#tdf killed me.

[sweeetsh]

“In all of his worst nightmares, she’s dying. She’s fading away in his arms, helpless and whimpering, while hot, dark blood spills over his fingers.”

[rogloptimist]

pogrog in the olympic village 2021 do you want to talk about it

[starbiology]

what about if in the plot the other villains are being pushed to their limits/controlled by the void/drakara whoever it is and the good guys need to stop it by helping the old school villains

[dontforgetukraine]

"What do you say to a man who wants to kill you? 'Please, don't kill me'? Or: 'You're evil'? Absolutely not. You just have to defend yourself. And you must destroy him, if possible. Silently."

—"Paton", a drone operator from Ukraine's 207th TDF battalion

[roxannepolice]

Rant 1/waiting for the department head to open his bloody e-mail/TDF doesn't work, really

The Doctor Falls is literally the highest graded Master episode on IMDB, and I'm not denying that it's a good episode, and also know that for some it is there that they like the Saxon Master best, but tbh for me it just doesn't work. Or perhaps works, but in that weird way where a work meant to send one message gets celebrated in a completely contradicotry way, Don Quixote style. Yes, Simm!Master's fans have been critcising it since 2017 as erasing his story in s3-4 (and tbc, I am pissed at the the way in which the Blasting of Rassilon was framed by Twelve, also bad at driving? the guy who repeatedly went back and forth between the end of the universe and 2007 UK? coming from the "oh I might have missed my mark by a few centuries" guy?), to which it is questioned if he really had a development, to which others ask if Missy had an actual development, and so on and so forth, but to me the problems go way, way deeper. At the same time, I always welcome pointing out if I missed something and general criticism (consider it a practice in waiting for the comments from my supervisors)!

First off, a simple question: did the Doctor have an actual plan that involved the Masters, or he was just expecting them to happily turn his sacrifical suicide into an expanded one for no practical reason??? Like, his only plan is "and then someone stays here and blows up the entire platform so Cybermen can't get higher up, and that's gonna be me because I'm dying and tired". So did he want the Masters to "stand with him" to, what die too? Leave with the colonists - and then what, live as retired alcoholic gunmen farmers, Clint Eastwood-style? Because the part where the colonists get away was achieved anyway! I guess they could get up to the Doctor's TARDIS all the way up and then even go fetch him, but I suppose that would elbow the sacrificial part away. Also, the option where at least some of the colonists pack themselves into those lifts and everyone gets onboard the Master's TARDIS is like. There. And wouldn't those guys know where more lifts were, like that's how they got to the level in the first place???

I'm not saying you can't headcanon an alternative plan that the Doctor had, but it sure as hell wasn't communicated to the audience, which, to clarify, I am focusing on here, like I'm analysing the episode as a work of fiction that someone was in charge of, not a documentary of strategic mistakes done by people under pressure.

Second: Missy just had to, had to, keep her plans a secret from the Doctor. Why???? I don't even have much to elaborate on here, I just could never understand this, and a more serious problem here is:

Why did Missy have to kill Saxon in the first place??? Like, seriously. Why. Do you really look at this guy and think he would have thought twice about running away on his own if he got to the lift and noticed she wasn't there??? Oh yeah, but "he's worried about his future!". Well everyone would be if they saw their future standing in awe of the protagonist doing exposition for ten years of your own timeflow, but frankly I just can't see this guy as not prioritising the here and now of his own (very nice) ass needing to run! Like, was he actively STOPPING HER from staying with the Doctor? No, he just strolled the fuck away without turning back! Oh, but maybe Missy knows he has to die now to regenerate into her, so it's all about keeping the timeline going. Soooo, she does remember these events after all? The Master went out of plot timeline overlapping induced memory loss at just the right moment to realise he's dying of a stab wound on a Mondasian colony ship, but also to already be onboard the TARDIS? Very convenient. Again, I wouldn't be raging if this was actually communicated, but it wasn't.

Which finally leads me to Missy's "sacrifice". What sacrifice? No, really, did her death actually change anything, because that's like the definition of a sacrifice? Leaving aside the whole problem of whether or not the Masters staying with the Doctor would have changed anything, Saxon was letting her get away until she started talking about her reasons for staying. Which she did because?... Like, again, it's not like either of them is going to remember anything of this. Yeah, but it needed to be communicated for the audience. Ok, then this is exactly when bad writing steps in. Like, if you need the characters to do something incredibly illogical for the audience's sake then you didn't write it in a way that would be naturally incorporated into the story.

Missy didn't sacrifice herself. She died of character exposition. She crashed into the fourth wall like a bird into glass door. She's shuffled off her screentime coil, run down the literal curtain, and joined the bleedin' incidental music orchestra invisible. She's not pushing daisies only because BBC's budget didn't include them.

Ok, I railed myself up, but really, the fact that Missy's death is usually framed as a sacrifice is one of those moment where I literally wonder if there are some glaring version differences between the episode I watched and that watched by everyone else.

But you know, I get it. As the Doctor explicitly laid out in his speech (which is its own can of worms on whether it's logically solid, that I'll get down to while waiting for my principal to open his bloody e-mail), this is not about winning, this is about doing the kind thing. Which is where the actually interesting interpretation of The Doctor Falls comes in. Which is the clash between deontological and utilitarian ethics.

Crash course: deontological ethics relies on viewing certain acts as good or evil by their very nature, while utilitarianism wages moral value in reference to some specific goal, which is not neccessarily "gain", but for example, preserving the lives of as many people as possible. To use the trolley dilemma (which is a thought experiment! it's meant to illustrate things, you're really not doing a "gotcha!" by asking about mass transport quality and regulations, though I appreciate this as a rethoric device), a deontologist will say reverting the train to one person instead of five is wrong, because at this point it becomes murder, while an utilitarianist will say reverting is right, because more people are saved than killed. To use a less cliche and reconfigured example, is it moral to blow up a planet if that's the only way to stop a war that's literally warping time into nonexistence? I've argued elsewhere that the deontology vs. utilitarianism is also the contrast made by John Smith vs. professor Yana. Yeah, I know the usual reading is "oh, look, the Doctor can be kind of a dick and the Master a good person!", but if you scratch down to the bottom of things, it's more the case of "the Doctor will focus on the values of people they identify with and the Master will focus on a goal; should they land in an environment where they will respectively identify with bigots, and have only one goal left in the universe and that's preserving life, they will be how they ended up being". Self-sacrifice becomes a matter of calculating yourself as the most expendable party.

In TDF, the Doctor is placed on the deontological side of the dilemma by everything he says during his speech(tm): it's kind. It just is, by its very nature. And to clarfiy for the pissing on poor website: I am not denying this! This is a very, very soild point! What I do argue is that Saxon Master isn't just being very bad because he never heard the music uwu, but that there's an ethical standpoint to his actions too! He's an utilitarianist, as the Master's always been! Why, just why is it wrong to mind control people if they clearly can't make the right choices on their own? Why is absolute power evil if individual will keeps going astray? Why is it wrong to body posses people if this saves my own life? Why shouldn't I change history if there are very good people in need of saving? Why shouldn't I run away if the only plan to save others will include me dying and no gain in return?

