Chapter 4: Dalek City

Dalek Sec allowed his systems to power down as Nightshade rose from where she was curled up on the ground. The one-eyed tiger stretched as the bones in her back cracked. The shapeshifter couldn't help herself but glare at the Dalek as she left the camp for her rounds. Dalek Sec ignored Nightshade. He knew that she was just waiting for him to act against them before she acted. He couldn't allow her to find out what his plans where and he didn't know what his plans were yet. He watched in silence as the skeletal tiger prowled into the shadows of the forest. Satisfied that he was safe from the shapeshifter Dalek Sec settled for the remaining few hours of the night. He knew that when she returned they would be moving ever closer to the Dalek City.

The Daleks were the perfect image of hatred. Their creator Davorus had made them the perfect lifeform of the universe. But how could they always be defeated from the likes of the Doctor and his human along with alien companions? He had been told since his birth that Daleks were the superior beings in the universe, but how come they always lost to the beings that they considered inferior? How could he be defeated by a simple human in London? He was one of the greatest minds the Daleks had ever created and yet he was defeated by that blonde-haired woman. Shifting his attention to the Doctor who was snoring rather loudly in the ground close to the fire that he had sparked with his sonic screwdriver. The last time that he had seen him he was young. This regeneration of the Doctor was much older than any of the previous regenerations that he had seen. He may be older but he was still able to keep up to the fast-moving Nightshade and the never tiring Dalek Sec.

Not for the first time since he became the Leader of the Cult of Skaro, Dalek Sec was questioning the role of the Daleks within the universe. He knew that this would not be the last time that these thoughts would go through his mind. He knew that this mission would test his support to his emperor. He would never have thought that this would happen when he became one of the most feared Daleks during the Time War. He was already planning his future. He had more emotions than an average Dalek. That was an advantage as well as a disadvantage for him. He was always conflicted by the emotions that ran through his mind and the Dalek programming that was within his very core DNA. He, Dalek Sec was going to see what was the best path for him to take. He could remain with the Daleks and lose more battles, or he could join with the Doctor and life a longer life than any other Dalek had. He was just going to see where this mission was going to take him. He knew what they were doing, he had yet to inform the Doctor and Nightshade what Dalek X was up to. They didn't need to know that they were chasing after the pieces of an ancient Time Lord weapon.

Planning took a lot of his energy. That was one of the reasons why he stood behind the front lines. Planning his future was much harder than planning the movement of all the Dalek army and he found nearly all of his systems shutting down. His basic life support systems were still running and sedatives were pumped into his brain. Sleep took him before he knew what was happening around him.

…

The sun had yet to rise in the far distance when Nightshade dropped out of a tree. Landing on all four paws she grunted with the impact of the landing. Stretching her front legs and then her back legs until all her joints cracked and popped. Walking back to the camp ground as silently as she could she changed from tiger form back to her human form. The popping and scrapping noise of her bones altered Dalek Sec of her approach. The blue glow from the centre of his eye stock got brighter as all the systems kicked back into life. Nightshade wasn't fazed when the domed head rotated around to face her.

Coming up to the Doctor she nudged him with her foot. The Doctor grumbled something under his breath as he rolled away from Nightshade. Shaking her head Nightshade kicked the Doctor again. This kick was harder than the last one and this time it got the Doctor up.

The Doctor rose up from the ground where he had been sleeping all night on his red lined jacket. His grey hair was in all directions as he stood up. He fixed his jacket as he watched Nightshade as she moved to the dying camp fire. He watched in silence as she kicked up dust into the already dying embers. Instantly the embers where no longer glowing and it left the clearing that they were camped in to become darker with no sun or stars. There was even a cold bitter bite to the early morning that he had not noticed when there was still some heat coming from the camp fire.

"What time is it?" he asked. He ran his hands through his messy grey hair.

