Although he had never actually been in a real-life combat situation before, Commander Lan had long studied the histories of wars on other planets, and had regularly trained every day in battle simulations, just as the rest of his team did. The more they learnt about the art of war, the more they grew to hate it, and they prayed each day that they would never have to actually face an actual battle. Nevertheless, they had become most efficient as soldiers, their reactions calm, precise and instantaneous. Thus, when the alarm klaxon for battle stations sounded, they moved with quick and efficient speed as they donned their spacesuits and scrambled to the sleek red fighter ships housed in the main hanger on the outskirts of the city.
As he slipped into the cockpit seat of his fighter, designated Omega I, Lan buckled himself in, made sure his space helmet was secure, and checked the controls of his ship. Satisfied that all was in order, he flicked an intercom switch and checked on the progress of his team.
"All fighters, report in," he ordered.
"Omega II, all set," came the reply over the radio.
"Omega III, standing by."
"Omega IV, prepared."
"Omega V, ready for action."
With all five fighters prepared, the hanger doors above slid gracefully open, revealing Phryne's calm blue sky and the dazzling bright rays of their sun. A few seconds later, all five fighter craft ignited their launch thrusters and slowly lifted off the ground, gliding gently up through the hanger doors. Then, moving in close formation, their noses lifted up towards the skies and they rocketed upwards at terrific velocity towards the heavens.
"Interceptor Leader to base. Squadron blasting off for interception of moon intruders," Lan reported over the radio to Space Monitor Control, as the blue sky gave way to the blackness of space. "Crossing invisibility band now. Holding course 23°/62°."
"Roger, Interceptor Leader," came the transmitted reply. "Your orders are to intercept and destroy alien intruders on moon's surface. Repeat, intercept and destroy."
"Understood," responded Lan plainly, his voice level, hiding the slight sense of thrill and fear running through him. He did not like the prospect of taking lives, even hostile ones bent themselves on causing total destruction, but he knew that there was no choice in the matter. When he and his men had first joined the space service, they had all sworn a solemn oath to defend their world no matter what, even at the potential cost of their own lives. He just hoped that their lack of experience in actual battle situations, along with the apparent raw violent nature of these aliens, would not cost them dearly...
Back on the moon's surface, the Daleks had completed their work on the construction of the transmitter tower that they hoped would be the key to unlocking the invisible field barring them from seeing this system's hidden world. The finished machine had an abstract feel to it, with various antennae and dishes attached to thick red metal poles sticking upwards from the base of the device.
"THE SONIC PROBE IS READY, BLACK DALEK LEADER," reported the Dalek technician manning the controls of the machine.
"GOOD," said the Black Dalek in satisfaction. "THE SONIC VIBRATIONS GENERATED BY THIS PROBE WILL BOUNCE OFF ANY OBJECT IN THEIR PATH. WHEN THIS MOON HAS ROTATED IN THE CORRECT POSITION, THE VIBRATIONS WILL REVEAL THE EXACT LOCATION OF THE INVISIBLE PLANET. ACTIVATE THE MACHINE."
"I OBEY," said the technician, as it operated some controls on the probe's instrument panel. Within seconds, the probe began humming with energy, as it began generating sonic pulses upwards into space.
"INCREASE POWER," ordered the Black Dalek. "MONITOR THE PATH OF THE SONIC PULSES."
The humming from the machine grew louder and louder, and the rocky surface they were standing on began to shake from the vibrations.
"SONIC PROBE AT FULL POWER," stated the technician, as it scanned the readings on its instruments. "SCANS INDICATE NO PLANETARY BODY IN PATH AS OF YET. WILL CONTINUE SCAN WHILE MOON ROTATES."
As the Sonic Probe continued to generate its pulses into space, an urgent message came through on the loudspeaker system from the Saucer Commander inside the Dalek ship.
"EMERGENCY! ENEMY SHIPS DETECTED, FLYING TOWARDS THIS POSITION IN ATTACK FORMATION. STOP SONIC PROBE! FIRING INTERCEPTOR MISSILES IMMEDIATELY."
As the sonic probe quickly powered down, a large hatch opened up on one side of the Dalek Saucer, and five deadly missiles launched out, streaking away towards the unknown attackers.
Flying gracefully through the vacuum of space, the Interceptor Squadron made all possible speed as the moon came into visual range. All five pilots were tense, readying themselves as much as they could for any potential dangers waiting for them.
"Out of invisibility band now," Commander Lan reported to base. "Moon now in sight. Preparing for formation attack."
As they got closer, the shape of the moon grew larger and larger before them. Lan could feel his heart pulsing frantically away, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead, as he tried to anticipate what defence these aliens might use against his team. They must surely be aware of their presence by now, and would probably strike at any second.
"Steady," he told himself. "Don't lose your nerve..."
Suddenly, the proximity alarms began to flash and wail, and through the front window of the cockpit, Lan could see five projectile-shaped objects heading towards them fast.
"Missiles incoming!" he cried over the radio to the rest of the squad. "Break off formation and take evasive action!"
Pulling hard on the controls, Lan swung his craft to the left, and by some miracle, he just managed to avoid getting hit. Around him, two of his team were equally lucky, but the other two were just that fraction of a second too late. There was a terrific pair of explosions as the two fighters and their pilots were blasted to atoms!
"Squadron, check in!" Lan bellowed into his radio.
"Omega II still here," replied one relieved voice.