Again, the Doctor's speech is its own can of worms, but arguably the biggest leap done there is jumping from guilt vs. shame to "to thy own self be true" arguments. When you think of the Master as a utilitarianist... it's Saxon who fell where he stood. He stood on the side of "This is a pointless endeavour and I reject pointless. And if I'm to become someone who goes for pointless, then I won't be myself anyway and I might as well die." Absolutely not the intended reading, but death of the author, baby.

[1337wtfomgbbq]

🍓 🛼 🥑 🪐 and a question of your choice!

Soooooorryyyyyyy I took so long to answer this. You know brain is neck deep in star wars AU😅🤦

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

Idk exactly. I think the fact that I always liked making up my own characters and stories. And sometime around the twilight boom I think I wrote my first stories.

But I wrote JUST for myself for quite some time before posting my very first fic. Especially because English isn't my first language and it took me a long while to get to a point where I felt secure enough in my English.

🛼 ⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis

How to best describe the Star Wars AU where me and @dorianslover basically just fuck over Ullrich, Armstrong, Hincapie, the Schlecks, Leipheimer and Hamilton for our twisted amusement?

😈✨️🗡🩸☠️

I also have this random idea about Holm switching rooms with Jan during the TdF '96 cause he wants away from Bjarne's shit music, and smut ensues.

🎶🤬🙏🎶🤦

🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

Mia of course. @dorianslover too. ANYONE in the classic f1 gang... probably @gufettogrigio or @kimizilla.

@nancylou444 for sure😅🙏

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

1: the ✨️weird✨️ lil sith family😈 I just love them okay. They are twisted and fucked up and it's exactly what my brain needs right now😅

2: the fact that my boss cut my hours actually gives me time to just... relax. And for my body to recover from the MS flare up I had around Christmas.

3: tumblr actually. I feel so so much better atm that going on tumblr is loads of fun again😅 For some time it felt more like a chore😮‍💨

[deepspacedukat]

Ooo

Vreenak and a Lt get trapped on his ship (im thinking some weird shit went down when Garak tried to kill him - temporal disturbance, some techno babble, etc) now they’re stranded and everyone thinks their dead. Turns out she’s section 31 and cannot believe her luck at being so close to the chairman of the Tal’Shiar and could possibly kill him herself to help the war effort. He’s thinking he has some weak and pretty Starfleet officer to torment and also take his anger out on because he’d just been tricked by Sisko. She pretends for a little while but after they both catch feelings, she has to come clean. That’s some angst there of course, but everything turns out ok (of course). Smuff (also soft Vreenak moments are tdf). It’s a good thing that the Romulans joined forces with the Federation so the two can stay together more easily after they are found, and Vreenak does something he never thought he’d do: he doesn’t tell anyone the data rod was a fake. He’s too lost in the sauce for his new human.

I am growling and absolutely feral over this! I–

Okayokayokay *deep breath*

I swear I had more coherent thoughts about this a second ago. I just really love this dynamic. I can totally see the first sleep after Vreenak figures out who she really is being kind of tense. Now they’re both paranoid that they’re gonna get killed by the other if they try to sleep, so they like...don’t sleep for a couple of days. Eventually one of them is finally like “Y’know what, if you kill me in my sleep, just make it quick. I’m tired.” So they’re thoroughly stunned when they wake up the next morning, very much not dead. The other person gets sleep too, so now they’re both contemplating “hm...maybe this doesn’t have to end with one of us dying.”

Then, as you said, they both catch feelings and it’s all downhill from there. Smut, fluff, cuteness (in a spy x spy kinda way) and maybe...maybe when Garak tried to kill them, the ship was damaged and the guards he had with him were killed. She doesn’t expect him to, but he explains away any imperfections by saying it got caught in the explosion with one of his guards.

Romulus joins the war and Vreenak gets the girl. I love this. I SO LOVE THIS.

[theoriginalladya]

Tour de Fleece 2021 Wrap Up...

So, as a (week late almost) wrap up to my spinning for the Tour de Fleece this year, I thought I would share the picture when I FINALLY hit the darker colors in the Starry Night roving! Still a ways to go to get to the end of this thing, but it's there! There IS a light at the end of the tunnel!!! And I'm still very happy with how this is going! It may be a while yet before I get this part actually finished, and then I have to finish the second ply for it (I think I am going to stick with that silvery grey), so maybe by autumn I will be close to finishing? I'd like to think I can finish it by my birthday (late October) so I could, maybe, start knitting with it. We shall see!

Anyway, thanks to everyone who participated in the Tour de Fleece whose spinning I saw - such lovely projects!!!!! I am envious as well as delighted! See you next year!

[incorrectdarkfate]

Grace: If I say I love you, will you say it back?

Sarah: Yes.

Grace: I love you.

Sarah: It back.

[timechaser]

i let this thought go tonight and it will never see the light of the moon ever again so here goes every thought in my mind abt the poppy war trilogy. mind you, a lot of this is just nonsensical dabble and incoherent babbling bc i cant ever form coherent thoughts but whatever.

id pay big money and wage a thousand wars to go back in time and yank every material object out of my hand and out of my reach to ensure that i never even wondered abt the trilogy's existence. it's not that i regret reading them because they sucked--no, far from it. it's not that i led myself blind and didnt take the extra precautions to make sure that i was in the right mindset to read them. i knew what i was going into, what ch21 was withholding, i knew how graphic and how heavy they would be to read. i retreated to my room and poured a stupid amount of hours staring at a screen, at a bunch of words, and feeling such bizarre emotions.

that being said, i love runin. i love how bold she was and how persistent she was despite having her bones kicked inwards from quite literally every person she has let into her life. i love how she was a proper morally grey character, a heroine led astray and betrayed by her very own thoughts. i love her bc even though she was the anthropomorphic personification of a god, she was still human. at the end of the day, what killed her wasnt a higher being, it was the self. that part of her arc cemented her place in my top list of female book leads. i love rin because she was human through and through, all the sides of it, she was everything. reading her was a tough pill to swallow, but a necessary one because she is proof of how dangerous the mind can be to itself, to how dangerous humanity is to itself. and sometimes id wish i could reach into their world and pull her back to ground bc of her recklessness. i love and hate rin at the same time, never one more than the other.

i love kitay even more. never once have i faulted him, he knew what was best, a moral compass for readers really. especially after primarily reading from rin's violent and often irrational perspective, it was relieving to have a voice of reason. theres not much i can say abt him other than the fact that he is my favourite out of the trio, id see it through no matter what. yes i wish he'd said no to bonding himself to rin, to put himself on a compromise, but at the same time i'm glad that he did. kept rin grounded, gave her a sense of purpose other than vengeance, instilled her a sense of duty and obligation--to survive, not only for herself but for him as well. will always defend him no matter what, this boy is clean and he is faultless.

nezha nezha nezha. i tried for three books (and tdf) to like him, truly, but even after all those pages i still dont know how to feel about him. he was insufferable in the first book, honourable for most of the second, and downright pathetic in the third. but if i say that i hate nezha then id have to say that i hate rin as well. they were both children of war, born under humiliating circumstances and forced to take the wager of compromise, they share the same faults. its not fair of me to defend one and leave the other open, they forced the ugliness out of each other. they were tragic. i saw his betrayal from kilometres away, but anticipation did not make forgiveness easier. but i know what it feels like to be brought up as a pawn for ur own family's benefit, to be subjected to so much responsibility when you barely know the world and its wonders, feels like a push to the edge. i cant blame him for that.

in short, im devastated. ive had my tears ricochet on loop since i started the first book. i am but a hollow shell of the person i was before this book. it has altered my life (/hj) and i cant go a minute of my day without thinking abt it. it's incredibly tragic, it's flawed in its own ways but it is also three incredible pieces of literature. rfk did well, im glad i read it while at the same time hate myself for reading the entirety of the trilogy in the span of 36hrs. i dont think its once u can read almost immediately, u need to pace yourself. 5 golden stars from me nonetheless.

