Defiance of the New Bloods

"Sontarans are bred not only for war, but for winning."

Writer: Richard Dinnick
Format: Short Story
Released: June 2017
Printed in: Myths & Legends 07

Featuring: Sontarans

Synopsis

The war between the Sontarans and the Rutans is never ending. Nobody can remember why it started, but both races are adamant they will be victorious. The Sontarans are getting stale though and after they were lured into a deadly trap, there is a new desire for individual thought amongst the clone race. Grand Marshall Sten wants glory.

Verdict

Defiance of the New Bloods was a superb little story and one of the best to have featured thus far in the Myths & Legends collection! I'm a massive fan of the Sontarans and this adventure was just spectacular from start to finish. I was hugely impressed. We actually got a reason why the Sontarans look different between the Classic and modern eras which is just majestic and I really enjoyed how it came about. Grand Marshall Stem served to be a brilliant character and his efforts to avenge the embarrassment that occurred with his orders to go closer to Mekonne to capture the non-existent Rutans was very good indeed. He wasn't always acting for the good of the Sontaran Empire as he was trying to ascend the ranks of the Sontar hierarchy. He really was very good, but what intrigued me most was the G4 group of Sontarans who had been bred for individual thought. I loved this idea and it really was feasible for there to be belief that the traditional and repetitive Sontaran methods were growing stale. This breeding of individualism conflicting with the Sontarans' need for honour was really fascinating and it was just terrific to see it unfold. Could cowardly acts like the one the Rutans carried out on Mekonne be honourable if they resulted in a military conquest or victory? The G4 group certainly thought so. They went so far as betraying their Grand Marshall and even though Stem was able to get a warning out to Sontar of the four rogues, they were cleverer than usual Sontarans and managed to navigate their way back to the home world in impressive fashion. Once they arrived, their plan was simple. They were going to change the Sontaran race forever by adding their DNA to the Sontaran Core Cloning Base. It was a good plan but it would be tough to carry out. This was the first Sontaran mutiny, and it was certainly eventful! I really liked the collaboration between the quartet of new Sontarans and their desire to improve their species, whilst being chased by their own kind despite the slight change in look, was commendable. They were doing what they firmly believed was best for the future of the Sontarans. One by one, a member of the G4 squadron fell and it took a defiant jump to ensure that the DNA entered the gene pool at the source. But it did. All of the G4 Sontarans died but they did so with honour knowing that their mission was accomplished and that they had altered the future of Sontar forever. I thought this was just a sublime little story with so much achieved in the thirty pages! The illustrations weren't really necessary but this was probably my favourite of the entire collection so far. I had no idea about the myth or legend that this adventure was based upon but it didn't seem to be following a rigid structure like some others in this collection have felt like. Overall, a really great story!

Rating: 9/10