Chapter 5: March Of The Daleks
Clara watched the chronometer counting towards the time when battle would be joined and she'd find out her ultimate fate. One part of her mind dreading it, the other wanting to get this over with.
She took her mind off things by using the time to do her stretches. She wasn't sure what effect the Dalek life support was having on her body as a whole, but she imagined her muscles might decay from lack of use. She had to have them at the ready once she got an opportunity to escape so she'd worked out a series of stretches she could do within her suit. The main problem was, she couldn't move her legs. Though she could still feel them, she wasn't certain she'd be able to run if she needed to.
The time was coming closer and the feeling of uncertainty grew. Were they still on course? Had the fleet turned back? Had the humans moved out to intercept? She hated not knowing.
Finally, at the scheduled time, a huge whooshing roar rumbled throughout the ship. The first shot had been fired.
But it would be a lot more time before she was personally thrown into battle. She could no longer take her mind off things, now all she could do was listen for noises and try to guess what was going on. She could hear the sounds of zapps and pews and other strange pieces of machinery, which she guessed to be the Daleks weapons firing. Within minutes of the attack starting, she began to hear thumps as the defenders returned fire. She also heard familiar sounds coming from the engines, which were being run on full to perform rapid manoeuvres. But the ground below her still felt still due to the inertia compensators in the ship and her suit.
While she rooted for the humans, she still drew in breath every time they managed a hit. Every thump could be the blow that would start a chain reaction and destroy her in seconds. She wondered how anyone could ever fly into battles in space, knowing how little back up there was if something went wrong, and that any second their only protection against the vacuum of space could abruptly disappear around them.
But the return fire was coming in sporadic bursts, whereas the Daleks were firing constantly. As the hours went by, the blows to the ship got less and less. Clearly, things weren't going well for the defenders. The Daleks must have achieved surprise. The people of Weatley had technology millennia in advance of Clara's time, but it still wasn't enough to stop the Dalek armada. 400 ships. 2000 Daleks on each 30,000 more on the flagship. That was 830,000 death machines bearing down on you. Even the timelords couldn't repel a full invasion, what chance did this lot have?
Clara thought about the plans she'd heard in the war room. She'd only been able to remember the bare bones after the information cluster had extracted the rest. But it was enough. First, they'd eliminate the space fleet. Then they'd split into groups, one would bombard the planet from orbit, the other would descend and take out military installations all over the planet. The ships in orbit would then descend to seize strategic points. The flagship, and a few support vessels, would be the last to drop.
The engine noises were also powering down. The ship was presumably in a stable orbit now, firing down on the planet. With the Daleks controlling orbiting space, the battle was as good as won, though the fighting would be fierce, it was only a matter of time before they were overrun.
For several more hours, the sounds of the Daleks big guns were all she had to listen to. She thought of planet was burning below her and how she was helpless to do anything. She was just glad she didn't have to watch.
Within her machine, there was a speaker, used by the Daleks for blanket broadcasts. Now, it finally came on. "WE ARE BEGINING OUR ASSAULT UPON THE CAPITAL. HERE ARE YOUR ORDERS FOR THE COMING BATTLE…"
Once it had finished talking, the information was injected into Clara's head once more. Once more, she hummed some music from Murry Gold's orchestra to block out the screaming. It contained her place in the battle, along with an update on the strategic situation. But, once more, they'd supplied her with all the Daleks' combat strategies, along with the atrocities they entailed.
Through the hull, Clara heard a roaring sound as the ship dropped into the atmosphere. Now she could hear much more of the fighting than she could from space. Blasts and zaps and the roar of other ships' engines penetrated through and she imagined that the skies outside must be practically alight.
According to the information she'd been fed, the Daleks had , so far, left the capital relatively untouched. This meant they could do the maximum amount of damage elsewhere before forcing a surrender. Now the flagship was here to strike the killer blow.
They hovered for a little while. The support ships were landing at key choke points around the city, before fanning out to form a ring around it. The only place they left open was the main road into the city. And that was where the flagship was about to land.
As they moved in, the sounds of screaming were added to the mix. This road must be crawling with refuges. Clara also heard the sound of bullets and lasers ricocheting off the hull. As Daleks began to be unloaded from the ship, cries of "EXTERMINATE" were added in and the screaming only intensified, but soon died away. The battle was moving away from them and into the city.
Storage bays 1 and 2 would be unloaded first, a process that took about 15 minutes. In that time, the sound of battle would flare up every now and then as the humans tried to launch an attack against the ship. Each time, the Daleks beat them back.
Finally, the floor below her began to descend once more. She was on her way out. Upon reaching the ground, she followed her assigned route out onto the ramp and finally the street, where she took her position near the middle of the Dalek column that was moving steadily forward.
