'Myths & Legends' by Richard Dinnick

For thousands of years, epic stories have been passed down from Time Lord to student, generation to generation. The truth of these tales was lost millennia ago, but the myths and legends themselves are timeless.

These are the most enduring of those tales. From the princess Manussa and her giant snake Mara, to the Vardon Horse of Xeriphin, these stories shed light on the universe around us and the beings from other worlds that we meet. Myths hold up a mirror to our past, present and future, explaining our culture, our history, our hopes and fears.

A collection of epic adventures from the Time Lords’ mist-covered past, Myths and Legends is an unforgettable gallery of heroes and villains, gods and monsters.


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'The Mondas Touch'

Learning of a mythical glove with magical powers, Queen Lydia of Catrigan Nova despatches her best agent, Seeker Sylen, to locate the object. After searching the galaxy for several months, Sylen eventually secures the device, and returns home to present it to the queen. Placing the metal gauntlet on her hand, Queen Lydia feels infused with power; she touches it to the chest plate of one of her guards, whose armour immediately upgrades itself, fusing to his flesh. Pleased with such amazing results, the queen begins upgrading everything and everyone she sees, until her entire kingdom, its technology and its people have been improved to her satisfaction. One day, Lydia finds a mysterious man in the palace, who warns her of the danger of the glove; but the queen refuses to listen, and has the stranger thrown into a dungeon. Queen Lydia’s daughter, Mida, becomes concerned at her mother’s obsession with the gauntlet, which has now grown to cover her mother’s entire arm; when Mida protests, the queen touches her with the device, which transforms her daughter’s own arm into a metallic limb. Realising her folly, Queen Lydia turns to the stranger for help; this ‘Mr Clever’ explains that the glove is part of a Cyberman, which has converted the kingdom into Cyber-technology linked to the Cyberiad hive mind. With her guards now resembling fully-formed Cybermen, Lydia agrees to Mr Clever’s plan to lure the creatures out beyond the city, into the gilded whirlpools: the source of Catrigan Nova’s wealth, these naturally-occurring pools are filled with tiny nuggets of gold forced up from deep in the ground by volcanic activity. Tricked into believing the Queen has been kidnapped by rebels, the Cybermen troop out to the vast area of whirlpools. Once the metal monsters are in place, Mr Clever deactivates the water suppressors, filling the area with torrents of water and gold; his plan is a success, and the gold-infused waters wear away the Cybermen until nothing is left. Knowing she must dispose of the gauntlet, Queen Lydia puts her arm into one of the pools, destroying the device at the cost of her own limb. With her world now safe from Cyber-invasion, Lydia is reunited with her overjoyed daughter, her own arm now free of the Cyberiad influence; they turn to thank Mr Clever, but he has disappeared…

Notes:
*Featuring the Twelfth Doctor


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'The Terrible Manussa'

On Gallifrey, newly-appointed Celestial Intervention Agency agent Persisalevatolla is given her first assignment: to end the tyrannical reign of queen Manussa on the planet G139901KB. The queen’s powers derive from crystals linked to the Mara, a legendary, snake-like evil that if left unchecked could spread throughout the galaxy; Manussa’s most fearsome power is of tempetrification, or time-looping, which has been developed into a larger weapon on the moon of Grey-Eye; unless destroyed, this could threaten the Time Lords’ supremacy. Provided with a Time Ring, Persis materialises in a corridor on Grey-Eye, where she meets a stranger dressed in a multi-coloured outfit; to Persis’ surprise the man knows her mission, and he gives her the key component to the weapon. To help her defeat Manussa, the man builds Persis a sonic shield; he then makes a hasty exit, leaving the agent to transport herself to Sarpenton, the capital city of the Manussan Empire. Disguising herself as a high-ranking official, Persis bluffs her way into the palace, where a banquet is in full swing. By framing a passing attendant as an assassin, Persis creates a distraction amongst the guards that enables her to slip into the throne room unnoticed. Making her way into Manussa’s private quarters, Persis finds the queen asleep in her bed; but then Manussa awakes, and as her hair comes to life as real snakes with the power of tempetrification, she summons up a manifestation of the snake-like Mara. Manussa offers Persis the chance to help her take over Gallifrey and the Time Lords; but the agent declines, and so Manussa turns her deadly gaze onto Persis. Using her sonic shield, Persis is able to deflect the temporal energy beams at the Mara, killing the creature and severing its connecting with Manussa. As the queen dies, Persis uses the Time Ring to escape; but as she dematerialises, she sees the Mara transfer itself to the queen’s aide…

