Warrior of Tem-Enara was, first and foremost, a return to a planet I created back in January. What it was always going to be about, however, was resolving the stories of a couple of characters.

I do seem to have rather too many characters in the New Lords of Time stories. There is the whole Lœngbærrow clan, from The Doctor and Rose, Christopher and Jackie, Chris and Davie, Sukie and Vicki as well as Tristie and Trudi from the future. Added to that are additional characters like Brenda, Davie’s fiancée and Spenser Drax, Davie’s platonic male companion, and others like Marton, who there were two recent stories about, and there is enough of an ensemble. Then there are Mac and Chiv, who were Chris’s friends from early in the series, as well as other acolytes from the Sanctuary. I decided that it was time to complete Mac and Chiv’s story simply to reduce the number of characters involved in the stories.

Chiv, of course, fell for Mishiko, mother of the Pashivas, and stayed on Tem-Enara at the end of the first story. Mac went home to Earth, planning to return after his year as a student at the Sanctuary. Their father, of course, featured in the story Samhain Blood, where he tried to kill the two boys while under a demonic influence. He was the main reason Mac decided to return to Earth, of course, to explain things to him.

But a year or so later, Mr Ross has problems of his own. He is suffering from dementia, possibly brought on by shock of the Dominator invasion and the way people were treated by them. He doesn’t know where he is and can’t reconcile the idea that his son, Chiv, is going to be a father himself, soon.

Thus, one wounded soul arrives on Tem-Enara. Davie, is another. He is obviously suffering from a bit of post traumatic stress, having been in combat against the Dominators and their cyborg warriors. His nightmares are troubling not only him, but Chris and Spenser, who both love him.

Spenser, meanwhile, suffers physical wounds that have to be mended by the Pashivas. And the cause of his injury is a Sontaran. Davie has encountered Sontarans before, of course. He blew up a whole lot of them when he was still a teenager. He faces them this time as something like a veteran, experienced in dealing with them. And he despatches the one that landed, and his mothership quickly and without a thought except to save Tem-Enara from a deadly foe.

Three people for the Pashivas to save. The mortally wounded Spenser comes first, of course. It was established in The Followers of The Master that Spenser has a defective regenerative gene. The point was made in that story in order that his peril in this one should be more acute. But obviously the Pashivas was going to save him. I still have plans for Spenser.

More impotantly, the Pashivas mends the two wounded souls. He restores Mr Ross’s mind, a miracle for which his two sons are eternally grateful, and he eases Davie’s soul of the burden of his actions as a warrior.

Davie is still going to be a warrior, of course, when the situation calls for it. He just isn’t going to feel any significant guilt about it. In that, he is a bit different to The Doctor, who was always a pacifist, and especially to his brother, the philosopher and man of peace. The kind of storylines I can do in future with Davie, will reflect that difference between him and his great-grandfather. He will, of course, always be an honourable warrior, fighting for right.