[princess-of-the-corner]

For next gen kids (assuming this is MHA) the awnser is to combine accidents with adoption. They need to accidently run into a kid with more heroic insitict than common sense and scoop that kid up like batman does Robins.

tdf;oagiuDE

YOU'RE RIGHT IF ONLY BECAUSE IT REALLY IS LIKE GENERATIONAL ON THE ADOPTION FRONT.

Izuku: "What? I got a dad by running into a dangerous situation that could've killed me! So of course I'm going to find an orphan who did the same nonsense!"

His partners: "Babe we love you but jesus fucking christ!"

[starbiology]

Hi. First, let me say that I really like you blog!! Your art is lovely.

I wanted ask what do you think will be the Darkest Faerie's role in the incoming plot? I remember her from the Altador Plot but I did that waaay back and can't remember seeing her much outside of that statue and the cool avatar. How does she tie in with what's happening now?

I ask because I see you mention her a lot, but I feel like I am missing many parts of this, both from you theories and Neo lore (that I can find on my own btw im not asking you to retell me). I haven't been in Neo these past few months but I might go back to weekly or daily visiting the site when the plot starts.

Thank you! 🖤🦇

thank you :D!!

One of the main reasons we know shes coming back for this plot was actually this past halloween event in which her and other villains are talked about being in a void.

A lot of the speculation is that the characters seem to be hiding in/lost/trapped in this void. The advent calendar was the first time we got to see what the void is and Kass' sword was in it too. The dialogue isnt on the site but its on SunnyNeo

Also this is still so funny to me 'Welcome to the Cosmic Horrors of the VOID. Enjoy, and happy holidays!'

Other important events that are gearing up for the plot was the 2023 festival of neggs, the faerie festival and its comic

And back on topic to The Darkest Faerie!

Looking at her story, for awhile I thought the only option that wouldnt be turning her to stone (TNT if you can hear me dont turn her to stone again) would be to kill her. It wouldnt even be a bad choice to kill her, shes a major villain across multiple plots. Id actually still argue it would be a fair end to her story.

But theres two points that make killing her off hard

The last time she was seen, she realized the ring she made to create wraiths was actually draining her life and she cant remove it. Pitting your good characters against a weakened villain is just narratively a very bad idea. It makes the hero seem weaker than they are and nearly no matter what the villain did, it comes across as cruel

The Altador council, despite having all the right to be angry at her or happy about her defeat, are So Damn Upset. The day of her betrayal is literally a day of somber remembrance

the entirety of this advent calendar clip just,,altador bro,,,you okay?

and of course the plot book

The council is stuck in a story of 'Used to be 12 heroes, now its only 11' its written on almost all inscriptions about them. It would be nice to see the council come back together again by TDF teaming up with them, even if it starts as part of a scheme of her's (which I wouldnt be surprised it does) until she finally overcomes her obsession with power.

It would make for a happy end to the council's story, otherwise theyre just going to be stuck in this state of mourning their friend

[magic-missle-blog]

Ghost division 2 – The belly of the beast

2nd story in what will hopefully be a series. Roughly 6k words. Hope you enjoy

:readmore:

Four missiles streaked through the darkness of space from the canadation destroyer as it smashed through the human battle group.

The warship TDF Glasgow rocked as a missile impacted the hull. Point defence had taken out three others but the fourth slammed into the starboard side.

“Damage report!” the captain shouted as he swivelled his command chair to face the tactical officer.

“The hull plating is scorched and buckled, but no internal damage. We were lucky.” The tactical officer replied, shouting to be heard over the various alarms and beeps in the small bridge.

“We cant rely on luck. If we get hit again its your head!” The captain growled. His hair was cut close to his scalp and a sheen of sweat reflected in the bright yellow light on his dark skin.

Tactical officer Rotchford nodded. Her brow furrowed as she quickly typed into her console. “don’t worry I’m on it, I’ve analysed the firing pattern and I can probably take out most of the missiles, its those fucking fighters and energy weapons I cant do a thing about.”

Just as she finished speaking a swarm of small locust shaped fighters buzzed passed the ship, pelting the armour with energy weapons.

Turrets tracked the fighters, spitting hypersonic tungsten shells. One of the Canidation fighters exploded, the rest of the group took evasive action and continued on the attack run through the human fleet.

The ship rocked again and various alarms clamoured for attention. Lights on the bridge flickered.

Captain Conroy nodded and straightened his uniform. He brought up a tactical display on the console built into his chair.

Five Canidation warships had engaged the fleet of seven Terran defence force destroyers and the humans were loosing badly. The Canidations had the firepower and faster ships. Fighters swarmed over the fleet firing kinetic weapons and lasers, some with great effect.

He watched as another of the fleet exploded. That was the second ship they had lost. The battle had been raging for what felt like hours but in reality it was only 30 minutes. The Canidations had dropped out of hyperspace in this remote system to ambush a Human supply run. The freighters had escaped unharmed but the escort fleet couldn’t leave, not without leaving this Canidation battle group free reign to attack other convoys.

“Shit. That was the Newcastle!” the first officer said “Fleet captain Broadie…he was a good man”

The computer screamed out a proximity warning as another salvo of missiles streaked towards them, but true to her word the tactical officers new point defence programme took them all out. She returned fire with the main cannon as the destroyer elegantly swung around, scoring a direct hit to the Canidations engines. The insectoid ship vented atmosphere and appeared to lose power as running lights flickered out and the ship drifted

The other enemy ships moved towards the remaining fleet.

“Scan that ship, is it dead?” Conroy commanded the science officer as the warship rocked under more impacts

“yeah it appears… Fuck” the science officer said as his console went dark and the lights cut out.

A few moments later the ships emergency power kicked in and the lights came back on, but dull red colour. His console lit up. “ yeah its dead. I think. Scans are all over the place.”

Conroy nodded, as the most senior officer left in the tattered fleet he assumed command.. “signal the fleet. Lets get the fuck out of here...but slowly, I want to draw them away from that damaged ship.” He plotted a course that would take them deep into the Oort cloud of this system.