Notes:
*Featuring the Sixth Doctor (and the Seventh Doctor?)

*The attendant is described as a small man dressed in cream cloths, a description that could fit the Seventh Doctor as he appears in the later ‘New Adventures’ novels, so I've put this towards the end of those stories

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'The Unwanted Gift of Prophecy'

During the Toclafane invasion of Earth, while posing as Prime Minister Harold Saxon, the Master gives his wife Lucy an important mission. By travelling back through time using an osmic projector, Lucy must contact one of ‘Harry’s previous incarnations and persuade him to exchange access to his TARDIS for some Matrix Data Slices with details of his ‘best enemy’. Lucy travels back to a time when the Master was incarcerated in prison on Earth, but the rogue Time Lord is immediately suspicious of her intent, and refuses to allow his TARDIS to be borrowed. When Lucy returns to the present empty-handed, the Master is furious, and he despatches her again for another try. Arriving shortly after the Doctor’s regeneration at the Pharos project on Earth, Lucy manages to sneak inside the Master’s TARDIS; but the evil Time Lord is too busy with his prisoner, Adric, and refuses to entertain her second attempt at an bargain. Lucy returns to Harry, who in desperation sends her into his own future, to meet his next incarnation, Missy. Not realising she is meeting the female version of her husband, Lucy takes tea with Missy at a café, and listens as the woman warns her of the Master’s future plans. Missy has her own agenda, and she encourages Lucy to shoot her husband, and prevent Harry’s later attempt to resurrect himself. As Lucy once more travels back to Harry empty-handed, Missy is satisfied that the events that will lead to the Master’s regeneration into her have been put in place…

Notes:
*Time-placing: The first Master sequence occurs prior to the events of ‘The Sea Devils’; the Fifth Doctor sequence takes place during ‘Castrolvalva’ Part 1

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'The Evil and the Deep Black Sky'

Aboard a massive space station, Gallifreyan stellar engineer Omega studies the black hole called the Heart of Messina. After donning a special environment suit that will protect him from the forces of the black hole, Omega joins his team of scientists in the main control room, and their experiment begins: by harnessing the power of the black hole, Omega successfully travels into the time vortex. But Omega’s satisfaction short-lived, as the station’s orbit starts to destabilise; with his mission jeopardised, Omega’s team transport him back to the station – just as a huge creature resembling a bird of prey appears in the vortex. The massive predator follows Omega into normal space, attacking the station and killing of on the scientists. With the station’s engines straining against the black hole, the Time Lords are unable to escape the creature’s hold, so Omega orders his team to reverse the vortex chamber’s alignment, sending the entire station into the vortex instead. But the creature follows them; transforming itself into a humanoid-sized being, it materialising inside the control room. The predator identifies itself as a Chronovore, a being that feeds on time, and declares that it will devour the Time Lords. When Omega’s staser pistol fails to harm the monster, the Chronovore retaliates by killing the Time Lord’s assistant. Furious, Omega pushes the Chronovore inside the vortex chamber, then unleashes the power of the black hole upon it. With the Chronovore destroyed, the Time Lord’s pilot the station back into normal space, far away from the black hole. As they return to Gallifrey, Omega vows never to place his team in further danger in his pursuit of his dream of time travel…

Notes:

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'Jorus and the Voganauts'

Aboard the golden spaceship Vogo, Captain Jorus and his crew of ‘Voganauts’ set off into uncharted space on a voyage of discovery. But as they enter intra-space, the Vogans’ ship goes out of control and starts to dephase. The cause of their trouble is the Time Lords’ President, Rassilon, who has been kidnapped by a race of bird-like creatures called the Ra’ra’vis. Rassilon’s captors have put him to work on a rudimentary time machine, which they have built by emulating details taken from intercepted Time Lord communications. Unable to use the device to escape, Rassilon uses it to pull the Vogo out of warp space, and then sends the crew an image of his Presidential Seal, psychically imprinted with a call for help. The Voganauts track the source of the message to a planet encased in a field of asteroids, an autonomous security system that crushes unwarranted intruders. Jorus manages to steer the Vogo safely through the crushing rocks, and then leads a rescue mission down to the surface of the planet, targeting the only area where there is advanced technology. Rassilon is grateful for his rescue, and accompanies the Voganauts aboard the Vogo. Before returning to his fleet to resume his war with the Vampires, Rassilon presents the Voganauts with his Presidential Seal; then the Time Lords use their power to return the Voros home. Jorus is so impressed with the Time Lords’ technology that he adopts the seal as his people’s emblem, and then sets about transforming Vogan society into one that emulates that of the Time Lords.

Notes:

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'The Varodon Horse'

As the Kosnak-Vardon war approaches their solar system, the senate of the planet Xeriphas debate on what action to take. When a silver-haired alien traveller arrives on Xeriphas, the Xeraphin take him for the legendary Silver Soothsayer. The stranger agrees to help the Xeraphin find a way to deal with the imminent invasion, one that will maintain their peaceful ways. The Kosnak attack the planet, and the Vardons battle to hold them back; with many Xeraphin caught in the crossfire, their military mobilise for the first time in millennia. Recalling a strategy he recently witnessed, the stranger formulates a daring plan: he instructs the Xeraphin to transform themselves into pure energy, combining into a gestalt life form that is secured inside a protective sarcophagus. Once the Silver Soothsayer has departed, the Vardons reach the sarcophagus first; taking it aboard their main vessel, they use its power to unleash an energy wave that destroys the Kosnak fleet. Acting according to plan, the Xeraphin senators emerge from the sarcophagus and reform themselves; but instead of finding the Vardons suffering radiation poisoning from the deadly energy wave, they find every alien dead. After discovering that one of their number staged a coup whilst in the gestalt, and ordered Plasmavore guards to destroy the Vardons, the remaining senators are taken prisoner and incarcerated. But the traitorous senator’s triumph is short-lived: he and his fellows are now dying from radiation poisoning, which forces the rest of their people to remain trapped inside the sarcophagus…

Notes:
*Featuring the First Doctor

*Time-placing: this story takes place not long after ‘The Myth Makers’

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'Defiance of the New Bloods'

During their millennia-old war with the Rutan host, Sontaran Group Marshal Sten and his fleet suffer a humiliating defeat while attacking Mekonne, the last of their enemy’s breeding planets: Mekonne is a trap, an unstable world that destroys much of the fleet in massive volcanic eruptions. Sten’s defeat leads him to order the creation of a new type of Sontaran clone, different in physical appearance and capable of free-thought, to outwit the Rutans’ devious stratagems. After studying the events of the Mekonne campaign, the four new clones, collectively known as the G4, confirm that Sten acted appropriately; revitalised by this vindication, the Group Marshal’s pleasure increases when the G4 offer him the chance of vengeance, having determined the real location of the Rutan Host. The clones soon realise that after destroying the Rutans, Sten will have the G4 destroyed so that he can claim a sole victory; they plan a mutiny, and by staging a fake betrayal by one of their number, they are soon incarcerated in the Mothership’s brig. When Sten sends his fleet following the G4’s false lead, his ships come under attack from gravity-propelled rock projectiles; G4 escape their cells and flee in a stolen assault shuttle, but as the Mothership breaks apart, Sten uses his final moments to send an empire-wide message warning of the G4’s duplicitous actions. Now branded as fugitives from the Sontaran Empire, the G4 use all their guile and wits to infiltrate the home world of Sontar, where they make their way to the main cloning complex; fighting their way through hordes of guards, the four Sontarans head for the Core Clone Tank of Sontar, intending to insert their own DNA into the vats that produce their brethren. The G4’s suicidal mission is successful, and they die knowing that they successfully introduced the new genetic material that will change the Sontaran race forever…

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'The Kingdom of the Blind'

A group of scorpion-like Dahensa refugees are captured by a raiding party of Jagaroth warriors; they are taken aboard their captor’s scientific vessel, where the male Dahensa are trained to pilot Jagaroth fighter craft, in a test of a new device that shields against time-jumps. When one of the test craft implodes, it becomes obvious why the Jagaroth do not want to use their own pilots. Realising that they are expendable, one of the Dahensa, Skaljei, hatches a plan to trick the enemy: using his fighter’s shield he successfully projects a mirror image of the attack craft; however, instead of reporting that he powered the shield using the craft’s atmospheric thrust motors, Skaljei tells the Jagaroth scientists to use the warp drive. The Jagaroth implement the device across their fighters, projecting an image of each vessel a little into the future, making it appear that their fleet is twice its actual size; but then, to the Jagaroth’s dismay, all but one of their ships explode, ending the threat to the Dahensa fleet. In the confusion, Skaljei and the remaining Dahensa male prisoners rise up against their Jagaroth captors, and then escape in the fighter craft. Reunited with their families, the Dahensa watch as the Jagaroth science vessel is destroyed by the Dahensa fleet. Elsewhere, the sole surviving Jagaroth ship and its pilot, Scaroth, are stranded on a small, unformed planet; as Scaroth prepares to activate his warp drive, he is oblivious to the impact he will have on human history…

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'The Labyrinthine Web'

The warrior race of giant spiders called the Racnoss take over the planet Trakkiney, one of Gallifrey’s first colony worlds. Landing his Webstar next to the colonists’ fledgling town, Cob-Commander Messothel enslaves the Gallifreyans and sets them to work building a gigantic web-maze around his vessel. When Messothel decrees that all Time Lords will be given a special drink containing Huon particles, two of the Gallifreyans, Fysus and Aria, realise that they and their fellow captives are to be used as food for the Empress of Racnoss’ children, as they hatch from their eggs. While groups of Time Lords are sent into the maze, never to be seen again, Fysus and Aria work to re-engineer the Huon particle drinks, and formulate an escape plan. When the next batch of volunteers is chosen, Fysus fixes the drawing of lots, ensuring that he is picked; he convinces the other sacrifices to trust him, and leads them to the centre of the maze. The Time Lords arrive in the control room of the Webstar, where Messothel orders them to stand next to the Racnoss eggs; however, when the baby spiders emerge, the augmented Huon particles that Fysus and the others have taken cause the creatures to vanish. Fysus tells the furious Messothel that the altered Huon particles have drawn the baby spiders to Aria, who is currently waiting inside a special holding cell built for the Racnoss invaders. Messothel makes to strike Fysus, but too is transported to the cell. Allowing Aria time to get to safety, Fysus then uses a sonic device to trigger the Huons within himself and his fellow Time Lords, transporting them to safety.

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'The Angels of Vengeance'

On the fifteenth broken moon of the Medusa Cascade, Guardian Lectyno is on trial for murdering his mother Nestyra, who had been previously found guilty of murdering Lectyno’s father. Sentenced to death at hands of a captive Weeping Angel, Nestyra was sent back in time by the creature; when she eventually reached the present again, Nestyra asked Lectyno to allow her to return home, but he refused, supposedly killing her in anger. Prosecutor for the trial is Lectyno’s uncle Gistyho, who does all he can to prove his nephew’s guilt. But the trial is a ruse, to provide Lectyno the opportunity to produce evidence that proves that his uncle killed his father – and when the missing Nestyra appears and accuses Gistyho of his crime, the court finds the prosecutor guilty instead. As the Weeping Angels surround Gistyho, Lectyno and his family watch with satisfaction as justice is finally served…

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'The Jeopardy of Solar Proximity'

Grand Marshal Skaldak is engaged in battle with a flotilla of Dalek ships; with only three of his vessels remaining he faces the last two surviving enemy ships. The Dalek command ship transmits a computer virus that attacks the Ice Warrior ships’ systems, leaving them with only short-range weapons against the Daleks’ long-range armaments. Skaldak orders the remains of his fleet to use nearby a binary star system to slingshot themselves away from the enemy. But when the ship commanded by Skaldak’s daughter Iclar attempts the manoeuvre, the Daleks transmit false signals, sending Iclar’s ship into one sun’s radiation aura, killing all aboard. Seeking revenge, Skaldak tricks the Daleks into believing that his battlecruiser is also attempting to slingshot away, and then gives the order to ram into the Dalek command ship. After the collision, Skaldak and his troops board the vessel and fight their way to the command deck. Meanwhile, Daleks board the Ice Warrior ship, only to discover it has been set to self-destruct. As the resulting explosion destroys a section of the enemy ship, Skaldak reaches the bridge and destroys the Gold Dalek in command; he then sabotages the Dalekanium power feeds, overloading the last remaining Daleks. Now the sole-surviving occupant of the ship, Skaldak prepares for a noble death as the ship succumbs to solar radiation. But to Skaldak’s surprise the Gold Dalek’s time transmitter is still active, enabling the Grand Marshal to escape, his destination unknown…

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'The Multi-Faceted War'

Driven by the horror of a past campaign against the Vampires, General Skellis dedicates his life to finding a way to defeat the Time Lords’ blood-sucking enemies; his work leads him to a terrible discovery: the Time Lords’ method of destroying the vampires using molecular dispersal has actually spread their disease throughout time and space. This leads the Time Lords, led by President Rassilon, to create a new weapon: the Bowship, a vessel armed with a huge steel bolt with which to impale the Vampires’ leaders, the Great Ones. After all but one of the Great Ones is destroyed, Rasilon abandons the search for the missing King Vampire and declares the war a victory for the Time Lords. Rassilon takes the credit for their success, but knows he owes it all to Skellis…

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'Enigma of Sisterhood'

After the destruction of Phaester Osiris, Horus leads his surviving people in pursuit of the person responsible: his evil brother Sutekh. Their search takes many years, but eventually Horus and the god-like Osirans track Sutekh to the planet Zuliter, where they prepare to imprison him using a device named the Eye of Horus. However, before they can capture their quarry, the Osirans are stopped by a huge gestalt entity called the Sivin, which will only let them pass if they make a bargain and answer a riddle. While Horus and his fellows debate on the answer, two of the Osirans, sisters called Day and Night, realise they are the answer; they give themselves up to the Sivin, and join with the creature. As part of their bargain, the Osiran host goes into suspended animation for a day, allowing Sutekh to escape once more. But the evil Osiran is eventually tracked down and imprisoned, in a place called Egypt…

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'Pandoric’s Box'

With Gallifrey at war with the Nestene host and their plastic Auton soldiers, Lord President Rassilon searches for a way to end the conflict. He visits an old scientist named Roppen in his retreat in the mountains, and convinces him to recreate the Eye of Discord, a deadly weapon Roppen once developed and then destroyed before it could be used. Roppen eventually agrees, but on the condition that he build the new version to his specifications. When Roppen has finished his work Rassilon activates the device, and is surprised when the sentient interface manifests itself as a war-hardened old man; the interface challenges Rassilon’s decision to destroy the Nestenes, arguing that billions of innocent lives will be killed as well. When Rassilon remains adamant, the interface shows him his future, but even the arguments of three of his forthcoming selves is not enough to dissuade Rassilon from saving Gallifrey: he activates the device, and countless worlds are quickly extinguished. Knowing that such a powerful weapon must be guarded, Rassilon has the device placed in safe-keeping…

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Notes:
*Published by BBC Books