Chapter 7: Attack
Susan was now lying inside the Delta Wave testing tube that Anecdone had died in. Sitting next to her was a Delta Wave box, which the Daleks would activate if the Doctor didn't let them have the TARDIS. Susan still felt weak from the effects of the information extractor, in fact she could hardly move. She was now putting as much mental effort into controlling the Dalek. Guiding it along the same path as the Doctor, heading for the Emperor's lair. Around her the Daleks prepared the Delta Wave that would be released over the entire planet, wiping out any life on the planet. They were totally unaware that a group of Thals were now within the city's limits and defences.
The Thals worked there way through the streets, splitting into small groups of ten as they passed entrances to the buildings. Finally there were only ten left, including Yistel, Ian and Barbara.
"Well what do we do know?" Barbara asked, knowing what the answer would be.
"Know we go inside, and face the Daleks," Yistel replied and went inside.
The Raston Warrior Robot had found the surveillance centre; there it saw two Daleks monitoring the screens. The Daleks were watching several of the screens, nearly all of them showing the Thals inside the city.
"Surveillance centre repor…" one of the Daleks sent a message to the emperor, but this was cut short when the Robot fired a spear straight into it.
The other Dalek turned round facing the robot. It fired energy beams from both its gun sticks, both deflecting off the robot and hitting the walls of the corridor. The robot advanced inside the room. The Dalek continued firing, the rebounds hitting nearly everything inside the room. The screens, the control consoles, even the dead Dalek. Then the robot fired another spear into the Dalek. It died. The robot flicked a knife out of its right hand and cut the Dalek open, removing most of the internals. Then it got into the casing, closed it, and glided out of the room.
One group of Thals turned down corridor after corridor, not once did they encounter anything significant. Then they saw a Dalek in front of them. If fired, hitting and killing two Thals. One Thal raised an energy rifle and fired, the Dalek exploded. The Thals cheered and pushed on, deeper into the city.
The Doctor looked down the corridor in front of him. There was one Dalek approaching. He turned to the Dalek with him.
"Susan, destroy the Dalek out there," he said.
"Alright," the Dalek said, "I'll do my best."
It turned into the corridor, drawing closer and closer to the other Dalek. Then without warning fired, the Dalek exploded.
"Well done," the Doctor said and strode off down the corridor, getting closer and closer to his destination all the time. He wondered what would happen if he got there? Would he be killed on sight or would the TARDIS key just be taken from him again. Either way didn't matter to him, he'd be glad to be rid of it really, but he wasn't going to give it to them. He knew what would happen if these machines got into the wrong hands, he'd seen it first hand. And he didn't like it one bit.
The Daleks checked and rechecked everything for the Delta Wave, only twenty minutes to go.
Another Dalek glided into the large number already assembled in the Delta Wave test area, most of the Daleks were white and they were all preparing the Delta Wave. But this one just manoeuvred itself into a corner and stayed there, observing its surroundings. It looked at the Daleks at the control panels lining the walls and the consoles in the middle of the room, and the cylinder with Susan inside it. There she was, vulnerable and ready to die. The Dalek fired but the beam was deflected off the cylinder and into another Dalek. It fired again, this time it deflected into a console. Susan was only partially aware of what was happening. The other Daleks turned on the new arrival. And started opening fire. The blasts tore the Dalek to pieces revealing its occupant…the Raston Warrior Robot.
The Emperor was receiving a message, an emergency message from the Delta Wave test area.
"Alert…alert…report presence of hostile intruder…request assistance immediately."
The Emperor analysed this then gave the order.
"All available Daleks to converge on the Delta Wave test area. Control Daleks to report to me. Immediately."
The Dalek Prime and the Dalek supreme remained still and silent. Waiting for their orders as the Control Daleks glided into the room.
Yistel watched as a group of fifteen Daleks glided out of a room, he aimed an energy rifle at one of them. A few other Thals did the same, and Ian and Barbara ducked. The Daleks hadn't seen them. The Thals opened fire, destroying four of the Daleks. The survivors retaliated. Firing back upon the Thals who dodged almost all the shots, two of the Thals were hit, and it was a fatal hit. The resulting gun battled ended with four Thals dead and thirteen Daleks destroyed, the other two had escaped.
"Yistel, don't do that again," Barbara said shaking slightly from the shock of the gunfire.
Yistel looked at her, a look that suggested that he would do it again…very soon.
The carnage in the test area was absolute; nearly all the control panels had been damaged or destroyed in either deflected gun fire aimed at the Raston Warrior Robot or shots that had just missed. As well as firing on the Daleks the Raston Warrior Robot was firing spear after spear at the testing Cylinder. Each one just glanced off. Susan was cowering inside it, hoping that neither of them would get inside of have a chance to kill her. She thought about the Delta Wave box that was in here with her, could she transport it outside and use it on the Daleks? Would their casings deflect it? How much power did it have? And would it affect the Raston Warrior Robot? She then realised that she couldn't send it outside, she was using up to much concentration on the Dalek that was helping the Doctor. And that help couldn't be wasted.
"Damage sustained to Delta Wave test area heavy," came a report from one Dalek being sent to the Emperor, "Chances of Delta Wave still functioning are now unlikely."
The Emperor felt a grate rush of hatred towards this intruder, greater hatred than usual. It had destroyed their plans and all their equipment for carrying it out. Whoever had created and sent that creature here would pay for it.
"Alert…alert…Thals in city…repeat…Thals in city," another report.
This was disastrous. The Daleks were fighting a battle, and losing. This could not happen, it couldn't.
