THE WAR GAMES

ALISTAIR McGOWN

LED BY THE WAR LORD, HUMANOID ALIENS FROM Galactic Sector 973 use a nearby planet to host an audacious experiment. Soldiers are plucked from historical Earth wars and confined to battle zones separated by fog-like barriers. The soldiers are brainwashed by the aliens’ mind-control techniques to believe they are still fighting their own wars on Earth. The aliens hope that this specially engineered conflict will produce an elite fighting force to help them conquer the galaxy.

The cruel scheme has been enabled by the War Chief, a member of the Doctor’s own race. The War Chief plans to eventually usurp the aliens and become supreme galactic ruler.

The Doctor defeats the alien plan by uniting the disparate groups against their common enemy, knocking out communications posts and attacking guards sent in TARDIS-like SIDRAT craft to investigate the disturbances. The Doctor then deploys a ruse that brings his companions Jamie and Zoe, along with the resistance leaders, to the aliens’ HQ as prisoners.

Breaking free, the resistance fighters overpower the aliens’ War Room. Intending to return the fighters to their own times and places, the Doctor learns that the War Chief’s SIDRATs are now all but spent, so he is forced to send a distress message to his own people – the enigmatic Time Lords.