The remaining ships of the Terran defence force broke off the engagement and retreated. Caught by surprise at the sudden change in tactics, The Canidations stopped dead, recalled the fighters then followed, slowly gaining ground on the slower terran warships.

Glancing at his command console captain Conroy opened fleet wide comms. Signalling the other commanders he said “Listen up people. Once we are in that cloud drop sensor decoys try to buy me some time . I’m going to double back and capture that ship.”

The crew looked at him in astonishment

“Damn” said the first officer. “And I thought today was going to be a quiet day.”

************************************

The war against the Canidations had been raging for 3 months, and the Terran empire was losing.

The Canidations ships were more advanced, and they had the numbers. The only saving grace is that the Canidations were fighting two other larger empires. Humanity, as a relatively new race to the galactic stage, hadn’t been seen as a concern. Almost an afterthought.

No one knew why the war started. Canidations were a reclusive species. They had no trade with the wider galactic community, no embassies, no contact at all. No one really even knew if “Canidation” was their species name. They stayed in their home systems, A group of a dozen or so stars a few light years around the Canadathon, their home world.

A decade ago the Canidations has blasted out of their home system with an over powering military force and attacked a neighbouring world without warning. Everything was a viable target to them and they didn’t take prisoners…or at least they didn’t keep them alive for long.

For ten long years they attacked and destroyed any neighbouring species, expanding their empire. The first races, unused to galactic warfare on such a scale had fallen quickly. Other species had tried to build up their own military force but simply didn’t have the infrastructure in place and couldn’t come close to the Canidations speed of production. It seemed like for every Canidation ship that fell two more would take its place.

The Canidations were an insectoid race, they looked like an unholy amalgamation of a spiders body with a praying mantis torso, like an insect centaur. They didn’t seem to capture any world they won, they destroyed it. Left it a lifeless husk, took any easily accessible resources then moved on like locusts. Maybe they would be back to terraform it later, maybe not. No one knew.

The destruction on such a scale seemed senseless, and completely alien. Not even the best human generals, phycologists or philosophers could come up with a reason for this carnage.

What was known was they had a lot of ships. More than every other military in this region of space combined. They had been building up for decades and it seemed like now was the time to unleash their might.

******************************

The Glasgow had ducked behind a dwarf planet in the Oort cloud and waiting while the remaining fleet had drawn the Canidations away, then used a risky in system jump to get back quickly to the battlefield. They had scanned for survivors of the destroyed Terran ships but unfortunately found plenty of debris but no life signs.

TDF Glasgow slowly drew up alongside the crippled Canidation vessel, comms jammers at full power blocking any communication from the hulk. It had been few hours since the shot had crippled the Bug ship, but it was still drifting without any main power, its engines dark and cooling.

It looked like reserve power had kicked in and there was several Canidations on the main hull close to the breach in what looked like dark space suits, although it could have been their flesh. Conroy didn’t know enough about the species to tell. It was obvious the Canidations were trying to repair the damage.

The insectoid ship was large, at least half again as big as the Glasgow and followed an unorthodox design. It was nothing like the sleek Terran ships, whose lines were reminiscent of the war planes that fought in earth’s skies in the 20th century. Human ships were long and sleek, with swept back retractable wings protruding from the mid section to allow atmosphere flight when fully extended. Canidation was bulky, and looked like a flattened pinecone and close range scans showed it be highly modular.

The bridge appeared to be at on top of the bulky front section. Conroy guessed below this would be weapons, crew quarters and the like. Engineering and the ships drive core, and sub light engines must be located in the tapering end. Cannons clustered around the front with turrets in two rows along the top and bottom of the ship.

Conroy assumed there would be about 60 or so crew on board. Terran destroyers had a crew of 30 plus 10 marines. Not good odds Conroy thought.

“Easy to build, quick to swap different sections out if needed” Science officer McCallum said as he looked over the data.

Conroy nodded to Commander Paulson, the first office. “Pauly, get a boarding party ready. Find any intel you can get your hands on but don’t take any stupid risks. Focus on engineering, medical, ship deployments, shit we can find to kill these things.” Looking at McCallum “what do they need?”

McCallum brought up all the information he had on Canidations, which wasn’t a lot.

“Scans show gravity and life support is still active and the ship has atmosphere, although I use the term loosely. Their air is made up of 30% oxygen, 15% Co2, 10% Hydrogen sulphide, the rest is nitrogen, water vapour and trace gasses. Average temperature is roughly 30 degrees Celsius and humidity is close to 70%. Gravity is low, roughly 0.6G. So basically your walking into a hot sweaty hellhole that’ll smell like Satan’s ass. Enjoy” he finished with a laugh.

Paulson looked at the captain “Gee thanks Boss, you give me all the best jobs. Breathing units all round then.” He saluted as he left the bridge.

“Mac…what killed this ship? Did we get a lucky shot?”

McCallum looked over his reading for a few moments. “Yeah, very lucky. Looks like there is a weakness around the main engine core on this ship. Plasma exhaust has weakened the hull armour in a small area right above the main power linkage, its little better than paper. Must be a design flaw…if that shot had hit even a few meters on either side it wouldn’t have made a dent.”

Rotchford laughed. “luck had nothing to do with it. It’s pure skill.”

She grinned

Conroy rolled his eyes.

“Yeah yeah if you say so” he said grinning. Conroy didn’t mind a bit of banter with the bridge crew. He felt it build camaraderie and they all worked better as a result.

Turning to Macallum he said

“Deep scan this bitch, I see what else you can find, anything that’ll give us an edge.”

From over the other side of the bridge the tactical offer said “Captain, I think I’ve found something too. The missiles on the ship are armed.”

Conroy looked over “So?”

Rotchford brushing her brown bangs that had escaped from the severe bun on her head said “Our missiles auto arm a second after launch to prevent any accidents, these appear to pre arm before launch, Probably as soon as they find a hostile ship. Once direct hit could detonate the entire missile battery. The armour is thick but the launch tubes are vulnerable . “

“Comms” Conroy said excitedly “Tight beam the rest of the fleet and let them know what we’ve found…might give them an edge.”

Turning back to tactical

“Why would they do that?”

Rotchford shrugged. “not sure. It does mean the missiles can be fired much closer then we can shoot. Out missiles travel so fast that by the time they arm they’re a couple of hundred kilometres away, makes them useless for close engagements. By pre-arming them they get around that problem. Makes it almost impossible to shoot them down when the bugs get in close.”

Minutes passed slowly. Soon the boarding party was on board a small ship to ship shuttle and on route to dock with the crippled ship.

The shuttle did a quick fly over the damaged section and fired small arms at the Canidations working on the damaged hull, Killing the repair team. The aliens magnetic grips kept the bodies stuck to the hull like bugs splattered by a windscreen.

McCallum looked up “I’ve found something else captain, it wont help us now but I think we can take advantage of it.”

He put his display on the main screen, All eyes turned to it.