This was the Daleks' plan to intimidate the government. 30,000 of them, advancing down the main road, 20 abreast, 2 kilometres long, with their heavy battle tanks at the head and supported by the saucers and Daleks flying overhead. An overwhelming mass of dalekanium bearing down on you.
Now she was in the thick of the battle, Clara could see a city burning around her. The Daleks already controlled the skies and they were firing down on the people below. Meanwhile the ring around the city was slowly closing in.
Clara looked around for some way to slip away in the confusion. There were too many Daleks on either side of her, but she could try elevating. She'd barely risen a foot when the Daleks around demanded to know where she was going, and she didn't have an answer for them so she returned to the ground, explaining she was testing a system. Above her, she saw five Daleks being taken out by anti aircraft fire and decided that this may not be the best time to run. The safest place to be was to stay in the column as it carried her onwards.
A kilometre ahead of her, Clara could see the flashes of explosions and the ever present column of smoke as the head of the column flattened everything in their path. The lead Daleks would then use their shapes to plough the wreckage into the gaps between themselves. Clara saw it all as she went by. Weapons, barricades, vehicle parts and, of course, bodies. She was pleased to see plenty of smashed Daleks among the wreckage too. Clearly, someone was making a fight of it.
Every now and then, she'd see some Daleks peeling off the sides to deal with a flanking manoeuvre, while the air cover moved in overhead to give them support. Back in the column, the Daleks behind moved in to close the gap.
A couple of times, she saw these flanking manoeuvres make it through and shoot some gaps in the column. The first time, they simply took up positions by the roadside and fired down on them. The Daleks brought their guns around to return fire but kept pressing onwards. What ultimately happened to them, she never found out.
The only dangerous moment for her came when some of the defenders somehow got a few tanks round and hit the column from the side, driving a wedge right across the road. The Daleks all fired up at them, while Clara fired over their heads, but found the tank armour had been specially designed for stopping their weapons.
The tanks started to take out the Daleks between her and it, but they'd been ordered to keep moving, no matter what so they pressed into the meat grinder. The number of Daleks between her and them was dropping and she'd soon be right in the firing line. Even if she ran, it would single her out.
Luckily for her, the air cover arrived just in time to destroy the tanks. Within rels, they'd reduced them to shards of metal.
As time went by, they were getting closer and closer to the city centre. No matter how many they lost they just kept going. Behind them, the rear of the column was breaking off to widen the wedge, while the ring around the city was still moving inwards, though not as fast as them.
Finally, a human voice was relayed into her speakers. "This is President Summers of the Planet Weatley. We surrender… Unconditionally."
This created the closest that could amount to a cheer from the Daleks. "THE DALEKS ARE THE MASTERS OF WEATLEY! THE DALEKS ARE THE MASTERS OF WEATLEY! THE DALEKS ARE THE MASTERS OF WEATLEY!"
Within an hour, 10000 Daleks had gathered in the city's main square, with thousands more hovering overhead, Clara included. They were there to produce an intimidating sight for the government of the planet. The only space they'd left clear was a small passageway, where the President, and a few of her top ministers, were led towards a platform in the centre for a meeting with the Dalek Supreme.
Though the main battle was over buy now, the sounds of fighting could still be heard all around them where pockets of resistance had elected to fight to the death.
As the President met the Supreme, the contents of the meeting were piped into her suit's speakers.
The President was trying to act tough, demanding her people be well treated, but the Daleks were having none of it. "THE PEOPLE WILL BE MOVED INTO LABOUR CAMPS. THEY WILL BE FED AND SHELTERED ON THE CONDITION THAT THEY OBEY US."
"They'll work them to death." Her Vice President hissed, perhaps thinking the Daleks couldn't hear. They could but just didn't care.
"Do you think I don't know that?" She hissed back, then said to the Daleks. "There are many who will resist such treatment."
"THEN YOU WILL ORDER THEM TO CEASE."
"What do you mean?"
"YOU ARE THE RULER OF THIS WORLD. YOU CAN STAY IN POWER IF YOU WILL WORK WITH US."
"Work for you. As puppets you mean." The Vice President didn't bother hiding his voice now.
"Quiet." She said. "Why… What is there to gain from working for… with you?"
"IF YOU CAN PROVE VALUABLE ALLIES, WE CAN WORK TOGETHER TO PURIFY THE GALAXY. IF YOU RESIST, WE WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO EXTERMINATE YOU ALL."
The President paused. "Then we accept."
This enraged the vice President. "You can't work with the Daleks! Do you think they won't just kill us anyway?"
"Do you have a better idea?" She shouted back, now openly arguing for all to hear. "We might be able to force concessions. We have to try."
The vice President had little to say after that. And the President signed the surrender the Daleks had shown her. Not that they needed the paperwork, it was just to establish that she was working for them now. She was led to a private chamber to discuss details.
The whole invasion was over within a day. Now came the task of occupying the planet.