Vienna: The Memory Box

This is the pilot episode to a series of audio plays about a glamorous interstellar bounty hunter and assassin. The title character first appeared in the Doctor Who audio play The Shadow Heart, and despite apparent protestations by the producer that the series isn't set in the DW universe, there are plenty of indications to the contrary in this story. Having said which, it is entirely stand-alone and any connections to the wider continuity are no more than Easter eggs for the dedicated fan.

The story begins with police officers from the Earth Empire investigating the murder of a prominent businessman in an expensive space hotel. As it progresses, they pursue their suspect as she takes a hostage and then flees to collect her payment for the hit. For approximately the first 20 minutes of the story, there's really no indication that the title character is anything other than a straight-up villain, with the admittedly rather dull cops as the heroes. At this point, it's a fairly basic action story and police procedural, but, fortunately, things quickly pick up.

As the title character visits a couple of alien worlds and is menaced by technological zombies, it slowly becomes clear that there's a lot more going on than first appeared to be the case. Much of this is due to the titular memory box, a device that means that not even the characters necessarily know the true story of what's happening, allowing for multiple revelations as the layers of the onion are peeled back. Notably, by the end of the story we have a lot more sympathy for Vienna than we do at the beginning - although, yes, she really is a hired killer, and not your typical hero.

Vienna is played by Chase Masterson, who played Rom's love interest Leeta in Deep Space Nine, and thus marks a rare case of a believable American accent in a Big Finish production. She's probably the best thing in it, although Tom Price also does a good job as the hostage. After the unremarkable beginning, it becomes a fun and fast-paced story, with plenty of aliens and space ships. It's also one that's well suited to audio, and with the usual quality soundscaping.