The Human Factor
Six months after becoming the mouthpiece of the Daleks’ billions of slaves, negotiating with the Dalek Supreme and touring Dalek-subjugated worlds, Susan Mendes has become troubled. Kalendorf feels that she’s become a collaborator, but agrees to join her as she’s shuttled by the Daleks from planet to planet to give her inspirational pitches to the slave populations there. On his own, Kalendorf visits a warehouse where one group of slaves trying to mount a rebellion, and he tries to quash their effort to save their lives - and to avoid derailing a larger rally for freedom to come. When Suz learns of the rebellion, she asks the Daleks to let her negotiate with the rebels - but the rebelling slave won’t do as she asks. Suz steps aside and tells the Daleks to exterminate the rebels, and Kalendorf is appalled - she’s gone too far to the other side. In the meantime, Alby and Pellan have traced Suz’s trail and close in on her location - but the Daleks are also closing in on their ship.
written by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Nicholas BriggsCast: Sarah Mowat (Susan Mendes), Gareth Thomas (Kalendorf), Joyce Gibbs (Narrator), Ian Brooker (Drudger / Gurian), David Sax (Morebi), Mark McDonnell (Alby Brook), John Wadmore (Gordon Pellan), Adrian Lloyd-James (Highness), Georgina Carter (Daughter), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek voice), Alistair Lock (Dalek voice)
Susan “Suz” Mendes’ peaceful life of conducting mineralogical surveys on the planet Vega VI is shattered abruptly when a Dalek invasion fleet blasts its way through the Vega system, enslaving or exterminating millions of humans. Heartier members of the population are robotized, receiving cybernetic implants that give the Daleks direct control over them, while the other survives are forced to work in mines - often until they die. Alby Brook, a friend of Suz, ran when the fleet appeared, and although he escaped to safety, he now wants nothing more than to return to Vega VI and rescue her. However, with the prospect of a new human-Dalek war looming, Brook - who was actually there on a covert mission to find a rogue Knight of Velyshaa named Kalendorf - is called to full-time service…and told to forget a woman who is, in all likelihood, dead. He befriends an overenthusiastic reporter, Gordon Pellan, who relishes broadcasting live from the war zone. When Suz attracts the attention of the Emperor Dalek by defying the Daleks’ death threats if she doesn’t stop campaigning for the slave workers’ basic human rights, she finds herself in a position to help others and save lives. She’s more than a little surprised to learn that the first life she has saved is Kalendorf. When the tide of battle cuts Alby off from his superiors and their orders, he throws caution to the wind and embarks on a mission to save Suz, dragging Pellan into the fray with him.
The battle between Luke and Darth Vader rages on in the bowels of Cloud City. Vader is impressed by Luke’s ability with the Force and a lightsaber, but is frustrated by the young warrior’s refusal to give in to hatred and fear. Even when Vader cuts his hand off, Luke announces that he will simply jump from the reactor gantry and throw himself into Cloud City’s hollow core - but the Sith Lord upsets his calm resignation by claiming to be Luke’s father and explains that Ben Kenobi lied about Vader’s origins. But even when Luke is convinced that he is indeed facing his father, he chooses a suicidal leap to joining the dark side.