they could enter hyperdrive.

  The twenty-sixth century saw the Great Orion Cyber Wars. [704]

  ? 2515 - Parasite [705]

  Three hundred and sixty-seven years after it had been colon
ised, the Elysium system was on the brink of civil war. Over the last fifty years, a schism had developed between the Founding Families (who wanted to remain isolated from Earth and maintain their own distinctive political system) and the Reunionists (who wanted to make contact with the Empire).

  Before the situation could be resolved, the Artifact was found to be a vast transdimensional living entity. It could warp space to create water worlds that would collapse into stars, then generate gas giants to incubate its planet-sized eggs. The seventh Doctor, Benny and Ace visited the Artifact during a crucial point in its life-cycle - which threatened to accelerate. As each young Artifact required the water from forty or fifty thousand planets, this posed a threat to the entire universe. The Doctor altered the Artifact’s biology so that it would only produce children with a symbiotic, not a parasitic, relationship with water-bearing worlds. Previously laid eggs would be born as parasites, and possibly threaten the Elysium system in several million years.

  The Draconian War

  Around 2520, a peace mission between Draconia and Earth was arranged, but it ended in catastrophe when the Draconian ship approached, as was their tradition, with the missile ports open. The Draconian ship carried no missiles, but the humans assumed they had been lured into an ambush. A neutron storm prevented communications and the human ship destroyed the Draconian one. A war between Earth and Draconia started immediately, and although it didn’t last long, millions died on both sides. [706]

  As a result of a pop can that Bernice kicked onto a path in 2001, a less-elegant writer came to draft a crucial speech shortly before the outbreak of hostilities. The war consequently broke out an hour earlier, with dozens of extra casualties on both sides. [707]

  During the Dragon Wars, Shirankha Hall’s deep-space incursion squadron discovered a beautiful garden world halfway between human and Draconian Space. He named it Heaven. [708]

  Although many on both sides wanted to see the war fought to its conclusion, diplomatic relations were forged and the war ended. The Frontier in Space was established, a dividing line which neither race’s spacecraft could cross. Relations between the two planets remained wary, and factions on both Earth and Draconia wanted to wage a preemptive strike on the enemy. For twenty years, the galaxy existed in a state of cold war, although treaties and cultural exchanges were set up. Espionage between the powers was expressly forbidden. [709]

  Arkheon was thought destroyed. It was known as Planet of the Ghosts, because it was the location of the Arkheon Threshold, a schism in time and space. [710] Glory Under the Mud, a collection of Edward Watkinson’s essays, was published in 2524. [711]

  The Cyber War

  Over five hundred years after Mondas’ destruction, the Cybermen had been redesigned and were more deadly than ever. [712]

  2526 - Earthshock [713]

  Earth was not directly affected, but it was clear that only the homeworld could provide the military resources needed to combat the Cyber threat. In 2526, a Conference was held on Earth that proposed that humanity should unite to fight the Cybermen. The fifth Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric stopped the Cybermen from detonating a bomb on Earth. The Cybermen then attempted to land an invasion force on Earth using a hijacked space-freighter. Adric was still aboard the freighter, trying to alter its coordinates, as the ship was thrown back to prehistoric times...

  The Cybermen were unafraid of contravening galactic law or arms treaties, and were prepared to destroy entire planets using Cyberbombs. But the war against the Cybermen united many planets, and humanity started from a strong position. Earth was aware of the Cybermen’s vulnerability to gold and developed the glittergun, a weapon that exploited this weakness. There was more gold on Voga than in the rest of the known galaxy, and when those vast reserves were used against the Cybermen, humanity inflicted massive defeats. [714] The glittergun was built by INITEC. [715]

  Realising that they were beaten, the Cybermen launched an attack on Voga and detonated Cyberbombs that blew the planet out of orbit. The Vogans were forced into underground survival chambers. After this time, the Cybermen disappeared, and it was believed that they had died out. [716] The Cyber Fleet was destroyed. Bounty hunters and mercenaries hunted down the remaining Cybermen. [717]

  On Dellah, the Great Act of Toleration of 2528 recognised one thousand and thirty-six religions, including five hundred and twelve indigenous groups. [718] Mr. Misnomer was a pulp-story hero of such adventures as The Shadow of the Dying Ones (2529). [719]

  The Rise of the Earth Empire

  2534 - The Colony of Lies [720]

  Matter transmitters were abandoned by this time, and there were strict laws on DNA manipulation. The Eurozone still existed. The human colonies were known as the Earth Federation, and were patrolled by Colony Support Vessels. Space was marked with navigation beacons. The term “Earth Empire” was used for the first time this year.

