This story is based on a 1960s comic strip originally published in the pages of 'TV Century 21 #52-58'. I've tried to remain faithful to the original tale, whilst also expanding it by including some original characters and a new sub-plot. I also borrowed some concepts from other sci-fi related films and shows, such as 'Star Trek', 'When Worlds Collide' and the final episode of 'DC's Legends Of Tomorrow'.
All characters and concepts are owned by the BBC and TV Century 21. I take no credit for the original comic strip material I've adapted here. This story is written for entertainment purposes, with no copyright infringement intended.
Dedicated to the memory of original Dalek voice artist, David Graham (1925-2024).
Far away across the universe, over eight hundred years before the people of the planet Earth had first set foot on their moon, there was once a beautiful blue-and green world called Phryne. This world was once one of the most peaceful in the cosmos, and yet, for many eons, the inhabitants of the other planets in the universe were blissfully unaware of its existence. Unaware that is, until Phryne's existence was exposed and it fell in the early founding years of the mighty Dalek Empire.
Phryne was an exotic and tranquil world, one that the humans of Earth would easily compare to the Garden of Eden. Its surface was covered with many beautiful forests, breathtakingly high mountains, and clear blue oceans. A wide variety of astounding animal and plant life inhabited this largely untouched paradise, that were mostly left in peace by the one humanoid civilisation that lived in one big city on the surface of Phryne.
The Phrynians were a highly intelligent and inherently peace-loving people. They looked similar to most humanoid species and aged at a similar rate to humans of Earth, but their brains were much more advanced and developed, enabling each of them to memorise a far greater amount of knowledge and information than the average humanoidcerebrum could. This ability enabled the Phrynians to develop their minds and intellects much faster than their bodies aged, to the point that upon reaching the physical age of ten years old, the average Phrynian would already have the mental understanding and maturity of a full-grown adult. With this great intelligence, the Phrynian race built themselves a highly advanced civilisation, contend with being a purely scholarly civilisation.
Always eager to learn more, the Phrynians used their great science to observe the activities of over a hundred worlds without ever having to leave their own planet. But as their knowledge and wisdom grew, and the people of Phryne became guardians to the histories and legacy of so many wonderful worlds, the Phrynian leaders came to realise just how dangerous all their accumulated knowledge had become. There were some less savoury races in the many neighbouring galaxies, such as the Monstrons and the Kleptons, who strived only for conquest, and if any of them ever learnt of the great secrets the Phrynians had learnt over the years, they would stop at nothing to gain that knowledge to advance their own warmongering ways. This would go against everything that the Phrynian people stood for.
For this reason, the Phrynians used their advance science to create an invisibility shield capable of concealing their entire world from the rest of the universe, and developed various other defences to ward off any aggressors who might potentially seek to steal the secrets of Phryne for themselves. Once these measures were in place, the whole world of Phryne become obscured from the rest of the universe, as though it had never existed. Only Phryne's moon remained in view, being just outside the range of the invisibility shield that protected the world it orbited, but most passing ships paid no attention to this uninteresting rock suspended in space.
And so for countless years, the people of Phryne continued to live in peace and harmony, and they carried on with observing and accumulating their knowledge of the universe, while also developing their own culture, content in the knowledge that their world was safe and always would be.
Or so they complacently believed...
The sky was clear and the stars twinkled brightly above the city. From her vantage point on the high balcony connected to the apartment where she and her wife lived, Rae had a perfect view of both the city below and the starlit sky that she was currently observing through her highly advanced telescope. Astronomy had always been one of her greatest passions, and tonight was a perfect night for stargazing. Whilst her scope may not be quite as high-tech as the ones used by the Phryne monitors to watch for any potential danger in space, it still gave her a perfect high-definition view of the far-distant worlds that the Phryne people had dedicated themselves to study.
Rae was a highly intelligent young woman of nineteen years of age, and she was also the daughter of the Phrynian Controller who governed their serene civilisation. She was a Phrynian of many talents, particularly in regard to engineering and electronic designing, which proved very useful in her work helping to improve the defences of Phryne, as well as a very special project that might one day prove beneficial to her people.
