Day: January 27, 2011

At Star One, the Liberator alone stands guard at the recently-breached energy barrier protecting the Milky Way galaxy from an onslaught of aliens from the Andromeda Galaxy. With only one gap in the barrier, the Liberator is able to hold most of the invasion fleet at bay, long enough for a fleet of armed civilian ships from the outlying Federation colonies closest to Star One to arrive and take up the fight. The fight hasn’t been without cost, however; the Liberator urgently needs to withdraw to allow Zen’s auto-repair systems to bring the ship back up to strength. Blake finds it difficult to stay in the Liberator’s medical unit, but Cally has other concerns – namely, whether Blake would have risked widespread civilian casualties just to destroy Star One and bring down the Federation. But before she can spend more time trying to find the limits of Blake’s conscience, Cally is needed on the flight deck; Avon is leading the charge against the invasion, and needs all available hands at their stations.

As the Liberator moves to the rear of the action, away from Star One, a large object unexpectedly passes through space nearby. Orac and Zen identify it as a planet in an irregular orbit around Star One’s sun – a planet with a much older Federation installation than Star One itself. Curious about the planet, but unwilling to spare anyone from the Flight Deck, Avon convinces Blake to teleport down and investigate. Concerned for Blake’s safety, and still troubled by his recent behavior, Cally goes with Blake. The planet turns out to be dangerously cold and icy, with an underground facility whose personnel are kept in a state of deep sleep, awaiting reactivation if necessary. They discover that if the planet’s orbit intersects with Star One’s, and the installation’s sensors detect that the barrier is down, a massive plasma bomb will detonate, destroying a huge area of space and everything in it, including any invading force…and any other ship around. Blake tries to summon help from the Federation, but only gets a response from Servalan, who is rapidly approaching the front (not to lead her troops, but to put in a photo op as the new, self-appointed President of the Federation, following her deposing the existing President on Earth). Servalan refuses to do anything to defuse the bomb, but just plans to claim credit for whatever damage it inflicts on the growing alien fleet.

As Blake and Cally explore the surface, Avon and the others on the Liberator deal with alien mines that attach themselves to the Liberator’s hull and begin causing extensive damage to the ship’s systems. Once Blake and Cally are back aboard, it becomes apparent that the planet’s orbit will bring it close to Star One shortly, setting off the Federation’s nearly-forgotten doomsday weapon. Servalan thinks she can outrun it – but it turns out that even the Liberator can’t do that.

written by Peter Anghelides
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Alistair Lock

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Paul Darrow (Avon), Michael Keating (Vila), Jan Chappell (Cally), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Alistair Lock (Zen/Orac)

Notes: This audio story, the first full-cast Blake’s 7 audio drama produced by Big Finish, fills the gap between Star One (1979) and Aftermath (1980).

LogBook entry and review by Earl Green