9. Rebuking Sontar.

"Now for the Sontarans," the Doctor says. "All planets moved. All trading vessels moved and informed. All trading planets informed. Doubtless the Wisp will have the wrath of Sontar. The Sontarans are bound to have discovered the substitute planet isn't Slint."
"Can we help both the Wisp and the Sontarans?" Ommera asks. "Maybe…"
The Doctor groans. But he knows Ommera is likely to be right. "Go on."
"Could we move Sontar itself?"

Ommera's audacious proposal has appeal, but there are drawbacks. "I think I would have the whole wrath of Sontar directed at me. And that's not good."

Ommera thinks for a while. "We need to persuade the Sontarans to become peaceful. Could we combine the persuasion with moving Sontar?"
"No!" the Doctor says. "Absolutely not! Far too risky. If anything went wrong the consequences would be far too catastrophic! No! We must step out of this as soon as possible. We're already far too involved. Just what Gallifrey will have to say about all this – they'll wipe the floor with me."

"We must do something for the Wisp," Ommera pleads.
"Let's go and see what the Sontarans are doing there," the Doctor says. He taps a few buttons and pulls a lever. The Tardis grinds.

"We're above Wisp," the Doctor says. "We're cloaked so they can't see us. But we can see what they're doing. There's the Sontaran Battleship."
"Could we just remove it?" Ommera asks playfully. "Oh, I must see how Meran is doing. He's been asleep for a long time now."

She goes to Meran's rest room. He wakes up when Ommera enters.
"Has the Doctor reconciled with any enemies?" Meran asks.
"We've saved Slint!" Ommera says.

It takes Meran a few moments to re-adjust his thinking and priorities. "How can you have saved Slint? You said that if we saw something happen that it had happened. We saw Slint frozen, so it is lost."
"But what if it wasn't Slint that we saw?" Ommera says.
"I recognised Slint even in that dark image on the monitor screen," Meran says.
"What if that planet just looked like Slint? There are thousands of planets out there that might look like Slint in the dark."

"Oh," Meran says. "Oh, wow! Seriously?"

"Now we must do something with the Sontarans," the Doctor says. "This is where I need your help, Meran."
Meran had been dreading this moment. He has suspected that there will be a moment when the Doctor will face the Sontarans, and that he will be roped in. It readily occurs to him that facing up your enemies isn't as easy as he had imagined. The Sontarans are so strong and mighty looking. He has encountered Sontarans before and just frozen with fear. Now he is expected to face them again.
Maybe he shouldn't have challenged the Doctor, but he had been hurting badly.

The Doctor notices Meran's hesitation and understands Meran's hesitancy. "We do need to do something to prevent the Sontarans having continued control of the Wisp." The Doctor can see that Meran will need a lot of support as well as encouragement to face any Sontaran.

Ommera looks on. She feels desperately sorry that Meran has got himself into this situation with the Doctor. "Doctor," she starts to say, she feels she must say something to ease the pressure on her friend Meran.

The Doctor turns to Ommera and smiles, a broad smile. He is almost laughing. "It really isn't that easy befriending your enemies," he says. "But the Sontarans have encountered Meran and appeared to come off worst."

"What will you fix up this time, Doctor," Ommera asks as calmly as she can. She is concerned and knows the Doctor can do many things, but Meran will definitely need help.

"Let's write a script for you, Meran," the Doctor says turning to Meran. "Just a pure request to cease hounding the Wisp. You don't even need to be there yourself; we can project your image…"

"But what can I say?" Meran asks.
"We'll write something," the Doctor reassures him. "But the Sontarans must believe that the Wisp haven't deceived them and neither have you."

A few hours later Meran is holding a sheet of paper. It is a hastily written script for him to learn.
Ommera fusses making him smart. He really likes the attention.
"It's a bit like an interview," Ommera says. "Just do your best."

The Doctor adjusts the camera. "Just a touch out of focus," he says. "Then they can't tell how worried you are, it just looks like comms interference."

Meran starts. "Sontarans, you recall that I am credited with knocking out Sontaran Brash just by looking at him. You recall that I visited your planet and there was a Sontarquake like none before. Then you must hear this. In saying these things, I have not deceived you." Exactly what he said is true, he is credited with knocking out Brash, but he hadn't actually done it! Meran continues. "Nor have the Wisp deceived you. They were under contract to move Slint, my home planet, and they did move it. You hadn't specified where to move it to the first time. It was moved back from there without their knowledge. You told them to move Slint again which they did, and they moved it to exactly where you told them to, and it was then swapped with another planet without their knowledge. So, I say to you that you must leave the Wisp alone. Return to Sontar and stay there as a peaceful race and I give you my word that I will not trouble you."

"Thank you," the Doctor says. "We will treat them to a premiere showing of that shortly. Any questions?" He is expecting questions asking how different aspects of the message will play out and affect the Sontarans, but Meran collapses on the floor.
Ommera rushes to catch him. "Are you alright? What's the matter?" she fusses.
"Just a bit faint," Meran owns. "I'm not a figurehead to face them up, Doctor. I'm just not that sort of person. And I don't think they'll take any notice."

"You'll be surprised," the Doctor says.
"As I said earlier, what will you fix up, Doctor?" Ommera asks.

"Nothing at all," the Doctor says. "They will be expecting something, but nothing will happen. That will scare some of my enemies, at least."

"I just don't want you to be making an ever-bigger hole for the future, Doctor," Ommera says. She can see that the Doctor needs some guidance to limit what he does sometimes.

THE END

The previous episode in this series is called "Ships in Distress" (ref. 20). This depicts a part of the Doctor and Ommera's honeymoon.

The episode before that, "The White Dress" (ref, 19), depicts their wedding and the events between the Bicx and the Sontarans that are referred to in this episode.

The Doctor has longed for an enduring relationship, but it has never been possible. With so many enemies, how long might such a relationship last before his companion is 'eradicated'? We know it's bound to end that way, don't we? The Doctor has so many enemies, it is inevitable. Will the Doctor heed Meran's challenge and continue to spend time working with those peoples who are hurting?

The next episode in this series is called "Master Trek."

I hope to add further episodes soon.

Sparse References.

Reference 1. Episode Maintenance Mission in this series. Used in chapter 2 to help set the scene.

Reference 2. Episode Lateness in this series. Used in chapter 5 to remind Meran.

Reference 19. Episode The White Dress in this series.

Reference 20. Episode Ships in Distress in this series.

Timing Explanations.

In episode The White Dress (ref. 19), The Doctor and Ommera had invited Meran to join them. They had seen the Bicx Mining spaceship arrive to start mining but had intended to come back to that point in time. Then they had gone back in time to Bimini, intending to intercept the Bicx Mining spaceship before it left but they had arrived after it left when the Sontaran battleship was there (see later in this text).
When they left, they again went back in time to Sontar to try to challenge the Sontarans, but on the way the Doctor had enlisted the support of the Bicx to rattle the Sontarans into trying peace.
But the Bicx hadn't left on cue and the Sontarans discovered them and annihilated that Bicx spaceship. The Sontarans had immediately left for Bimini where they encountered Meran who apparently stunned a Sontaran just by looking at him.
In this episode, The Plight of Slint, the Sontarans discover a piece of paper blowing in the wind that tells them the Bicx have gone to Slint to mine. They immediately cause the Wisp to need to repay some trumped-up debt by moving Slint to deep cold space. When the Wisp have set up their equipment, the Bicx arrive to start mining but don't see the Wisp kit. When the Sontarans arrive, the trap is ready.

The Tardis detects the need for them to be at Slint and takes them to Gallifrey to get Meran…
The rest of the story follows.

ANOTHER END