Nightshade watched from a distance as the Doctor flattened his grey hair. The Time Lord's hair was still messy when he was finished but it was better than it looking like he had just been dragged through a bush backwards. "Four in the morning!" she replied before walking off. She heard the Doctor muttering something under his breath as he and Dalek Sec followed after her. Leading them back to the path that they had been following last night. "We better get a move on! During the night, there was a lot of patrols around the edge of the Dalek City! I think Dalek X is still on Skaro and it seems he is looking for something on the planet!" she continued over her shoulder.

The Doctor grabbed her shoulder and Nightshade stopped. "What do you mean?" he asked. His eyebrows were in their angry position as he looked down at her.

"Like I said Doctor! There have been many scouts into the forest in recent hours! The reason why we're moving out an hour earlier than I had wanted to!" she replied. Nightshade was then able to shrug her arm out of the Doctor's hold. Her attention moved to Dalek Sec. The Dalek was hiding behind the Doctor like some child hiding behind his favourite parent while the more sensible parent shouted at them. "What is on Skaro that Dalek X will be sending scouts out in the Dead Forest? I want to know anything otherwise you won't be seeing the sun rise!" she snarled at the Dalek.

Dalek Sec rolled back at Nightshade sudden aggressive tone. He had expected the Doctor to get right in his face not Nightshade. She was more working behind the scenes rather than going face to face with issues. "DALEK X IS INSANE!" he began and soon wished that he had said anything. Nightshade had grabbed his eye stock with one hand while her other hand grabbed his death-ray gun and forced it to face the ground. "THERE IS ROMOURS OF A WEAPON! A WEAPON THAT WILL GRANT GREAT POWER TO WHOEVER USES IT!" he continued. His vison was starting to crackle and fizz as Nightshade tightened her grip on his eye stock. "THE WEAPON IS OF TIME LORD DESIGN!" he finished.

Nightshade at the speed of lightning released Dalek Sec and pinned the Doctor against the closest tree. The Doctor grunted at the sheer strength she had as her elbow pinned him by his throat. "What weapon is he talking about, Doctor?" she snapped getting right in his face. Some of her bones were already popping and cracking as she kept her anger in check and keeping to her human form.

The Doctor scrapped at her elbow, but the thick bones would not detect any movement. "I don't know!" he gasped. He was fighting for even a little breathe as Nightshade tightened her grip around his throat. "There were a lot of weapons that went missing during the Time War! Many of them were destroyed by the Time Lords themselves to keep them out of Dalek hands – eh plungers! There were a few that were hidden in the universe where the Time Lords knew where to find them should the war be turning against them!" he gasped.

Growling Nightshade released the Doctor from the death grip that she had him in. Taking a couple steps back she allowed the Doctor to walk away from the tree. "What weapon would the Time Lords hide on Skaro?" she asked.

The Doctor looked at Dalek Sec. The black Dalek slowly rolled up to the two frenemies. "THE WEAPON THAT IS ON SKARO IS THE STAR BANE!" Dalek Sec replied. He rolled backwards when the two glared at him. The Doctor's eyes were filled with fire and ice. The same eyes that many Daleks had seen before they had meet an end at his hands. Nightshade's eyes were no longer human. The glowing emeralds were locked onto him and he feared that was going to destroy him within a blink of an eye.

"Star Bane? That's impossible" the Doctor let out a long breath. He never thought he would hear of that weapon again. The Star Bane was like the Moment it had developed a consciousness. The Time Lords soon feared the Star Bane. The Star Bane was one of the weapons that could end the war by destroying every star within five solar systems. The Star Bane was then spilt into separate parts so that it would never be found by anyone other than a Time Lord when the Time War was really bad for them.

"DALEK X DURING THE WAR GATHERED INTEL OF THE STAR BANE BEFORE HE AND HIS FLEET WERE LOCKED IN THE DALEK ASYLYM!" Dalek Sec put in. He instantly moved backwards when both the Doctor and Nightshade both looked at him.

The Doctor rubbed the back of his head as he thought of the best option. He looked from Dalek Sec to Nightshade. The pair had returned to glaring at each other. Nightshade constantly daring Dalek Sec to make a move that would allow her to take his head off. He knew that this was going to be like that until they got go their own separate ways. He also had a sinking feeling that Nightshade would have the Moonray take out a great deal of the Dalek fleet if she felt like it. He was not going to allow Nightshade to do that just because she hated Daleks, no he was going to make her blast the Dalek City because she hated Daleks.

