The Sontaran Project (audio story)

was the third story in the audio anthology, Encounters, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Andrew Smith and featured Jemma Redgrave as Kate Stewart, Ingrid Oliver as Petronella Osgood and Ramon Tikaram as Vikram Shindi.
== Publisher's summary ==
On a routine reconnaissance mission, Colonel Shindi finds more than he bargains for in the Forest of Ardennes. Back in England, an old colleague makes Osgood an offer she cannot refuse. The chance to take part in an exciting new scientific advance. Before long, UNIT is on collision course with a force of alien clones, and Kate must forge an unlikely alliance.
== Plot ==
A Sontaran escapes from his confinement and is cornered by Professor John Torrance and Christine Colley. He refuses to return with them and, deemed too resistant, Torrance executes him. Colley decides that it is time to go ahead with Torrance's suggestion and bring in his former colleague and protégée, Petronella Osgood.
With Sam still missing and Shindi being in Brussels, Kate asks the Colonel to visit the Ardennes Forest following reports of lights in the sky almost three months ago. He finds residual ionising radiation, indicating the presence of alien technology, and lets her know by hologram projector before going in search of its source. Meanwhile, Kate is informed that Madley Tracking Station has detected a spacecraft heading for the Ardennes Forest and has UNIT Brussels to get a team to the area.
Osgood is at the New Science Conference as UNIT's delegate and is approached by Torrance, who tells her about his work in gene cloning and invites her to his facility. He introduces her to Colley and Max, a cloned monkey, before showing her the body of a Sontaran. Osgood examines him and, realising that it is a clone that Torrance and Colley have made, she tries to leave. Torrance holds her at gunpoint and shows her the faulty Sontaran clones growing in amniotic fluid, telling her that she will help them create viable ones before sedating her.
Appearing to Shindi via the projector, Kate helps him uncover a Sontaran scout ship sending out a distress call. Marshal Skar of the Eighth Sontaran Battle Fleet arrives and, after detecting Commander Merx's biotracker, sets the ship to self-destruct. The explosion damages the hologram projector and Kate tries to contact Shindi, but he is unconscious and taken away by the Sontarans into low orbit. Skar tortures him for information on Merx's whereabouts before accepting that he has no knowledge of him. He shows Vindi where Merx has been located: the Ardennes, Brussels, Leipzig, Vienna and near Sevenoaks in Kent.
Osgood pretends to be unconscious until Torrance and Colley go to speak with the Overseer, having been immunised against Veralium truth serum thanks to Malcolm, and records a report for the UNIT Cloud. She finds the morgue and meets Merx, who was captured whilst doing reconnaissance and moved around the world before coming to Torrance and having his DNA used in his cloning experiments. Torrance and Colley find them and confirm that they are working for the Auctioneers and intend on selling clones of Merx as mercenaries, soldiers and assassins.
Shindi and Skar go to Kent and are joined by Kate, who tracked the hologram projector and whose soldiers outnumber the Sontarans. They form an alliance and fight Torrance's Sontarans outside of the facility. Kate captures Colley and, after wounding Merx, Torrance takes Osgood as a hostage. When Torrance runs, one of his clones remembers Sontar and kills him. Kate and Shindi interrogate Colley for information on the Auctioneers, promising that she is safe, and learn that their base is in Floridsdorf. Following her capture, however, the Auctioneers will have closed that bureau and every safe house that she knows about.
== Cast ==
* Kate Stewart - Jemma Redgrave
* Osgood - Ingrid Oliver
* Colonel Shindi - Ramon Tikaram
* Marshal Skar / Commander Merx / Sontaran Escapee - Dan Starkey
* Professor John Torrance - James Wilby
* Christine Colley - Beth Goddard
* Overseer - Matthew Cottle
* Aide / Soldier - Jot Davies
== Crew ==
* Cover Art by - Tom Webster
* Director - Ken Bentley
* Executive Producer - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
* Music - Howard Carter
* Producer - David Richardson
* Script Editor - Matt Fitton
* Sound Design - Benji Clifford
* Writer - Andrew Smith
* Sontarans created by Robert Holmes
== Worldbuilding ==
* UNIT Brussels have had almost three months to inspect the Ardennes Forest.
* Kate and Shindi communicate using a hologram projector. Osgood has been improving it.
* UNIT receive a report from Madley Tracking Station in Herefordshire, who detected the heat signature of a shielded spacecraft.
* Osgood and Torrance worked for Dstl. Torrance gave Osgood a reference when she left and joined UNIT.
* Torrance is the founding manager of the Torrance Research Foundation.
* Osgood records her report on the New Science Conference and uploads it to the UNIT Cloud.
* Skar and Merx belong to the Eighth Sontaran Battle Fleet.
* Torrance does research on cystic fibrosis.
* Shindi mentions Hever Castle in Kent.
== Notes ==
to be added
== Continuity ==
* Sam is still missing. (AUDIO: The Dalek Transaction, Invocation)
* Kate recalls the Sontarans' recent attempt to turn Earth into a Sontaran breeding planet through alteration of its atmosphere. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky)
* The Auctioneers operate a black market dealing in alien material on Earth. (AUDIO: The Dalek Transaction)
* Malcolm has had all UNIT personnel immunised against the effects of known extraterrestrial pathogens and narcotics, like the Veralium truth serum. (TV: Planet of the Dead)
== External links ==
Category:Encounters audio stories
Category:Sontaran audio stories
Category:Stories set in London
Category:Stories set in the 2010s