'Enemy of the Bane' (Part 1) by Phil Ford

A rush order means a late night for Gita, working at her flower shop, ‘Bloomin’ Lovely’. But when Gita greets her client, she is blissfully aware that the woman is in fact Mrs Wormwood, the evil leader of the alien Bane, whose invasion was thwarted by Sarah Jane Smith two years ago. Before Gita can react, Mrs Wormwood uses a phonic disruptor ring to render her victim unconscious... Later that night, Luke has a nightmare of the events surrounding his creation by the Bane – and when he awakes he catches a fleeting glimpse of Mrs Wormwood at the foot of his bed. The following morning, Luke tells Sarah of his experience; his foster mother tries to reassure him that it was just a bad dream – but then Luke admits that he doesn’t have dreams… At that moment a frantic Rani calls at the front door, asking for Sarah’s help to find her mother, who has gone missing; Rani explains that she and her father have contacted the police, but there are no leads, and the flower shop showed signs of a struggle. Joined by Clyde, Sarah, Luke and Rani head for the flower shop, where they find traces of alien energy – and a cheque signed by Mrs Wormwood. Immediately suspecting a trap, Sarah takes the cheque back to her attic, where Mr Smith quickly finds a numeric code that provides an address on an industrial estate. Leaving Luke behind under Clyde’s protection, Sarah drives Rani to the estate, filling in her friend on the events of the Bane Invasion, Bubbleshock!, and Luke’s ‘birth’ en route. Cautiously entering the abandoned building, Sarah and Rani find Gita, standing in a trance. At that moment Mrs Wormwood steps into view, and after some verbal sparring, surprises Sarah by asking her old nemesis for help; before Sarah can learn more, several black-suited people appear – more Bane in human disguise! However, instead of Sarah, the aliens are after Mrs Wormwood, proclaiming her as “The Enemy of the Bane”. Using her phonic disrupter ring to hold off her attackers, Mrs Wormwood buys herself enough time to run for the exit, closely followed by Rani, dragging her mother along with her; Sarah brings up the rear, but before she can reach safety she is grabbed by a Bane tentacle and dragged back inside. Heaving a sigh, Mrs Wormwood goes back inside, where she uses a steel bar beat off the Bane and rescue Sarah. After Sarah has sealed the doors with her sonic lipstick, she drives everyone back to Number 13, Bannerman Road; here Mrs Wormwood frees Gita from her trance, allowing Rani to take her dazed mother home, explaining that she has been ‘sleepwalking’. While Luke is disturbed to find himself face to face with his creator, Clyde marvels at the amount of makeup tentacled alien needs to disguise herself inside such an attractive human form. Mrs Wormwood explains her plight: the Bane blame her for the failure of their invasion and the death of the Bane Mother – and on their planet, they eat those that fail. She also needs Sarah’s help to stop her people from taking over the galaxy: the Bane want to use the power of an ancient immortal tyrant named Horath, whose Dark Empire ruled the galaxy over three thousand years ago. When Horath was defeated, his consciousness and body were separated and hidden at opposite ends of the galaxy; now that a mercenary agent has located the tyrant’s consciousness and is bringing it to Earth, Mrs Wormwood wants Sarah’s help to find the dictator’s body, so that she can disrupt her people’s plan and get her own back. The location of Horath’s body is contained in the Tunguska Scroll, an ancient artefact kept in the Black Archive – a top secret U.N.I.T. facility, an organisation that Sarah was once affiliated with. Leaving Mrs Wormwood trapped in Mr Smith’s containment vortex, Sarah leads Luke, Rani and Clyde downstairs, where she explains that she doesn’t want to go directly to U.N.I.T. for fear of raising unwanted interest in Luke; Sarah has a better idea: she will call on an old friend… Together with Rani, Sarah drives to the country house of Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart – formerly Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, who once commanded an elite team of U.N.I.T. soldiers dedicated to defending the Earth from alien threat, working alongside Sarah’s best friend, the Doctor. Sarah and Rani arrive just as Sir Alistair is seeing off Major Cal Kilburn, an officious soldier sent to debrief him after his mission in Peru as U.N.I.T.’s Special Envoy. After the Major leaves, Sir Alistair enjoys a happy reunion with Sarah, and readily agrees to help her on another mission to save the world. Back at Sarah’s house, Luke ignores Clyde’s warnings and goes to talk to Mrs Wormwood– they both have something in common: they are both alone in the world… Arriving at the Black Archive, Sir Alistair uses his credentials to gain access to the facility, while Sarah and Rani hide under a blanket at the back of his car. After bluffing his way out of another encounter with Major Kilburn, Sir Alistair keeps watch while Sarah and Rani sneak into the huge warehouse that contains U.N.I.T.’s many captured alien artefacts. Using a handy computer terminal, Sarah accesses the facility’s records and locates the Tunguska Scroll; however, as she takes the object from its secure drawer, the theft is detected by the building’s security systems, and the alarm is given. Clasping the scroll, Sarah and Rani race from the building and rejoin Sir Alistair, only to be intercepted by the Major and a squad of armed troops. Luckily a blast of Sarah’s sonic lipstick overloads the soldiers’ earpieces, allowing her and her friends to make a hasty escape in Sir Alistair’s car. Back at Sarah’s house, Clyde answers the door to a charity worker, only to watch as the woman transforms into a terrifying, multi-tentacled nightmare! Slamming the door shut, Clyde tries to hold the creature off, while Luke frees Mrs Wormwood from the containment field. The trio try leaving by the back door, only to be confronted by more of the tentacled creatures. As Luke and Clyde double back and find themselves surrounded at the front of the house, Mrs Wormwood comes face to face with another Bane monster in the garden – and then laughs in triumph as the particular creature is atomised by a blast from the gun of a familiar figure: Sontaran Commander Kaagh! Satisfied that her ally has secured Horath’s consciousness for her, Mrs Wormwood gloats that with Sarah’s unwitting help, they are about to gain their revenge on the Bane and become Emperors of the Galaxy…

Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Thomas Knight (Luke), Daniel Anthony (Clyde Langer), Alexander Armstrong (Mr Smith [Voice]), Anjli Mohindra (Rani Chandra), Mina Anwar (Gita Chandra), Ace Bhatti (Haresh Chandra), Samantha Bond (Ms Wormwood), Nicholas Courtney (Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart), Anthony O’Donnell (Commander Kaagh), Simon Chadwick (Major Cal Kilburne)

Directed by Graeme Harper
Produced by Matthew Bouch
Executive Producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner
A BBC Wales production

TX (CBBC):
1st December 2008 @ 5.15pm
8th December 2008 @ 4.35pm on BBC 1

Notes:
*Featuring Sarah Jane Smith, Luke, Clyde, Rani, Mr Smith and Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart