Chapter 3: The Daleks At War
Of all the information the Daleks had forced into her head, their standard battle tactics were the least welcome. She'd never expected them to be chivalrous, but hadn't contemplated the full extent of it. Anything and everything was fair game to them, if it would gain them an advantage. She couldn't imagine any other species having to inform each other of when not to just bomb whole continents, as though that was naturally the first thing they'd do.
The good news though, was that it gave her an opportunity to do some good for the first time since she'd climbed into this Dalek casing. She now knew that the Daleks would rather capture the ship intact so they could plunder it for resources. But their main priority was killing the occupants. If blasting it out of the stars was significantly simpler, they'd do it. She had to persuade them that it wouldn't be much easier.
Clara had been placed on the scanning module. The Sparkians had quickly realised that they had no hope of outrunning or out manoeuvring the Daleks, so they were trying to build up their shields. Clara dithered as much as possible, scanning trivial points, until they'd reach a sufficient strength for the Daleks to determine that it would take too long to breach. Finally, it reached that point and she reported it to the Supreme.
"BUT WILL IT STOP US FROM BOARDING?" It said.
"No." She replied. If she told them anything else, they'd blast it out of the stars anyway.
"PREPARE A 20 DALEK BOARDING PARTY." Said the Supreme. "MANOUVER THE SHIP TOWARDS ITS MAIN DOCKING PORT. 20 DALEKS FROM THIS SHIP WILL ASSIST THE BOARDING PARTY."
Another jolt of information told Clara that she was to join the boarders.
The Sparkians had done everything they could to escape, but it was no good. The Dalek warship was simply much faster, more manoeuvrable and better equipped than them.
"TRACTOR BEAM ENGAGED."
That was Clara's signal to move to the hanger at the front of the ship. Around her, 19 Daleks were moving in the same direction from all over the ship. She focused hard to avoid hitting them. When the Daleks did a task together, the hive mind would assign each one a route and a time to move everywhere. And they'd follow it to the letter. They never hit each other and always moved as one. It allowed them to get where they all needed to be much faster. Clara, however, had to focus to maintain the same level of discipline. One bump would alert them that something was wrong. But she was just about managing it. Only a little wobbly in places.
She reached a hanger, from which Daleks were launched for ship to ship combat. The room sloped steeply downwards to a set of huge sliding doors. Before them stood the 20 Dalek boarding party, with a Dalek in black armour at their head. Clara and the others would form two more ranks behind them. Where all these new Daleks had come from, she wasn't yet sure.
Clara manoeuvred into the spot she was supposed to in the fourth rank, slightly out of line, but she corrected that before anyone noticed.
Now that she had less to focus on, she felt herself going pale at the thought about what was about to happen. She was about to go into battle. This wasn't like skirting around battles with the Doctor. She'd be right in the firing line!
She took her mind off once more by focusing on waiting for the signal.
To one side, another Dalek was operating a system on the wall. A whirr could be heard as a tunnel extended from the ship, creating a sealed air corridor between them. It wouldn't be long now.
"OPEN THE DOORS." Said the Leader.
"I OBEY."
The doors slid open, beyond the short length of tunnel stood the main hatch of the Sparkian ship.
"FIX TARGETS."
They each took aim at a given point in the door. The slope of the hanger was designed specially to allow give every Dalek a clear field of fire. Now was the time.
"FIRE."
They all fired. Knowing that the guns were powered by the Daleks' rage and hatred, she conjured up an image of Missy lounging on a beach and laughing at her to maximise her impact. Together, they hit the hatch in a series of structural points and it collapsed in seconds.
Through the smoke came a hail of bullet and lazer fire. The Daleks fired back, though neither side could see, and the air soon lit up like a fireworks display.
"ADVANCE!" Shouted the Leader. Clara forced herself to move forward in time with the others.
In the entrance hall of the ship, her heads up display identified 54 Sparkians, who'd formed a defensive position. Now, along with the sounds of shooting, there were also the screams and cries of the Sparkians, along with the endless shouts of "EXTERMINATE!" The noise was deafening.
Worried that someone would notice if she didn't fire her gun, Clara Shouted "Extermiante!" A few times and fired over the Sparkian's heads and into their barricades, creating a shower of sparks and forcing them to duck.
These weren't military people, just security guards, and a few other volunteers, who'd grabbed any weapon they could. And none of them had much impact. Of course, they hurt, but the feelings of pain only increased the Daleks' rage and hatred, giving them more to channel into their fire power.
Within minutes, it was all over. All the Sparkian's efforts had brought down a total of one Dalek.
11 of them had thrown down their weapons and surrendered. One of them had stepped forward and was trying to plead with the Daleks that they spare the other passengers, but all her pleas fell on deaf ears.
Another Dalek had interfaced with the computer. "I HAVE LOCATED A MAP AND A MANIFEST. THERE ARE 173 OTHER PEOPLE ON BOARD."
The Leader turned to the Daleks on one side of the hall. "YOU WILL FORM A BLOCAKADE ACROSS THE SHIP. SWEEP IT IN FULL. ALL LIFEFORMS ARE TO BE EXTERMINATED ON SIGHT." It then turned to the side Clara was on. "YOU WILL SEEK THEM OUT. SEEK. LOCATE. DESTROY."
"But what are you going to do with us?" Said the guard.
"WE REQUIRE 10 MORE ROBOMEN. YOU WILL FILL THEIR ROLES."
The woman had gone a lighter shade of yellow. "But… we… there's 11 of us."
"CORECT." Said the Leader and exterminated her.