Rae stood out from most Phrynians as she suffered from a form of alopecia areata, that had left her head completely bald ever since she was a child, though she still retained her eyebrows and eyelashes. Although the advancement of Phrynian science had long established a cure for this condition, Rae had never been troubled by her total lack of hair. In fact, her baldness felt perfectly natural to her, and so had chosen not to have it sorted. Below the smooth dome of her head, she had a delicately attractive and kindly face. With her usually-slim figure, she was a very beautiful girl with a well-developed mind, her overall personality being friendly and cheerful.
Like the rest of her people, Rae loved her world, but she also maintained a fascination for the stars and the countless other worlds out there. Of course, she knew full well that it was unlikely she would ever visit those planets. Phryne's very existence was a necessary secret kept from the entire universe, and in order to safeguard that secret, none could leave their planet, save for the brave and highly trained security pilots, who occasionally patrolled the skies in their red space squadron ships, on the lookout for any potential threats.
So, Rae contented herself with simply observing those worlds through her telescope. But she made it no secret how much she envied her wife, Zera, who was one of the test pilots for the space patrol craft used by the Interceptor Squadrons, and thus one of the few Phrynians to venture into space.
Rae and Zera had met at university when they were both just thirteen years old. They found they had a lot in common, such as skills in engineering, interests in art and music, and a mutual fascination with the stars, and as they overcame initial shyness and started to see more of each other, they soon realised they were very much enamoured with each other. They became a passionate and devoted couple, and three years later, after they had both graduated university with honours, they were married, with the joyous blessing of Rae's proud father.
The bond between Rae and Zera was happy and as unbreakable as diamonds, made even more so when they learnt a few months ago that Rae was now pregnant with their first child. Another unique difference of Phrynian biology from that of a human was that when the female members of their race are ovulated, they can be inseminated by either gender of their species. In this case, a particularly deep and romantic kiss on the lips during a night of heartfelt love-making was sufficient for Zera to transfer a sample of her DNA into Rae's body, impregnating her. The young married lovers were delighted when they discovered they were going to be mothers, and with an exciting future as parents ahead of them, it seemed that all was set to be right in the world for Rae and Zera, just as it had always been for the entire population of Phryne.
Even so, Zera recognised and shared Rae's longing to explore space, and had once or twice offered to bend regulations, and take Rae up as a passenger on a routine test flight. But Rae was both a practical woman and a person of duty. She knew her father would not approve of any civilian, even his own daughter, going on an unauthorised space journey, and she for her part did not want to risk putting her entire race at risk simply to indulge her own fantasies. Besides, she could hardly venture into the unknown now, not when she was expecting her and Zera's first daughter.
Still, it was good of Zera to offer such an opportunity to her.
With a content smile on her face, Rae leaned back in her luxurious chair and rubbed her hand lovingly over her swollen stomach. She was now seven months into her pregnancy and she could feel her baby girl growing and moving within her, which gave Rae a warm, comforting sensation. As she relaxed herself, Zera came onto the balcony and went over to join her. She was an attractive girl with dark golden-brown skin and a slim figure similar to her wife's before she became pregnant, though in contrast to Rae with her bald head, Zera had long and straight jet-black hair, which went gracefully past her shoulders. At present, the young space-pilot and engineer was attired in a long beautiful dress of a satin-like material. It was similar to the light-blue one Rae that was currently wearing, only Zera's had a purple colour scheme.
"Still not feeling sleepy?" she asked with a smile, leaning over to kiss the woman she loved on the lips.
"No, not yet" admitted Rae, as she fondly returned the kiss. "This little one inside me has been quite restless this evening.."
"Ahh, have you been keeping your Mommy awake again, kiddo?" chuckled Zera at their unborn child, as she knelt down and lovingly kissed Rae's large pregnancy bump.
"She sure has," smiled Rae, as she continued to stroke her belly. "So I thought I'd have another look at the skies, until she settles down a bit."