They were all dead. All the Daleks, either with a Raston Warrior Robot spear sticking out of their casing or destroyed by a deflection of their own energy blasts. The robot now faced the cylinder, it wasn't staring. It couldn't stare as it didn't have any eyes but Susan stared back. Fear rising within her as the inevitable drew closer, and so did the robot.
"We must fight back against this creature," the Dalek Supreme said.
"I agree," added the Dalek Prime.
"It must be destroyed," one of the control Daleks pronounced, and the other control Daleks chorused this, "It must be destroyed…It must be destroyed…It must be destroyed…It must be destroyed…It must be destroyed…"
"SILENCE," the Emperor bellowed and silence there was.
"Good thing to, you probably didn't hear me coming with that racket."
All eye stalks turned, the Doctor had arrived.
The robot opened the cylinder, Susan looked at it trying not to show that she was very, very scared. The robot flicked a knife out of both its hands, and prepared to strike. It raised its arms…and then an energy blast hit it in the back the blast was deflected but the robot was thrown forward, into the cylinder. Susan scrambled out quickly and saw that Yistel's group of Thals had arrived. One of them closed and sealed the cylinder. The robot pounded against it, but no result.
"What do we do with it now?" Barbara asked.
"I don't know," Ian replied, "That thing can't be destroyed remember."
"What about the Delta Wave?" Susan said and pointed to the small box inside the cylinder, "Could that put it out of action?"
"I don't know," Ian said, "But it's worth a try."
Susan turned her mind away from the Dalek and focussed instead on the box, activating it. The robot lurched, its body stiffening; it started jerking about inside the cylinder. Smoke pouring out of its joints. Then its head exploded, closely followed by the rest of its body. The cylinder was now blackened with the heat of the explosion.
"Like I said, it was worth a try," Ian commented.
The Doctor faced the Emperor. He was surrounded on all sides by the control Daleks with the Dalek Supreme and the Dalek Prime in front of him. If they wanted to kill him they could do it at any time. Just not yet.
"So what do you want from?" he asked.
"You're time machine…the TARDIS I believe you call it," the Emperor said, its voice echoing around the room.
"And what will you do with it once you have it?"
"Spread the Dalek existence throughout space and time, we will create the first Dalek Empire."
"Not good enough," the Doctor said.
"If you do not give it to us you will be exterminated."
"Oh really, well if you kill me you can just take it from me. If I give it to you you'll probably kill me anyway, is that right?"
"Yes."
"Then either way I'm going to die and you're going to get the TARDIS."
"Yes, and you will not be the last."
"I didn't think so."
Silence gripped the room as the Doctor looked at the emperor eye to eye; he wasn't quite sure which eye to look at, the mechanical eye or the eye of the mutated creature inside. He decided to look at the mechanical one, the other made him feel a bit sick. He thought about the Dalek Susan was controlling, he needed to give her time to deactivate the Daleks.
"You know, if I go to another planet I generally like to know what its called," the Doctor said.
"We call our world Skaro," the Emperor replied.
"Very appropriate," the Doctor muttered thinking about he ravaged landscape outside.
"And your world Doctor, I already know its name."
"Oh yes, how?"
"I extracted the information from the girl Susan; she didn't give it to me willingly. I know why you left there, why you stole a TARDIS and why you despise it so much. You are nothing more than a renegade, there is nowhere for you to go, you can only hide. Your own story is…WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" the Emperor bellowed these last few words, it had spotted the Dalek that Susan was controlling at one of the control panels lining the walls. All eyestalks turned towards it as it manipulated the controls, the control Daleks advanced on it.
"Cease."
"Halt."
"Desist."
"Desist."
"Discontinue action."
The control Daleks chorused several different variations of the order to stop but the Dalek ignored them. Then they opened fire. Each shot struck home, damaging but not stopping the Dalek. It continued its work and then…
Thals attacked Dalek after Dalek, and the Daleks attacked back. So both were surprised when the Daleks just stopped. They ceased to function, to attack, to do anything. In the Delta Wave test area Susan relaxed, letting go of her control over the Dalek.
"That's it," she said, "Their powers gone. We can go know."
The Doctor stared up at the Emperor, this time at the mutant in the globe.
"Looks like you're not going to get the TARDIS after all then," he chuckled.
"You will regret this," the Emperor said, no longer with the electronic drone of a Dalek but a high pitched scraping voice, one that it had difficulty using.
"We'll see…we'll see," the Doctor said and left.
The Doctor stood at the TARDIS console, setting the controls for take off…at least he thought he was. They'd said their goodbyes to the Thals and to Skaro itself. Now they were back inside the time machine.
"So what happens know?" Ian asked.
"Know we try and get you two back to Earth," the Doctor said, "I won't be easy without working navigation."
"You mean we could end up anywhere?"
"Precisely."
"Well at least it's more exiting then being a museum tour guide," Barbara said, "I just hope not everywhere is like this world."
"Don't worry," the Doctor said, "Not everywhere is like this," he revisited the temptation to say that most places were much worse.
Outside the Thals watched the TARDIS vanish. Where had they come from and where were they going?
Inside the city the Emperor looked on at the deactivated Daleks, they weren't dead…yet. But they would be soon; they couldn't survive for long without the life support system that the machines provide. Then a large green metal box materialised in the room. A man stepped out and headed towards the power controls, switching them back on. Throughout the city Daleks sprang to life. The Emperor looked at the man, and the man looked back.
"Sir, I think we have things to discuss," the man said.
The End?