Clara didn't see anything more. She'd already gone to search the ship. As the Daleks fanned out, she realised this was her chance. Her luck was holding so far, now all she needed to do was to find some Sparkians before the Daleks did.
Fortunately, she had an advantage over them, as she had a much stronger ability to imagine and think independently. She thought up the map the Daleks had injected into her head. She identified where most of the cabins were located and made her way there.
Her Suit was much more sensitive to distant noises than her human ears, and she could hear the occasional screams of groups of Sparkians, as the Daleks found them. "We surrender! We surrender!" One of them was screaming. "For the love of the goddess, we surrender! ARRRRH!"
Clara focused on the task. She'd found a row of rooms. Now, if she was on a ship about to be boarded by Daleks, where would she go? She'd naturally get as far from the main entrance as possible so she followed the corridor away from it. A fleeing mob would likely head in a straight line so she went along. Eventually, she found a point where she hoped people would taper off and find somewhere to hide. There was a storage bay to her left.
Inside was a maze of storage crates and shelving. Just the place to try and evade a Dalek. The only problem was, how to find them. She elevated herself above the piles and scanned the passageways below her for anything they might have dropped.
Her proximity senses had gotten weaker as the Daleks fanned out. Now they were getting stronger. The Daleks lacked imagination but they were efficient. The block was moving forward rapidly, and the Daleks searching in the rest of the ship were bunching up. They made it all the harder for Sparkians to think of a way through the blockade. And they were drawing ever closer to this bay.
Finally, she found something. A welding torch and fuel tank had seemingly been left abandoned in a hurry. She landed by it and had a look around. Next to it was a sealed storage crate, with a huge gouge down the side, welded together in a bit of a hurry. Had someone been trying to hide their friends inside?
Knowing that the Daleks would hear her blasting it open, she instead placed her sucker arm on the metal and pulled. The new weld gave way and the casing came open once more.
It was at this point that her luck ran out. "NO! You can't have them!" Someone screamed, before she felt a fierce heat in the back of her armour. Someone was trying to use the welding torch on her.
Clara screamed in pain and instinctively fled forwards into the crate. Inside, her heads up display picked up 45 Sparkians. Men, women and children. They all looked at her with expressions of utter terror.
"Quick!" Someone screamed. "Get it before it calls in more!"
They each grabbed the hardest object they could throw and flung them at her. Those with weapons fired them, others just kept throwing.
"Wait!" She shouted. "Do not kill me! I am not a Dalek!"
"Don't listen to it!" The man with the welding torch shouted, as he tried to pull the tank through the entrance. The throwing continued.
Clara had rehearsed this several times, the voice system wouldn't allow her to say her name, or several other things, but she'd found other ways to explain the situation. "Human female, trapped in Dalek casing! I am an enemy of the Daleks! I need to escape so I can assist you!" But no one seemed to be listening.
"It's gun's not working!" A woman shouted and hurried at her with an iron bar.
"I'll prove it!" Said Clara "Open."
But the moment the casing started to move, someone saw and shouted. "It's opening! Aim for the mutant!"
"Close." Clara said. The armour had only moved slightly, not enough to reveal herself, and quickly slid back, but not before the woman stabbed the bar into the gap. The closing armour caught it and snapped just before it could hit her neck. Meanwhile, a stream of projectiles flew past the woman and hit Clara's front section. It would have killed her before anyone had a chance to register what she was. "Listen to me!" She shouted.
But it was already too late. She could feel several Daleks converging upon this position. No doubt they'd heard the noise. Even if she could get the Sparkians on her side, she couldn't stop the Daleks killing them. Though she hated to do so. Clara made a choice.
The woman with the bar had twisted it free and was now using it to bludgeon Clara's armour. "No." Said the man with the torch. "Aim for the eye stalk."
Clara brought her eyestalk and centre turret round. The man had almost got his torch within reach of her. Remembering that her gun had non lethal settings, Clara thought the word Stun as hard as she could. The man lit up brilliantly in negative light, before collapsing, seemingly dead.
This had the desired effect as the other Sparkians leapt away. Clara brought her gun round again and fired 44 more shots at the floor and ceiling, causing them to cower away further as she backed out. "Keep quiet." She said.
She followed her sense globes to the nearest Dalek and reported. "45 Sparkinans located in this room. All have been exterminated."
"WE WILL MOVE THE BLOCKADE FORWARD AND SEARCH FUTHUR. MOVE." Said the Dalek.
"I obey." Said Clara, moving back towards the corridors.
She hadn't had another opportunity after that. The group she'd found were some of the last survivors. It wasn't long before the Daleks had rounded up and exterminated the rest. And she couldn't go back to the group she'd found without leading the Daleks to them.
Within minutes, the Leader Dalek had announced that all Sparkians were accounted for. They'd believed her when she'd said they were dead.
Within 20000 rels, the Daleks had repaired the ship's hatch and sent the boarding party to take control of the ship, along with a skeleton crew of robomen. They were to fly it to the salvage yards to be stripped.
From her position on the bridge, Clara operated a system to disengage the ships, pleased they still hadn't found those Sparkians. She wasn't sure how they'd be able to escape, but at least now they had a chance. That was more than could be said for her, she'd come so close!
"INSPECT THE HANGER FOR DAMAGE." A Dalek ordered her.
"I obey." Said Clara.
As she went, she tried to think about what had gone wrong. When she'd rehearsed the conversation, she'd imagined the lifeforms she met being calm and rational. That now seemed absurd. They were face to face with a Dalek, for crying out loud! She'd have to think of another way to initiate dialogue next time she met one. But how long would that be?