Excalibur's Legacy

Excalibur's Legacy is the thirteenth story in the Lilith!Verse and the series A Different Story. It is a rewrite of the TV story Battlefield and features Lilith III, the Seventh Doctor, Ace McShane, and Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.

Summary
Lilith, the Seventh Doctor, and Ace work with Brigadier Bambera, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and Ancelyn, a knight from the universe of Camelot, to defeat Mordred and his evil sorceress mother, Morgaine.

Plot
Lilith is greeted by a dark TARDIS, along with Ace McShane and the Seventh Doctor. The three of them are lured to Carbury by a distress signal so powerful that it even crosses universes.

The Doctor, Lilith, and Ace eventually hitch a ride with archaeologist Peter Warmsly, who is excavating an old battlefield near Carbury — though even he is surprised to find his dig site taken over by tight-lipped UNIT soldiers. While he attempts to get an explanation, the Doctor unearths old UNIT identification (his own and Liz Shaw's) to get himself and Ace into the UNIT camp while Lilith uses psychic paper. Brigadier Bambera, nonplussed, confiscates the passes and ejects the two travellers from the convoy, she welcomes Lilith's help, but Lilith declares that Lethbridge-Stewart was a better Brigadier and leaves.

Intrigued by an officer's recollection of a man called 'the Doctor' working at UNIT, Bambera gives the Doctor, Lilith, and Ace a lift to the nearby Gore Crow Hotel.

At the hotel, Ace meets a woman called Shou Yuing, while the Doctor and Lilith talk to innkeeper Elizabeth Rowlinson. She is blind but psychic, and knows that the ancient scabbard over the inn's fireplace — an artefact found by Warmsly — is an object of tremendous and mysterious power.

Ace and Shou are chatting outside the hotel when they, Lilith, and the Doctor witness an oddly human-shaped missile crash into innkeeper Pat Rowlinson's microbrewery. It is revealed to be a knight in full armour — not an android, as Ace initially thinks — and, when his helmet is removed, he warmly greets the Doctor as 'Merlin'.

The Doctor, Lilith, Ace, and Shou chat with the knight, Ancelyn, who refers to the distress signal intercepted by the TARDIS as "Excalibur's call" and claims that it heralds the start of a final war and King Arthur's restoration to the throne. The Doctor surmises that the coming battle isn't properly part of this dimension at all, and belongs to a parallel universe, much to Lilith's discomfort. But before he can test the theory, an exasperated Brigadier Bambera storms into the microbrewery and declares everyone under arrest. She is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of more extradimensional knights, including Ancelyn's sworn enemy Mordred, who also recognizes the Doctor as Merlin. After Mordred retreats, unwilling to face the Doctor, Ancelyn and Bambera vie for dominance and the rest of the party retreats to the Gore Crow's lounge.

Warmsly shows Lilithanadir Tyler-Lungbarrow, the Doctor and Ace the Carbury dig, and points out a mysterious inscription. Lilith recognizes it as Circular Gallifreyan and the Doctor recognizes it as his own handwriting instructing him to dig a hole, which he asks Ace to do with some well-placed explosives. At the bottom is an 8th century tunnel somehow made of cement. The Doctor, Lilith and Ace investigate, having left Warmsly to guard them. Ace asks Lilith what her problem with archeologists is, and Lilith responds "I'm a time traveler. I point and laugh at archeologists", echoing her father's words at the Library.

At the end of the tunnel is a strange room. Lilith, Ace and the Doctor look in vain for some way out, until the Doctor simply commands the door to open, and it obeys. As they proceed to the next rooms, he explains that Merlin must have built the spaceship that they are in, and he is Merlin. Or will be in his future.

In the topmost level of the spaceship is King Arthur, apparently in suspended animation, and Excalibur. Ace accidentally draws Excalibur, which triggers an automated defence system that traps her in an airtight chamber rapidly filling with water, and renders both the Doctor and Lilith helpless as she begins to drown.

Lilith uses her telepathy to wake the unconscious Doctor, who gets up and manages to free Ace. He and Lilith continued to fight the spaceship's defence system, but it is only stopped when Lethbridge-Stewart, who has entered through the tunnel, intervenes. The three leave by the tunnel and rejoin the others at the dig.