"Omega V also okay," came the other response. "Phew, that was close. The missile just went right past me. But III and IV were totally destroyed."
Lan knew there was no time for them to mourn their fallen comrades and was about to issue a new attack command. But then the alarms sounded again, and to his horror, he saw that the radar had picked up path of the remaining three missiles they had barely managed to dodge. They were turning around and heading right back for them!
"Missiles are homing in on us!" he said urgently. "Evasive manoeuvrer B-10! Move!"
Again, the surviving three fighters tried to swerve out of the way, but this time, Omegas II and V were not able to get clear in time. The missiles struck their targets dead-on, and there came two more dazzling flashes of light as both craft were blown to pieces!
Lan, in Omega I, was only slightly more fortunate. Spinning his craft around, he managed to launch a missile of his own, which managed to strike the incoming enemy rocket before it could destroy him like the rest of his squadron. However, he was still too close to the blast radius, which clipped his right starboard wing, tearing it right apart. Lan fought desperately with the guidance instruments, as he tried to maintain some control over his stricken craft, which had already began to plummet helplessly towards the moon's surface.
Glancing at the readings on the control panel, Lan grimly realised that there was no hope of him getting out of this alive. He cursed himself for letting his squadron get taken down so easily by an attack he should have been prepared for. But perhaps, he could use his inevitable death to rectify his blunder.
"Four fifths of patrol destroyed..." he transmitted to control, as the cabin began to fill with thick smoke, the craft shaking violently around him. "Remaining craft out of control. Am plunging down on intruder base..."
"Patrol Leader, break off and return!" came the frantic response from control. "Do you hear me? Break off and return!"
"I wish I could," sighed Lan regretfully, as the alien spaceship on the moon came into view before him. "But I'm finished. I've set the ship on suicide course."
Inside the saucer, the Black Dalek and the Saucer Commander noted the course of the remaining alien fighter on the radar.
"IT'S GOING TO CRASH ON TOP OF US!" declared the Black Dalek. "ORDER IMMEDIATE TAKE-OFF!"
"AND THE OTHER DALEKS OUTSIDE..." began the Saucer Commander began to say, but the Black Dalek was not going to tolerate any questioning of his orders, especially with an enemy craft heading right for them.
"OBEY ME!" he snapped, prompting the Saucer Commander and the crew onboard to immediately close the hatch and set the craft for emergency take-off.
As the saucer began to lift off the ground, the remaining Daleks outside started to scatter in a vain attempt to get clear of the incoming fighter craft heading straight for them. Before any of the Daleks could get clear, Commander Lan and Omega I collided right with the Sonic Probe Transmitter tower, and there came a blinding burst of energy, as Fighter craft and Transmitter exploded together. A huge mushroom-shaped cloud formed on the moon's surface, the fiery blast so terrific that the Dalek drones were caught in its wake, blowing them all to kingdom come. When the dust eventually settled, all that was left were bits of twisted metal, scattered all over the scorched rocky landscape.
Back at Space Monitor Control, a ghastly silence had filled the room as everyone present tried to comprehend the terrible event they had just witnessed. They had watched with held breathes the space battle that had occurred via the visual scanners, followed soon after by the terrible explosion on the moon's surface, when Commander Lan made the ultimate sacrifice.
"He... He killed himself," said Rae at last, in a near shocked whisper. "He gave his life to save us..."
"No. Not us," said her father, as he put a comforting hand on his daughter's shoulder. "He did it to save the wisdom and the genius of a hundred planets. A brilliant history of the past. That's what he died for."
"I just hope his sacrifice was not in vain," said Zera, as she gave Rae a comforting hug. "More of those aliens are bound to be coming here now, to find out what has happened to their destroyed spaceship. They know we're out here and won't rest until they've found us."
"Then we have to move fast," said the Controller decisively. "Zera. Rae. I want you both to get back to the Rimor base. Tell Roozell to make immediate preparations for lift-off. We must get the colonists off this planet before the aliens return."
"Yes, Father," said Rae, who could see there was no time for discussion, and together, she and Zera began to head as fast as they could towards the turbo-tube station. They had barely left the room, when the Controller's attention was diverted by an urgent cry from Saf:
"Controller! The enemy ship escaped the blast! It's broken through our invisibility band!"
With a growing sense of dread, the Controller whirled around to face the monitor screen that Saf was standing in front of. The visual image projected before them showed all too clearly the saucer-shaped form of the alien invaders' ship, coming closer and closer towards them.
"It must have taken off just seconds before Lan's ship crashed," realised the Controller, shaking his head in dismay. "They must have plotted the course that the fighters had come from and used it to trace our location. At their current speed, they'll be entering our atmosphere in just under ten minutes!"
Onboard their craft, the Daleks intently studied the image of the now visible planet Phryne on their own monitors, a rich blue-and-green world, ripe for conquest.
"WE HAVE SUCCESSFULLY BREACHED THE INVISIBLE FORCEFIELD SHIELDING THIS PLANET," proclaimed the Saucer Commander. "WE HAVE ALSO LOCATED THE POSITION OF THE INHABITANTS' CITY ON THIS WORLD, AND SHALL BE COMMENCING LANDING THERE IN 1500 RELS. DALEK FORCES ARE ALREADY PREPARED TO COMMENCE ATTACK AND INVASION PROCEDURES."
"EXCELLENT!" said the Black Dalek. "CONTACT SKARO. INFORM THE EMPEROR THAT THE HIDDEN PLANET IS NOW AT OUR MERCY!"