"Nightshade!" he shouted. The shapeshifter turned her attention back to him and he was sure that she had a look that wanted to kill. Perfect she was in the right mood for what he was going to ask of her. "You know how I hate guns and violence?" he asked her.

A confused look came over Nightshade's face as she took in his words. Why was he asking her such a stupid question? She knew that. How many times had she and Captain Jack Harkness been shunned by him because they carried weapons? Too many times. She could understand where the Doctor was coming from but weapons where the only thing that could take down Daleks. It was common sense all throughout the universe. Heck even the humans in the 40th century had basic technology to blow a Dalek wide open.

"I need you to act as diversion!" the Doctor said bringing Nightshade out of her thoughts. "I want you to blast the outer walls and defences of the city while me and Dalek Sec slip in and get all the intel as we need along with stopping Dalek X before it's too late!" he finished. He walked away from Nightshade with Dalek Sec right behind him. He heard the start of an engine and then the snapping of branches as something big shot into the air.

…

Dalek X glided silently through the mostly deserted corridors of the Dalek City. The drone class Daleks moved to the side as he passed them. He felt mighty and powerful when they dropped their eye stocks to the ground in respect. Not even the Dalek Supremes during any war got this amount of respect. Dalek Sec never got this. The crazy Dalek mainly kept to his lab, while he Dalek X fought on the front lines and made a name for himself. The only member of the Cult of Skaro that he could stand was Dalek Caan. The second in command of the Cult had made it clear that he wanted to get back at Dalek Sec for being weak and thinking like inferior lifeforms. Dalek X knew that he would have to keep a close eye on the Dalek that had backstabbed Dalek Sec.

Coming into the control room at the top of the highest tower he was confronted with Daleks in battle position. Dalek Supremes were shouting at lower ranking Daleks as they defended the city. Narrowing his optic he spotted Dalek Caan in the centre of the room overseeing everything while he was absent. "WHAT IS GOING ON! EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN!" he boomed in his voice that was deeper than the Dalek Supremes voice.

Dalek Caan rotated his domed head right around to face the red, black and gold Dalek. "THE CITY IS BEING ATTACKED AND FORCED INTO SIEGE!" Dalek Caan replied in that deep monotone electronic voice of his. "ATTACKER AS OF JUST NOW IS STILL UNKNOWN!" he said as the tower shock.

Dalek X glared at Dalek Caan as the other Daleks continued to do their jobs. "SEEK! LOCATE AND EXTERMINATE THE INTRUDER!" the Dalek in Devil form boomed. He watched in silence as the former member of the Cult of Skaro went to order another group of Daleks. A wicked thought instantly came to mind as he watched Caan get the group of Daleks ready for the mission. This was the perfect time for him to show Dalek Caan where he was in the way of things. "DALEK CAAN YOU WILL GO! I NEED ALL DALEKS HERE TO KEEP THE CITY RUNNING!" he growled.

Caan stopped in the middle of his command at Dalek X's order. He was a higher up Dalek. He shouldn't be doing a job that was meant for a drone. He didn't do anything like that when he was under Dalek Sec that always feel to the youngest Dalek, Dalek Thay. He was going to argue against the order but remembered who he was in the room with. Dalek X was not Dalek Sec. Dalek X was feared by both Dalek and human. It was not hard to believe that. Dalek X was an intimidating figure in the room, and that was when he was not shooting at fellow Daleks for not doing a good job or humans who were too weak to continue working. "I OBEY!" Dalek Caan snapped back.

The bronze Dalek glided out of the control room. Its domed head rotated around to face the black, red and golden Dalek X. The Dalek Devil returned the glare that the bronze Dalek was given him. Dalek X didn't know why that god had brought him Dalek Caan out of all Daleks that had fought in the Time War. He would have rather had a Special Weapon Dalek rather than the backstabbing second in command of the Cult of Skaro.