'Flux': Chapter 2 'War of the Sontarans' (Story Code 13.02) by Chris Chibnall

“I accept your offer of a massacre. Your blood shall soak our uniforms. Your bodies shall soften our steps.” - Sontaran Commander Skaak

After the Flux rushes inside the TARDIS the Doctor experiences another vision, as she stands in a monochrome wasteland, before a rickety old house suspended in mid-air. The Doctor wakes up to find herself, Yaz and Dan on a battlefield strewn with the bodies of fallen soldiers, where they meet a nurse named Mary Seacole. Learning that they are in Sebastopol in 1855, the Doctor realises that they are in the middle of the Crimean War - but when a patrol of enemy soldiers appears, the Doctor is surprised to discover that instead of fighting the Russians, the British army is at war with Sontarans…

Elsewhere, Vinder wakes up, not in the confines of his escape pod, but in an ancient stone temple. He is met by a diamond-shaped robot, a Priest Triangle, which leads him to a chamber containing a control mechanism populated by six alien priestesses, two of which flicker between a state of life and death; the Priest Triangle explains that the Flux has impacted the inner temple, which needs urgent repair… In Sebastopol, Mary leads the Doctor behind the lines to the British soldiers’ camp, the site of her field hospital, dubbed ‘The British Hotel’. Returning to the TARDIS, the Doctor is dismayed when Dan and Yaz fade away in a strange blue glow. Deducing that vortex and Flux energy have combined and sent them into space and time, the Doctor tries to go after her friends in the TARDIS - only to discover that her ship no longer has any doors… Dan materialises in Liverpool at night, outside the crater where his house once stood, and is shocked to see a giant spaceship towering over the Anfield football stadium. Forced to flee from a curfew squad of Sontarans, Dan is surprised to be rescued by his parents, who use a saucepan and wok to hit the alien warriors in their weak spot, a probic vent at the back of their heads. Yaz materialises inside the alien temple, where she encounters a very confused Joseph Williamson and then meets the Priest Triangle, which asks her to help with repairs. Back at the British camp, the Doctor meets Lieutenant General Logan, who is busy drinking and planning his next battle with the Sontarans. Looking at the soldier’s map of the world, the Doctor sees that Russia and China have been replaced by ‘Sontar; but Mary and Logan do vaguely recognise the term Russia, an indication that time has been recently disrupted. Helping Mary with her nursing rounds, the Doctor learns that the redoubtable woman has been secretly keeping captive an injured Sontaran soldier; by offering to give information on the aliens’ nemesis, ‘The Doctor’, the Time Lord tricks the soldier into agreeing to arrange a parley with his commanding officer. The Doctor releases the Sontaran, who immediately leaves the British Hotel, much to the fury of Lieutenant General Logan. The Doctor and Mary follow the alien from a safe distance, watching as he makes his way across the battlefields before seemingly passing through a rocky outcrop. Leading Mary through a camouflage shield, the Doctor steps out onto a hilltop overlooking the Sontaran army encampment, which is flanked by many giant spaceships. Down in the camp, the Sontaran soldier informs Commander Skaak of the request for parley in exchange for intel on the Doctor; Skaak accepts, then executes his soldier for being captured. In Liverpool, Dan learns from his parents that the Sontarans arrived two days ago, just before a short eclipse - when the Lupari fleet shielded the Earth from the Flux. There are now millions of Sontarans all over the planet, but their invasion started in Liverpool, at the waterfront shipyard. Having sent his parents home to safety, Dan takes his mum’s wok and sets off to investigate the Sontaran base… In the temple, Yaz meets Vinder and shares information on the Flux. The Priest Diamond appears, and after asking again for help in repairing the priestess-mechanism, it explains that Yaz and Vinder are inside the Temple of Atropos on the Planet Time; here the Mouri hold time in the universe together, protecting it from time’s evil… Sneaking around the shipping containers in the shipyard, Dan sees Sontaran Commander Ritskaw and his men execute several human prisoners as spies; after overhearing Ritskaw talk of a ‘temporal offensive’, Dan slips off into the darkness of the shipyard… As a new day starts in Sebastopol, the Doctor uses her sonic screwdriver to signal the start of her parley with the Sontarans. The Doctor reveals her true identity to Commander Skaak, who explains how his race’s psychics foretold the coming of the Flux, which enabled the Sontarans to time their attack on Earth to just before the Lupari sealed off the planet from attack. The alien warrior also reveals that he chose the Crimean War the best place for conflict, and because he wanted to ride a horse! Before the Doctor can learn more she is stopped by the arrival of Lieutenant General Logan, who sends her back to camp under armed guard, while he and his men prepare to do battle with the Sontarans. As the fight begins and the two armies clash in bloody combat, the Doctor overpowers her guard and makes off… In Liverpool, Dan uses his mobile phone to record a message for the Doctor, detailing how the Sontarans are busy constructing hundreds of battleships. Dan then climbs up a crane to gain access into one of the Sontaran vessels… Materialising inside the Temple of Atropos, Swarm, Azure and a mysterious figure known as ‘Passenger’ dispose of a Priest Diamond and then make their way into the building… Back in the Crimea, the Sontaran soldiers are happily slaughtering their opponents, leaving the battlefield littered with the dead and injured. The Doctor joins Mary on the hilltop overlooking the Sontaran camp, where the nurse has been making copious notes on the enemy in her notebook. With all the aliens engaged in battle, the Doctor leads Mary aboard one of the ships, gaining entry to the control room after dealing with a guard with the aid of a trusty catapult. Activating the ship’s control system, the Doctor is overjoyed to receive a message from Dan, who has also reached the control room in the ship he sneaked inside. After hearing about the Sontarans’ temporal attack, the Doctor accesses Dan’s phone and realises that the aliens are building a fleet of timeships that will allow them to invade Earth’s entire history, starting with the Crimea as a pilot scheme. The Doctor tells Dan to stop the Sontarans’ ships from leaving, but their conversation is intercepted by the enemy, and Dan is quickly captured by a squad of alien warriors. In the temple, Yaz and Vinder meet the evil Swarm and his companions. Gloating that he knows everything about her, Swarm manhandles Yaz, who is oblivious as to his identity. Vinder tries opening fire on the unwanted guests, but his shots easily miss - almost as if Swarm and Azure are jumping through time. Noting how Vinder and Yaz can easily step through the quantum-lock protecting the priestesses from his presence, Swarm uses the Passenger to coerce them into the field; this allows Swarm to access to the central dais, and he happily kills another of the priestesses. In Liverpool, Dan is saved from death by the timely arrival of Karvanista, who makes short work of the Commander Ritskaw and his squad to save his human. In the Crimea, the Doctor and Mary tend to the wounded in the British Hotel, just as an injured Logan arrives. The Doctor decides to give the officer a crash-course in Sontarans, and hatches a plan that hinges on the aliens returning to their ships to replenish the vital chemicals in their suits that help them breathe in Earth’s atmosphere: by emptying the ships of supplies, they can force the Sontarans to leave the planet. The Doctor leads Mary, Logan and a squad of soldiers to the Sontaran camp and shows them how to sabotage the aliens’ ships. Inside the main vessel, Commander Skaak and his men soon realise their supply levels have dwindled to critical levels, and immediately deduces who is responsible; but the Doctor not to be intimidated, and she forces Skaak into making a strategic withdrawal from Earth… In Liverpool, Dan and Karvanista make their way to the Sontaran ship’s control room; explaining how he was blamed for the Sontaran invasion, and is now trying to stop the aliens, the alien dog steals the ship and sets it to ram the other vessels on the waterfront. As Sontaran warriors close in on them, Karvanista blasts a hole in the wall, allowing him and Dan to escape via the ship’s waste chute just before the vessel crashes into the Sontaran fleet, destroying all the timeships in a huge temporal implosion. In Sebastopol, the Doctor and Mary watch as the Sontarans prepare to leave peacefully – until the merciless Lieutenant General Logan triggers a gunpowder explosion that obliterates the aliens. The Doctor is furious, but is interrupted by the arrival of the TARDIS, now flickering in and out of existence. The ship’s doors reappear, allowing the Doctor to finally gain access, and she quickly joins Dan and Karvanista as they climb out of the Mersey and onto the dockside. Leaving Karvanista and his people to continue to protect the Earth, Dan follows the Doctor into the TARDIS; the ship’s interior has deteriorated even further - something is corrupting the ship. To the Doctor’s surprise the TARDIS seemingly takes off by itself - as Swarm hijacks the ship and brings it to the Temple of Atropos. Puzzled by the building’s zero spatial/temporal coordinates, the Doctor and Dan then meet Azure - and they instantly suspect a trap. Stepping into the central chamber, the Doctor and Dan encounter Swarm, who explains where they are and how the broken temple has allowed Time to begin running wild. Swarm also reveals that he has temporarily replaced the damaged priestesses with Yaz and Vinder – and with just a click of his finger, Swarm allows the full force of Time to blast through their bodies…


Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), John Bishop (Dan Lewis), Jonathan Watson (Skaak / Sontaran Commander Ritskaw), Sara Powell (Mary Seacole), Jacob Anderson (Vinder), Sue Jenkins (Eileen), Paul Briughton (Neville), Steve Oram (Joseph Williamson), Gerald Kyd (Lieutenant General Logan), Dan Starkey (Svild), Sam Spruell (Swarm), Rochenda Sandall (Azure), Criag Els (Karvanista), Jonny Mathers (Passenger), Nigel Richard Lambert (Priest Triangle)

Directed by Jamie Magnus Stone
Executive Producers Nikki Wilson, Ben Irving, Matt Strevens and Chris Chibnall
A BBC Wales production

TX (BBC 1 & BBC 1 HD):
7th November 2021 @ 6.15 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Da, and Vinder

*This 59-minute episode is part two of a six-part story