Prologue
The TARDIS hung motionless near a small spacecraft, the Jovis. In order to neutralize a sudden contamination of the water supply at the Earth colony on Beta Agni Two, the Doctor and his companions, Ace and Nita, were procuring one hundred and eight kilograms of hytritium from the Wallarian trader, Kivas Fajo.
In the cargo bay of the Jovis, a shuttlepod docked and the Doctor emerged from the pilot seat. Because pure hytritrium was too unstable to be materialize around, the Doctor had been shuttling the material to the TARDIS.
Varria, a female humanoid, supervised three technicians who were moving a shipping case. The care and precision with which they handled the case underlined the danger involved. The Doctor opened the cargo door of the shuttlepod. The technicians proceeded to load the case onto the pod, again with utmost care.
This would be the last trip… the remaining cases of hytritium were now being loaded.
On the TARDIS Ace was monitoring the situation from the Engineering panel on the console. Nita was at her station at the console.
The Doctor contacted Nita on his mobile phone. "Please advise Beta Agni Two that our departure is imminent."
"Ok, Doctor."
Travelling through the vortex they should be there in just over sixteen minutes.
In the Jovis cargo bay, the technicians had completed loading the shuttlepod and closed the hatch. A nitrogen containment field promptly filled the boot. The Doctor headed for the pilot seat. He pressed a communication button in the shuttle.
"Loading is complete. I'm proceeding with departure. Prepare for docking, level one precautions for incoming material remain in effect."
Varria approached the Doctor and handed him a tablet. "If you'll just acknowledge this last load, Doctor…"
The Doctor took the tablet and pressed his thumb on an ID panel… and blue sparks sprung from the tablet and danced over the Doctor. The Doctor stiffened, went limp, and fell."
Varria took out a device and scanned the Doctor's body. She read the information to one of the technicians, who entered it into a tablet. The other technicians were hurrying about in the background.
A short time later, Ace read her console: "Shuttle containment field reads nominal… Now leaving the Jovis."
They looked at the viewscreen. The shuttlepod moved away from the Jovis… moved slowly through space on the viewscreen.
Ace continued reading her console. "Containment field stable… gravitational fluctuations within acceptable parameters… flight pattern…"
Before Ace could finish, the shuttlepod on the viewscreen exploded in a ball of fire. Nita and Ace stood with shocked expressions, staring at the viewscreen.