The Pride of The Dragon Loge - Well, it’s been a while since we had a story with Penne in it. Even then, in the liberation of Gallifrey stories, he was only an incidental character. It was time to give him and Adano-Ambrado centre stage again. Time for Chrístõ to be Crown Prince at his side. Time for another of those shared baths that Penne insisted on them taking. I’m get some very kinky slash fiction emailed to me about those bathing sessions! None of them fit to see the light of day on this website! A lot of people are reading between the lines. But really, nothing goes on between them except a bit of quiet conversation.

I got a lot of feedback about the Dragon-Loge Marton in the stories he featured in. Although he is a misogynist and a bit of a tyrant, everyone seemed to like him. so bringing him back into the storylines was also overdue. Notice, of course, that Chrístõ and Penne now call him Drago. They both see a bit of themselves in him, Penne the more so. He is a cautionary tale for the King-Emperor of Adano-Ambrado, reminding him of what his life could be like if he hadn’t been reformed.

The first part of the story sets up the tensions, with Drago unhappy about the way his former sister is being honoured as a princess of Adano-Ambrado when he thinks of her as a commodity for exchange. It ends with a cliffhanger – somebody was shot. Somebody screamed. Who shot who and why….

My original thought was that the Dragon Loge HAD done the shooting and that there would be a confrontation between him and Penne, one which could have their two planets on the brink of war with their space fleets poised to do battle and so on.

But I didn’t really do that sort of a story. And funnily enough. Drago has become a bit of a cult figure among the Theta Sigma core readership. I don’t think they wanted him to be a bad guy, at least no badder than he already is. It is implied that he is a sexual predator, with men and women as his prey. And that’s pretty nasty, but only slightly worse than Penne used to be.
So it became a bit of a whodunit instead, with Chrístõ joining forces with Penne to work out just what was going on. It wasn’t the hardest case to crack. It is probably obvious to anyone that Drago wasn’t stupid enough to put his gun and cloak on the sideboard where they would be found.

Of course, the case could have been solved much easier if it hadn’t been for Drago being so stubborn. But that is where the title of the story comes in. The Pride of the Dragon Loge is important to him. He won’t beg, he won’t plead his innocence. So for a long time he looks guilty.

The fight between Drago and Penne was all about pride, too. Both men had a lot of it to lose. And Penne had a potential war if he was proved wrong. It’s something that wouldn’t happen in a modern Doctor Who episode. This is one of those stories that is a long way from the original premise. But on the other hand, fights to the death were regular features of some of the early Doctor Who stories. The cavemen, Kal and Za in the very first story, Ian and Ixta in the Aztecs, for example. Even in more sophisticated stories, The Doctor had a couple of sword fights. This sort of thing happening in his youth is not completely implausible.

The other lesson Drago had to learn, as well as to trust in his friends, was mercy. The scene where he spares the life of the traitor, after Chrístõ had pleaded for him, pleases the Drago fans and allows for the possibility that he might become a better person in some future story. Meanwhile, Chrístõ and Penne watch the sun come up on as bright Adano-Ambradan morning and go off for a bath!

Incidentally, many people have asked if Penne is completely ‘straight’. In the original stories it was implied that he liked to have both male and female servants in his bath with him, and he still wants Chrístõ to come and take those long baths with him. There is definitely a frissance about him. But I think you can rest assured that women are his first preference and he just wants to be friends with Chrístõ. If I find any slash fiction on the internet suggesting otherwise, it had better be REALLY GOOD. No sloppy writing, please!