“I thought about using some kind of plasma weapon to weaken the armour of the whole ship, and that’ll probably work, we don’t use plasma tech, but I’m sure the weapons experts back home can build something.” He took a breath “Anyway, that got me thinking, Plasma is basically really hot ionized gas. Its expelled as exhausts right away as too much heat inside the ship it bad. As you know its almost impossible to loose heat in space, so we use active cooling systems to…”

Conroy interrupted before McCallum could go into a lecture on the finer points of starship heat management. “Get to the point”

Mccallum looked sheepish “Sorry sir, anyway, the Canidations seem to use radiator panels, they’re well armoured but vulnerable to excessive heat. A focussed laser beam could overload them. If they cant loose heat they’ll cook inside the ships.”

“Well done Mac, get everything we’ve found so far and bundle the data ready for transmission back to HQ”

Minutes dragged as Mccallum compiled the data.

Everyone was on eggshells, watching the boarding shuttle latch on to the Canidation hull and begin cutting through. Tactical constantly scanning for any Canidation ships that might be inbound. Conroy wondered how the rest of the fleet was fairing. The TDF ships were more manoeuvrable than the larger Canidation warships, so as long as they kept in a dense part of the Oort cloud, dodging comets and dwarf planets then the TDF ships should have an advantage.

*****************************

Inside the shuttle the atmosphere was tense. Paulson looked over the assembled combat team. All had breathing units over their lower faces. The units would filter out the harmful gasses and reduce the oxygen pressure to something breathable, but as they weren’t full space suits or fully sealed Paulson knew the stench would get through, he grinned inwardly he hadn’t told the team what the Canidation air was like, he wanted to see the reactions.

The ten member boarding team all had dark grey combat armour, and each carried a small side arm and a combat knife. Eight also carried an assault rifle with enough ammo to take on a small army, the other two combat engineers carried various tools and computer equipment. Their mission was to hack into any systems they could find and mine it for data.

The shuttle bumped into the hull and latched on. A magnetic tube made an air tight seal around the hatch. It opened to show a sold hull. The engineers immediately started cutting to gain access. It was slow going. Armour that can withstand heavy ship weapons wont easily fail to small plasma torches.

Sargent Waltham stepped up next to Paulson. “We’re ready to go” She said coolly.

Paulson nodded. “Get in and secure the area. Set up fire lines kill anything that’s got more than two legs.” He said to Waltham.

She was tall, blonde, very pretty in hard way. People, especially men, tended to underestimate her due to her looks, thinking she was just a made up barbie doll. Paulson had thought the same thing once, until she kicked his ass in hand to hand training. The first round he went easy on her and he was flat on his back in 5 seconds. The second round he went all out, and to his credit, he managed to last a full 7 seconds before she had him pined, face pressed against the floor and his left arm twisted up his back. Waltham, like all the other,s had earned her place in the combat team, but unlike the men she had to continually prove she deserved to be there. This constant striving for perfection had made her one of the best solders Paulson had ever worked with.

The thick hull armour fell inwards with a heavy thunk. The sound echoed around the shuttle. The stench of rotten eggs filler the small enclosed space and everyone wrinkled their noses.

“For fucks sake… is this ship full of farts?” Jones, the lead combat engineer said.

Paulson grinned. “Ok move out. Slow and steady, I don’t want any fuck ups.”

The team moved slowly into the alien vessel. The interior was dark, smelly and hot, lighting was a deep red that cast odd shadows. Paulson didn’t know if this was normal or if it was due to low power.

Waltham took her place first in line as the engineers cleared the hull and opened a portal to the interior of the ship. She directed one of her team , Ramerez, a young marine on his first away mission , hang back and guard the shuttle just encase they needed to make a quick exit.

Ramerez took position just inside the the shuttle door, he pulled a couple of boxes containing emergency supplies across the entrance and dug in.

The rest of the team followed her lead, with Paulson acting as rear guard, scanning the corridor behind him with a quick practiced eye.

One of the marines whispered in a low voice “damn, this is weird.”

“what is? Looks like a normal ship corridor to me” Paulson said

“sir...that’s what I mean. I expected...well dirt..or tunnels like that old movie ‘Aliens’. You know, the one where the dildo bursts out of some guys chest and all these Marines hunt it down? I mean they’re bugs for Christ’s sake..but this just looks normal.”

Paulson shook his head.“Lay off the old horror flicks. Keep it together”.

Looking at a handheld scanner Jones said “looks like there might be a room down the corridor to the right, I’m reading power spikes, it could be a place I can hack into there systems.”

The team crept inward, the low gravity giving them a bounce to their steps. They were searching for a room with a computer access, but all the could see were long featureless corridors. The came to a junction and as they passed a blast of plasma energy almost took Walthams head off. She Pulled back just in time, lightning quick reflexes saving her life. As it was the plasma shot singed her combat helmet.

Risking another blast, Waltham popped her head around then quickly pulled it back. Three Canidations waited around the corner, plasma rifles at the ready for another shot.

Pulling a flashbang from her belt she leaned out and expertly tossed he weapon into the centre of the group, a second later a loud BANG and a FLASH of bright light lit up the corridor. She could hear a smattering of legs as the Canidations fell back. Her and two of her team ran around keeping low and opened fire. The sound of the assault rifles sounded odd in the dense air. the Canidations tried to return fire but there shots went wide, scorching the metal bulkheads, obviously still blinded by the light. The skirmish was over quickly.

The team crept up slowly to the dead aliens. One in the was headless. Its body twitched, a dark yellow fluid pumping from its neck. The other two were still. Red faceted eyes that took up most of the head were dull and lifeless. Mandibles closed tighter than a vice.

Bullets had ripped the skinny top part of one in half, and the others larger thorax between the spiders-like legs was riddled and leaking the same yellow fluid.

The team looked at the corpses, they were…creepy. They unnerved the humans just looking at them. Jones knelt down and pointed something out. “Look, this one has a couple of cybernetic legs. That one has a cybernetic head…That’s so weird. Gives me the creeps.”

Paulson looked. “Why weird?”

“Think of what this means. They use medical tech to repair wounds. Replace missing limbs like we do. You don’t think of bugs caring for individuals I guess. I assumed they would be like a hive, like ants or termites just mindless soldier’s, disposable and replaceable. Maybe they’re more than that.“

One of the other marines, Patel a tall solid build man with a cold gaze said in a whisper “They’re like spiders, I fucking hate spiders. Normal spiders are bad enough but these are super sized fuckers with guns. “

He shivered as a cold chill ran down his spine. Taking one last place at the dead Canadation he walked slowly past, rifle ready for another attack.

As the team moved on one of the corpses stood up with a clatter. It swiped at a passing trooper with its upper limbs, razor sharp claws sliced across his face and chest, cutting flesh and the scoring deep cuts on his combat armour. He fell back shocked. The headless alien thrashed about, seemingly attracted to the noise the shocked humans made. It tried to reach for another one but a burst of fire from Waltham’s rifle tore through its thorax . the alien twitched again then fell back. She crept up, gun ready and kicked the corpse. No reaction. It was truly dead.

Patel looked a mess, his face had been cut to the bone, but he’d live. Two others helped bandage him up.

“fucking fuckitty fucking spiders! “ he shouted and kicked the corpse, holding his wounded face and blood soaked bandages.