"Smart move," grinned Zera, as she sat up and gently placing her own hand on Rae's abdomen, while embracing her wife with the other arm. "It is such a beautiful night. You know, I sometimes wonder if any of the other worlds in the neighbouring nine galaxies are as blessed as ours is."
"I believe some of them are," said Rae, as she rested her head on Zera's shoulder and pointing with her finger at some of the dazzling lights in the sky. "There's Solturis, which according to my studies has known peace for a hundred years. The inhabitants there are similar to us, and seem to be on the same path of enlightenment that our own people took. And then there's Alvega, home world of intelligent plants known as the Amarylls. They are friendly for the most part, but can become aggressive if provoked."
Zera hugged Rae affectionately, as she cast her own eyes up at the night sky in wonder. "You know, sometimes I wonder if it's really necessary to hide our world from the entire universe. There are so many good people out there who wish no harm to anyone."
"But there are also ones less friendly," cautioned Rae a bit more gravely. "There's one particular planet in the nearby Seventh Galaxy which we're still trying to find out more about. Our research into the inhabitants of that world is still somewhat sketchy, but as best as our research tells us, it has been a place of terrible war and conflict. The civilisation that has emerged from all that violence and suffering seems to be a cruel and terrible one, worse than all the Monstrons and the Kleptons put together."
"You mean D5-Gamma-Z-Alpha?"
Rae nodded. "Otherwise known as... Skaro."
Rae had good reason to be weary of Planet Skaro, for it was the homeworld of the Daleks, creatures of hate and war, whose sole aim was the eradication of all other life in the universe. They were the mutated descendants of a race called the Kaleds, housed in armoured tank-like robotic shells and equipped with formidable weaponry, and they had been genetically engineered to regard all non-Dalek life as inferior creatures that must be destroyed.
They were destined to become the most feared race in the entire universe, but at this early point in their history, the other worlds were largely ignorant of the Daleks' existence, let alone the threat they posed to all sentient life. Since their initial creation by the Kaled scientist Davros, the Daleks had spent their time building their own civilisation and establishing their total dominion over the entire surface of Skaro. Those who resisted were exterminated without mercy. The native peace-loving Thals were forced to abandon Skaro altogether, fleeing into space to find a new planet to live. And as the might of the Dalek race grew greater and greater, they themselves discovered the secrets of space-flight, and over the years, they developed their own spacecraft, with but one objective in mind: The total conquest of all other planets in the cosmos.
Now, after many years of toil and effort, they were ready to expand their empire beyond the confines of Skaro and out into space. A fleet of formidable flying saucers had been constructed, and in the great council chamber of the vast Dalek city, the Golden Emperor of the Daleks addressed the gathered section leaders.
"INSLI! ALL IS PREPARED! THE FLEET IS ASSEMBLED. OUR ARMIES READY FOR WAR. THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE DALEK RACE TO GO OUT INTO SPACE AND EXPAND OUR RULE OVER ALL OTHER WORLDS. OURS IS THE GREATER INTELLIGENCE. IT IS OUR DESTINY TO RULE THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE!"
"OUR DESTINY!" chanted the gathered Daleks in unison.
The Emperor continued. "EVERY PLANET WITHIN THAT MIGHTY SWIRL MUST BECOME A DALEK WORLD. ALL WHO STAND IN OUR WAY WILL BE SUBJUGATED AND ENSLAVED. THEIR SECRETS AND TECHNOLOGY WILL BE TAKEN FOR THE GREATER DALEK CAUSE. THOSE WHO RESIST WILL BE EXTERMINATED! THE DALEKS SHALL CONQUER ALL OF SPACE!"
With a mechanical fanatical roar, the Daleks again chanted together: "WE SHALL CONQUER! WE SHALL CONQUER!"
And so the great and terrible campaign began, with numerous flying saucers taking off from the surface of Skaro, and spreading out across the regions of space, in search of new planets to claim as part of the growing Dalek Empire. And if the Dalek quest for supremacy meant bringing havoc, bloodshed and destruction to those civilisations standing in the Daleks' path... Then so be it!