Delegates refuse to aid the Doctor

Izlyr’s grudging shift in allegiance to the Doctor manifests in practical defiance as he and Jo clash with cautionary Federation delegates Alpha and Arcturus. Jo’s fiery insistence that abandoning the Doctor poses graver political peril than delay is met with hollow procedural warnings and hollow threats of destruction, exposing the delegates’ moral abdication. Their refusal to act forces Jo to abandon hope for Federation intervention and galvanizes her resolve to orchestrate the Doctor’s escape herself, while barely contained behind their words lies the simmering consequence Peladon’s ancient customs and Hepesh’s manipulations have already set in motion. key_dialogue: [ JO: But so is the Doctor!