“get back to the shuttle” Waltham commanded him.

He nodded, his face screwed up in pain, The bandages soaking with blood. He got to his feet and headed back the way he came.

Paulson looked at jones “What the fuck?”

Jones shrugged “I’m no medical expert, but I guess a head shot wont kill them. Maybe they keep their brains in there ass or something, I guess the head is just for eating and seeing.” Pointing to the Canidation with the cybernetic head “Maybe loosing the head for them is just like loosing an eye for us? Or maybe they’re like cockroaches. We should drag these things back to the shuttle. Medical back at HQ would have a field day.”

Paulson nodded “team, forget headshots, aim for the centre mass.” He directed a couple of team member to take the most intact body back to the shuttle “Keep it under guard…just in case”

The diminished team made there way deeper into the ship. Paulson was aware of the time he was taking, he knew The Glasgow couldn’t wait forever, but he wanted more than a few dead bugs. Soon they came across an empty room. The door was closed but a kick and a shove and it slid back into the wall. The team entered. Looking around, there was a lot of electronics that Paulson couldn’t guess the function off. Jones quickly set up his scanner. Pulling open a panel he found circuit boards. After quick scan he attached a lead from his scanner to one of the chips.

“If i can hack this, this should give me access” he worked quickly The rest of the team took up positions around the door. Paulson moved to the back of the room and signalled Waltham.

“thoughts? He said after she walked over

Waltham shrugged “they don’t seem too tough. Decent weapons though.“ she pointed to the plasma rifle she’d captured.

“hows things between you two?” he nodded to Jones

Relationships were against regulations but as long as it was discreet no one really minded. It could be lonely in deep space.

Waltham smiled. “he’s sweet, like a puppy. Always eager to please. But utterly fearless too. He could be a great soilder, but likes his gizmos too much.”

“Yeah jones is a good one.” Paulson agreed. He’s been friends with jones for years. They grew up in the same town went to the same high school, and went through training together.

Minutes ticked by. Jones had attached a large data cube to his scanner. He came over to the pair while the data downloaded “. I can copy the full ships hard drive. Shouldn’t take long. There’s not a lot of data, mainly seems to be the ships opperating system. Seems pretty basic. I did find something interesting though, I found ship schematic. We’re not far from a path to fire control. Its down the end of that corridor out there. “

Paulson thought for a second. “no, we have enough we need to get back”

Just as he said that his communicator beeped. It was the shuttle “Sir, get back here we need to go! A Canidation warship is on approach, ETA 7 minutes!”

“Ok people pack your shit up, we need to get out of here! Double time!”

The team grabbed there gear and quickly made there way back into the corridor. Several canidations ran down the steel hallway, the hack had triggered some kind of security protocol. These Canidations didn t have weapons but they moved so fast in the lower gravity that the quickly closed the distance, soon it was a melee, claw against fist.

****************

Alarms cried out for attention on the bridge of the Glasgow. A Canidation warship was closing in.

“eta?” asked Conroy. His calm voice a counterpoint to the frantic activity on the bridge.

“roughly 7 minutes until weapons range. I’ve contacted the shuttle”. maccalum replied.

Conroy nodded. Looking at the helmsman her said “keep that bug ship in between us. We’re smaller and so keep us in its shadow and hopefully they won’t get a weapons lock.”

Nodding, through helmsman fired up the thrusters.

“’ll try time get a target lock on the missile batteries.” Rotchford reported as she programmed the ships turrets.

Captain Conroy starred at the main screen, his fingers tapping a rhythm on the arm of his command seat.

Paulson tried to get a clear shot as a canidaton reared up on its four rear legs. It brought its full weight down on Waltham. Its mandibles opened and snapped closed right over her head. Only her quick thinking and combat helmet saved her from decapitation. She ducked her head and trusting the hardened carbon nanotube and ceramic construction she head-butted the bug right in its open mouth. Mandibles crunched against the helm. The force of through blow and the weight of the bug staggered her for a second, but years of hand to hand training came to her and with a twist and a flick she grabbed the alien and slammed it against the bulkhead. The lower gravity and adrenaline giving her almost superhuman strength.

Her combat knife flashed on the low light as she stabbed the mantis like torso. There was resistance then with a crunch she forced the blade through the carapace. The bug shuddered and wrenched. Flailing its limbs then it was still.

The skirmish was over as quickly as it started. Looking around Paulson shouted “sound off”

A chorus of voices said “here” or “i’m good”

A few troopers took minor injuries but no fatalities.

They sprinted down the corridor. The sound of gunfire brought them up short. The bugs were trying to capture the shuttle. Paulson knew if they lost that they were dead.

A scream echoed down the steel corridor. One of his men had fallen. Canidations pressed on.

“We need a distraction” Paulson shouted to Waltham over the blaring alarms.

“i have an idea. Hold here for a few seconds”

With that she sprinted back the way she came. Moments later an explosion rocked the ship. The lights and gravity cut out, then seconds later they came back on. The unprepared soilders hit the ground but were quickly back on there feet, the Canidations were not as lucky, they were a tangle of legs and claws further down the corridor.

Seizing his chance, Paulson shouting a battle cry and his boarding party fell in the bugs from behind. The battle was short and brutal but they pushed through just as Waltham returned. Her hair was burned and armour scorched.

“What the fuck did you do?” shouted Paulson

“I overloaded that plasma rifle and tossed it in the fire control room. I think we need to get out of here, that room is burning and it’s right next to the missiles”

Once everyone was on board the hatch slammed shut and the shuttle detached then raced back to the Glasgow, just as another explosion ripped through the Canidation warship. A series of smaller explosion’s rocked the ship them with a blast like a supernova the power core blew up. The shuttle was caught in the fireball but escaped with minor damage.

Paulson looked at his and bruised team as the shuttle pilot plotted a course back to the Glasgow.

Paulson pushed one of the Canidation corpses to the side, making down room in the small shuttle. He sat next to the body of a young man, almost a boy. Ramerez. It was his first tour, he was 18 and fresh out of boot camp. Ramerez had taken a plasma blast to the chest. His armour was burned through. Mercifully he had been killed instantly.

************

Conroy watched as the Canidation ship exploded. The shuttle streaked towards the hanger.

“well... shit” he said “get the shuttle on board and get ready to bug out”

calls of “aye” and “yessir” Echoed around the bridge..

The Canidation warship closed in, spitting fire and death at the Glasgow. Point defence destroyed the incoming missiles but the ship rocked from impacts

The Glasgow returned fire, turrets pounded the underside of the Canidation ship as it passed overhead passing through the expanding could of gas and debris.

The helmsman kept a steady course until the shuttle was back in then started evasive manoeuvres, he would have to hold the ship steady for a few moments to allow the hyperdrive to spin up, but the Canidation ship was not making it easy.

“Shuttle is on board. Prepare for Jump in 3...2...1...”

The ship lurched to the side and spun almost 90 degrees, crew members were thrown around the bridge like sticks caught in a hurricane. Alarms blared.

The main lights were down, red emergency lamps cast an eerie glow. Groans came from the crew

Rochford pulled herself back into her seat. Blood running from a head wound. She checked her console “sir..the hyperdrive core has been hit. We’re venting plasma and atmosphere...main power is down. Weapons down....the Canidations are coming around for another pass...”

Before Conroy could respond an explosion tore through the bridge as a missile impacted the armour surrounding the command center.

A ceiling panel that had been knocked loose earlier in the fight fell with a resounding crash pinning Conroy to his command chair and knocking him unconscious. Bones snapped under the force of the impact.

Rochford as the most senior officer left standing opened ship wide Comms “all hands. This is commander rochford. The captain is incapacitated abandon ship. I repeat abandon ship”

She moved as quickly as she could to try to help Conroy, Macallum was at his side trying to move the panel. “mac..leave him. We need to go...” she grabbed his arm “come on...move it soldier” macallum looked at the damaged viewscreen. The Canidation ship was baring down. Any second now it’s main cannons would finish the job. They were out of time.

White hot plasma blasts leaped from the Canidation vessel tearing across the cold black darkness. Promising death to the Glasgow.

A flash and a massive lurch pulled maccalum and Rotchford off their feet, but it wasn’t a weapon impact. It was the lurch of a gravity field forming a few miles away as a ship dropped out of hyperdrive.

A dangerous and potentially fatal move – a single miscalculation could have dropped the new ship right on top of them - but it saved the Glasgow. The rest of the fleet, the few ships that remained had jumped back to help. The TDF New York had jumped In front of the plasma blasts. Taking the hit that would have finished the Glasgow off. It opened up with its main cannons, rail guns blasting the armour above the Canidations missile batteries. Another Terran defence force ship TDF Cardiff jumped in behind and opened up on the bugs with everything it had. The Canidation vessel was powerful, but it couldn’t withstand the combined firepower of the vengeful human warships.

Explosion and explosion, hit after hit. The Canidations withered under the combined firepower and with a final flash it vanished as it’s fusion plant exploded.

The TDF Glasgows communication system beeped for attention. Maccalum moved slowly across

“This is captain Yoshimoyo on the New York. Prepare to receive medic and engineering teams. Your information won us the day Glasgow. All Canidation vessels have been destroyed. This is the first human victory in this war...”

“This is science officer McCallum. “thanks for the help. That was a risky move I owe your helmsman a beer. Captain Conroy has been injured. We don’t know how bad, the ship has taken heavy damage.

*****************

Weeks later Captain Conroy stood in front of admiral Wong.

Conroy had spent most of the time unconscious. His injuries sever, but with advanced medical skill, talented doctors and a dash of luck he had made a full recovery.

“Captain” the admiral began “I’m glad to see you’re back on your feet. I’ve out an official commendation for yourself and your entire crew. The information you fought so hard for will prove invaluable in this conflict”

Wong continued “The data contained ship specifications, technical manuals, training documents and recent fleet movements. With that information we’ve managed to push the Canidations back in a number of theatres , you and your crew have saved thousands of human lives. We all owe you a debt captain.”

“Thank you sir...i'm eager to get back to the Glasgow sir, to get back in the fight.”

The admiral shook his head

“I’m afraid not Conroy. The Glasgow was heavily damaged and will require months of repairs and refit. We can’t have a seasoned crew out of action for so long. You and your crew are being reassigned.”

Wong passed a pad to the captain

“Our newest, most powerful warship. The TDF Lucifer. You’ll be part of a task force – the ghost division. The Canidations are throwing more and more ships against us, and while we’ve slowed the advance to a crawl we are still loosing. You’ll go behind enemy lines and fight a guerrilla war. Do everything you can to bring the bugs down. Everything is a viable target, including the Canidation homeworld. Teach them to fear the wraith of Earth.”

End

[alcalexandria]

TDF Stuff I'm working on rn.

Just laying out TDF/Dani x Grace stuff I've done and am working on when I have time/energy/motivation, mostly for my own benefit.

(Here's a Dani x Grace fic rec list to keep you going in the mean time, though it could use an update!)

I can't make any promises on when any of this might actually wind up being done, this is really just a rough post-it note for my brain, but any pointers on any of the art or AV stuff are more than welcome.

Stuff That's Done!

- A full collated master post about whether Dani & Grace may actually have been planned as a canon couple + gifs. Status: Complete, here!

- Essay post about Sarah's importance in the Terminator Universe + gifs. Status: Complete, here!

- Essay post about Kyle vs Grace + gifs. Status: Complete, here!

- Rough list of dialogue used in teasers and trailers, but not the movie, just in case I need it. Status: Complete, here!

Stuff That's Still Ongoing!

- Giant canon-adjacent fic that won't end, Azimuth. (86k words). Status: Ongoing.

- Giant AU fic, unnamed as yet and currently in very early stages. (55k words scattered across like six different files, which reminds me, I need to back my shit up somewhere). Status: Ongoing.

- Find a downloadable (as opposed to streamable) Chinese cut file without subtitles. Status: Still searching.

- Continue gathering fanart and Manga/Manwha style stories of Grace and Dani and linking to it here (again, all contributions welcome, I love this stuff). Status: Ongoing, but some reblogged here under tag #tdf fanwork collection

- Make my own edit of the movie itself, as described in the previous post. (Note - See here for more detail on that: https://alcalexandria.tumblr.com/post/653841291038359552/release-the-tumblr-weirdo-cut). Status: On hold, but ongoing - need to upgrade laptop.

- Commission some more fanart. I just frickin' like it, I think the character design is great and lends itself so well to graphic art it would kill me not to see more of it. And Tumblr's got so many artists who could do fantastic things with the characters and world elements. Status: 3 done (Papurrcat, Axyrinic, Hattersarts), 2 arranged, and on the look out for artist recs!

[roxannepolice]

K, celebrating the fact that my humble supplication for another four months to deal with the freaking paperwork required to present the fruits of my labour was accepted, here's an appendix to the TDF rant.

So, the usual interpretation of Saxon killing Missy is that it's a metaphor of holding yourself back from changing. OK, fair-ish. I'm going to leave aside the whole idea of "cut yourself off from your past if you are to improve as person" and how therapeutically bonkers it is, and focus on the episode tripping in on itself again. Because its whole point, spelled out to the audience just in case they started thinking or something, is that, and I quote "this is where [the Master's] always been going"! As in, you know, we're ignoring all the fucking times over nearly half a century when the Master has in fact stood with the Doctor, and focusing on the brave new world of possiblities that totally weren't there until Missy got cured, praise God!

... Except the episode also acts like they were there all along, just waiting for the Master to "hear the music", whatever that means?

Basically, which one is it, Steven: a change so radical that it would require a hard break from everything you were or the direction this character was on since day 1? Yeah if we go meta on this then the initial intention was for Delgado!Master to go out in a glorious sacrifice, but that didn't work, so going back to that plan is pretty much like limiting Moriarty's part in the sherlockiana to a couple of second-hand relayed statements. Something which you yourself couldn't bring yourself to do.

The bottom line is, TDF was written as a hard full stop for the Master. Finita la commedia, mehrere Leicht, the rest is silence, this is the end my only friend the end. Except that obviously wouldn't work, would it? Like, do you really think that it's viable to actually kill that cockroach of an archetype? There's been lots of ink spilled on how Moffat can't handle never ending story format, resorting to ex machinas over and over after writing the "perfect endings" - and I am not denying! they are perfect! - for characters that are ending-immune, but this is hands down the worst offender.

Like, this is why in the year of our lord 2024 there are still speculations about the Master's regeneration order, even after Chibs explicitly confirmed Spymaster comes after Missy, but then again it's he who did the equivalent of writing "New Earth" with Ten willy-nilly introducing the Master with no explanation after the whole Eye of Harmony shenanigans, not as a sexy doll but an actual biological individual (and again don't get me started on the whole "the Master always just comes back without an explanation"; not in a new body, not after narrrative fullstops, that only happened in 2020, three weeks after somehow Palpatine returned). The idea Thirteen's attitude towards him is rooted in s10 events is its own "yeah, that's deep ignoring a tonne of plotholes that would entail", but I suppose my "Master got evoked from the matrix again to hack Rassilon's PC for love letters to Omega and thoschei smut" headcanon will never get onscreen confirmation either.

I railed myself up, but, again, these are my vents for the sake of warming up my lagging keyboard before more serious work, so as always welcoming pointing out errors in my logic!

[thirddoctor]

Would you have any tips for writing Missy, or any thoughts on her characterization in general (and common misconceptions people have/make about her)?

So, my biggest issue with how she’s written in the EU is that she’s just bonkers all the time (at least in what I’ve read and listened to - maybe some of the Missy audios are better, but I haven’t been able to force myself to listen to the rest yet). There’s not much nuance to her character. She’s also written like most of what she says and does should be taken at face value, when imo the complete opposite is true. The Master is always hiding themself both literally and figuratively behind masks and disguises and performances.

Missy being “bananas” is not her full personality, it’s one side she chooses to show because it suits her purposes (either to throw people off-guard, or to hide her true emotions). It’s a deliberate performance, a way of being in control. And it drops when she doesn’t need it or when her emotions are too strong to contain. Look at how all that crazy energy is gone by the end of Death in Heaven, when she realises she’s lost. Or how she immediately becomes serious in The Magician’s Apprentice when she sees they’re on Skaro. Or just... most of S10. She has lots of quiet moments. Her last scene with Twelve - “me too... but no” - is what she’s like when she’s stopped pretending or playing games. A good portrayal of Missy needs to have actual substance underneath.

Also, and this is more of a personal preference, I don’t think there should be many Missy stories set prior to Deep Breath - or at least, any stories set in that time should make mention of her S8 plot. They shouldn’t be totally disconnected from that. Because I think she started that plan pretty much from day one after Simm regenerated. I mean, she wakes up with no real memory of what happened, but I think she was left with a lingering sense of having failed, that her life was going in the wrong direction (Simm’s last experience, after all, was the two of them killing each other because they both believed the other was wrong), and she couldn’t keep doing things the same way. She’d been at it for centuries and she still had nothing to show for it. And she was also terribly lonely. Even Simm cared about the Doctor to some degree, but he channelled that into anger. I don’t think he liked caring. And he refused to ever be what anyone else wanted him to be, choosing to die (twice) rather than be changed by the Doctor. Missy, however, is now more open to the idea of reconnecting with him, but she decides to be the one to change him, to make him more like her so they can be friends again. And she’s just woken up on a ship full of Cybermen, so why not use them in her plan?

It just seems clear to me that not too much time passes between Simm regenerating at the end of TDF and Missy’s first appearance in S8, so I really don’t like the idea of a whole lot of stories being inserted in-between there.

S8 is also a big turning point for her. That’s her at her most traditionally Master-ish. She’s got the black clothes and the big complicated evil plan and everything. And when it fails, when she can’t get the Doctor to compromise on his morals and join her, I think that really forces her to question herself more and more. She has another go of turning him in S9, trying to make him kill Clara, but it still doesn’t work. Finally, by S10, when she’s facing execution, all she can do is beg him for her life (which she doesn’t really have any right to expect from him anyway, given all she’s done) and tell him she’s his friend, because that’s ultimately what everything she’s done in the previous seasons has been about. When she offers to “be good”, I doubt she’s even that sincere, it’s just a tactic to save her life, but I think she chooses to go along with it because why not? Everything else she’s tried has failed. And perhaps, on some level, she’s impressed by the Doctor’s goodness. It’s what allowed him to stand firm when she offered him the Cyber army. His understanding of mercy is what saved Clara when she’s in the Dalek. His kindness is the reason Missy is still alive. A long time ago, the Master remarked that, “Hate is strength,” but the Doctor’s strength is love and compassion. And he’s the one who keeps winning.

It takes a long time, a lot of learning, and a lot of struggling with different concepts of morality and with her old instincts and self-interest, but Missy does finally admit the Doctor was right and try to do something good. She tries to act out of love and friendship for him instead of just saying she’s his friend. It’s a huge moment for her, because she’s never done that before. She’s always had to be right, she’s always had to be better than him, she’s always had to be the Master, and she finally gives that up.

So, having said all that, I think an important thing to keep in mind when writing her is what point in her arc you’re writing, because she will behave in different ways depending on where she is. S8 Missy and S10 Missy are not the same. And even, say, Lie of the Land Missy is not the same as Missy at the climax of The Doctor Falls, because she still hasn’t made that choice to stand with the Doctor at the probable expense of her own life. A problem I’ve seen in EU stories is that they lean in too heavily on Missy’s... good side, I guess? But as she says in TMA, she’s not turned good. I don’t think that was a direction she was even considering until S10. She’s certainly not naturally inclined towards goodness - it’s a choice she has to make (I don’t think she realises this, but imo Twelve is very similar; he’s not naturally hopeful or kind, he’s got a much darker side to him, but his epiphany in S8 is that he doesn’t have to let who he “is” define how he chooses to live). Missy in S10 is initially just trying not to be actively evil, and goes through a long internal struggle with who she wants to be that only resolves at the very end of her life, with one decision that she doesn’t even live to act upon (and that decision to be good still involved a murder, even if the victim was her past self). From the beginning to the end of her arc she’s complicated. It’s never black and white.

(Also, some people complain that Missy’s arc seems to revolve around the Doctor too much, but imo the core of it is actually about identity and figuring out who she really wants to be, much like Twelve’s arc in S8 was. The Doctor just happens to have always been an important part of the Master’s identity.)

I guess my biggest tip would be just give her depth. She shouldn’t just be slotted into some generic Master-y role, but she shouldn’t be written as nice either. And her “wackiness” should serve a purpose and shouldn’t be all she is. If you want an example of how not to write Missy’s dialogue, read any of Jacqueline Rayner’s Missy stories.

But also, do what you want to do. These are my opinions, but if you have your own interpretation of the character, then you’re free to write that. The biggest problem I have with any Master characterisation is when it’s clear the writer doesn’t particularly have any thoughts or takes on the character of their own and are just following what’s been done before. I like it when there’s passion behind the writing. Have fun with it!