  On Axista Four, the human colonists divided into conservative and technological-minded factions: the Loyalists and the Realists. The Realists set up their own settlement away from the Loyalist city of Plymouth Hope, but often raided the Loyalists for supplies.

  By now, the Daleks were making gains in the third quadrant. Human space stations and colonies on the front line were evacuated. The Earth Federation had formed an alliance to try to prevent Dalek expansionism. About eighty thousand refugees were scheduled for relocation to Axista Four, and the Earth support vessel Hannibal entered orbit around the planet, responding to a signal for help from the Realist faction. The Hannibal’s arrival triggered machinery that revived some Tyrenians from stasis, and they threatened to make warfare against the humans.

  The second Doctor, accompanied by Jamie and Zoe, both revived Kirann Ransome from suspended animation and defused the conflict. The Realists and Loyalists agreed to accept Kirann as their mutual leader. The Doctor allowed the Federation to believe the Tyrenians were the survivors of a space plague, covering over their true history. Federation Administrator Greene agreed to let the Tyrenians live on Axista Four in peace.

  Vega Station was built and secretly run by the Battrulian government. The fourth Doctor visited and lost a lot of money in the Station’s casinos. [721] Jodecai Tyler founded a colony on a planet that became known as Tyler’s Folly. [722]

  c 2535 - Mindgame / Mindgame Trilogy [723]

  The Sontaran-Rutan war continued on the “outer reaches of the universe”. A representative of an advanced race teleported a human female mercenary, the commander of Draconian Brigade Merq (who had served in the Second Cryogenics Wars) and Field Major Sarg of the Sontaran First Assault Battalion into an asteroid located between dimensions, to determine which of their species was worthy of partnering with for conquest. The captives overpowered their abductor and separately departed. Sarg perished in battle, the Draconian was found guilty of sedition and sentenced to banishment to an outer moon of the Draconian Empire, and the mercenary killed herself when her fighter craft was damaged and her oxygen ran out.

  Earth had a female president from 2536 to 2541. [724]

  In the mid-2530s, KroyChem AgroMedical produced cancer-fighting drugs. Per the First Demographic Charter of 2537, the Spirea Consortia established concentration camps on Darvilleva-Q, and “processed” any colonist with less than 34% human lineage. [725]

  The Earth Empire moved to incorporate the four planets of the Domus system, and warred against the human settlers there. Generosum, Perfugium and Salvum capitulated, and while Aequitas kept its independence, the Empire seized its moon, Verum. Decades of guerrilla fighting ensued. [726]

  The Sunless - an ashen race of humanoids - lived below ground on a planet with a dying red sun. The Piercy Corporation stole technology from the Sunless homeworld, and relocated some clam-like reproductive units, the Blooms, to the planet Ursu. The Blooms propagated the eight races living there. Meanwhile, the Sunless copied the Piercy spaceships, left their homeworld and subjugated other worlds, searching for the Blooms. [727]

  The spaceship Wayfarer was r
escued from a scrap yard, and retrofitted for use as a naval patrol ship. [728]

  The Space War

  c 2540 - Frontier in Space [729]

  At this point, Earth’s “Empire” was still democratic, ruled by an elected President and Senate, although Earth Security forces also had political influence. The Bureau of Population Control strictly enforced the rule that couples could only have one child.

  The Arctic areas were reclaimed. New Glasgow and New Montreal were the first of the sealed cities to be opened, and the Family Allowance was increased to two children for those who moved there. The Historical Monuments Preservation Society existed to protect Earth’s heritage. While there was a healthy political opposition, any resistance to the principles of government by either anti-colonialists or pacifists was ruthlessly suppressed. Under the Special Security Act, a penal colony was set up on the moon to house thousands of political prisoners, each of whom served a life sentence with no possibility of parole or escape. In 2539, Professor Dale, one of the most prominent members of the Peace Party, was arrested and sent to the penal colony on Luna.

  Larger colonies such as those in the Sirius system were given Dominion status, and allowed regional autonomy, including powers of taxation and extradition. Governors appointed directly by Earth ruled the smaller worlds.

  In 2540, interplanetary tension mounted as human and Draconian spacecraft were subjected to mysterious attacks. Cargos were stolen and ships were destroyed. Each planet blamed the other, and eyewitnesses on both sides claimed to have seen their enemy. On Earth, war with the “Dragons” appeared to be inevitable.