The party splits up for the ride back to the hotel: Bambera and Ancelyn in Shou's car; Lilith, the Doctor, Ace, Shou, and Warmsly in his. The latter group makes it back to the hotel safely, with Excalibur. There they find that all locals are being evacuated — Shou and Ace slip away unnoticed, while Warmsly and the Rowlinsons protest but ultimately agree to evacuate.

A UNIT patrol sent to find Bambera and Ancelyn reports that the two soldiers escaped the knights and are at large in the woods. The news, though welcome, does not entirely cheer the Doctor, who points out that Mordred and his knights are also at large and that nothing stands between them and the now-unguarded missile convoy by the lake. They must return to the convoy immediately. Fortunately for the Doctor and Lilith, Lethbridge-Stewart thought to bring along transportation: Bessie, the Doctor's car from his UNIT days. He, Lilith and the Doctor depart, leaving Ace and Shou behind with Excalibur and instructions on avoiding Morgaine's sorcery.

At the dig, the ancient battlefield has become a modern one, as UNIT troops face off against Mordred and his knights, and Mordred himself is confronted by Ancelyn — but as they prepare to fight, the Doctor intervenes and declares that there will be no more bloodshed. But Mordred smugly announces that the battle was only a diversion for his mother Morgaine's attempt at Excalibur and that Ace and Shou stand no chance against Morgaine and the Destroyer.

Mordred offers the Doctor a trade — the girls' lives for Excalibur — but the Doctor, outraged, threatens to decapitate him unless Morgaine surrenders herself. But Mordred calls the Doctor's bluff; he knows, he says, of Merlin's distaste for taking life. He is proved right, but Lilith takes out her blaster and threatens Mordred. He doesn't believe that she has the guts to pull the trigger and Lethbridge-Stewart appears out of the woods, gun ready, and declares that he has no such compunctions. The three of them force Mordred into their car and head back to the Gore Crow Hotel.

They arrive just as the Destroyer, under Morgaine's command, has nearly brought the hotel down on Ace and Shou. The Doctor finds his friends under a pile of rubble, relieved that they were able to stay alive, even at the cost of surrendering Excalibur to Morgaine. The Doctor and Lilith follow Morgaine across the Void, followed by Ace, who brings along Excalibur's sheath and the Brigadier's silver bullets.

Morgaine frees the Destroyer, to the Doctor's dismay. While she and Mordred teleport away, out of the Destroyer's immediate path, the Doctor, Lilith, and their friends are left to flee on foot. The Doctor deduces that, since the Destroyer was bound in silver chains, it will be vulnerable to the Brigadier's silver bullets. Lethbridge-Stewart distracts the Doctor, knocks him out and takes the gun — loaded with the silver bullets — to spare him the duty of killing the Destroyer. When the Doctor revives, he, Lilith, and Ace find that Lethbridge-Stewart has done so, nearly paying for the opportunity with his life.

Ancelyn, Lilith, the Doctor, Lethbridge-Stewart, and Ace return Excalibur to the spaceship under the lake. There they find that the sword activates the spaceship — but does not resurrect Arthur. According to a note left by the Doctor for himself, Arthur was killed in the Battle of Camlann, not placed in suspended animation. The note also warns them that Morgaine has control of the nuclear missile, and the five friends rush back to the surface.

While Ace and the Brigadier destroy the spaceship, the Doctor and Lilith try to stop the missile launch. Morgaine is obstinate, but the Doctor explains the full horror of nuclear warfare, and she relents with seconds to spare. She demands of the Doctor that King Arthur face her for a final confrontation, but he reveals that Arthur died in his last battle. Grief-stricken, she does not notice the Doctor and Lilith leaving.

The Doctor intervenes in a sword fight between Ancelyn and Mordred, and renders Mordred unconscious. Ancelyn is freed, and Mordred and Morgaine surrendered to UNIT.

Back at the Lethbridge-Stewart house, Lilith says goodbye to the Doctor and sets the coordinates for her next destination.

Characters

 * Lilithanadir III
 * The Seventh Doctor
 * Ace McShane
 * Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
 * Brigadier Winifred Bambera
 * Ancelyn
 * Mordred
 * Morgaine
 * The Destroyer
 * Peter Warmsley