The Daleks (comic story)
The Daleks was an abridged, edited retelling of the events of three instalments of the series of the same name, pubhlsihed in Terry Nation's Dalek Annual 1977. It recontextualised their events as following directly from one another and being part of the ADF-Dalek War instead of the lead-up to the 2060s Dalek invasion of Earth.
Plot
The Envoys of Evil
King Redlin ignores Lurr's warnings that strange creatures are on their way to attack the planet. Eventually, spacecrafts land outside the city of Bulos. The Daleks convince the King that they are peaceful explorers of space and they have landed to make repairs. In reality, the Dalek Emperor wants to use the opportunity to learn of any weapons within the city that can be used against them. They learn of the Pentaray and plan to steal it to eradicate Bulos.
Lurr learns of the Dalek plan with the Bowl of Tomorrow and warns his granddaughter Mirva. He sends Mirva to warn Prince Jareth and they find that the Pentaray had already been stolen. The King states the Daleks need the key to activate the Pentaray but he finds it has been stolen as well. Meanwhile, Lurr's treacherous cousin Geltis approached the Daleks and offers them the key. They arrange to the mountains where they plan to use the Pentaray on Bulos. Lurr learns of his cousin's actions but Geltis stabs him and blows up his equipment along with any incriminating evidence. He flies back to the mountain, intent on betraying the Daleks too and taking over the city.
The Emperor instructs all but two ships to depart and continue the conquest of other planets. Some of the Daleks remaining on Solturis are destroyed by Geltis using the Pentaray and he then proceeds to aim it at Bulos. Jareth throws a rock at him and sends him plummeting to his death. The remaining Daleks begin attacking Bulos with their own weapons but before they can attack from above, Jareth wipes them out with the Pentaray. With Solturis safe, the Dalek Emperor, watching from deep space, makes an exception to the Dalek law of destroying what they cannot conquer, for the fleet has received a message from Skaro, stating they must return immediately!
The Menace of the Monstrons
The Monstrons land on Skaro inside a dormant volcano without meeting any resistance. They are soon detected, however, and a Dalek is dispatched to investigate on a hoverbout while the Dalek Fleet are also recalled from their conquests. The Monstrons' Engibrain soldiers freeze the scout with liquid air. Two more Daleks go to investigate but are killed when they come in contact with the Monstons' force field. They then launch an attack on the Dalek City, beginning with a bombardment before using their Anti-Visibility Thruster to blind the Daleks with thick layers of fog. The Daleks are forced to seal themselves inside their City against the fog. The Engibrains are sent fourth to raze the City. The Dalek Emperor fears the Daleks are powerless to repel the attack, then the roof collapses. The Monstrons seal the City with liquid metal so they may take over Skaro.
Trapped in the City, the Daleks fear they are without a leader but they soon find the Emperor has survived in an old watercourse connecting the City with the Lake of Mutations. The Emperor is threatened by a giant electric eel, but is rescued by some Daleks who sacrifice their casing's power to power their magnet. They stun the eel so they can use it to power their equipment.
As the Monstrons celebrate, their captive Dalek heats its casing to free itself from the ice, believing itself to be the last of its race. Meanwhile, the Golden Emperor regroups his ragged forces, but it seems as if the Daleks cannot hope to succeed on either front.
The Quest
The lone Dalek fights its way off the Monstron ship, blasting apart the Engibrain soldiers. A Monstron operates a switch and the ramp slides back, creating a gap into which the Dalek falls. Inside the volcano, the Dalek decides it must avenge its race and, as its last act, fires its weapon at the lava, agitating the volcano. The Emperor and a group of Daleks emerge from a cave leading back to the City in time to witness the volcano erupt and take the Monstrons with it. The Emperor decrees that although they may never know what set the volcano off, the Daleks must now look forward and rebuild the City and protect it from any future invasions.
Following this philosophy, Dalek Searcher saucers leave Skaro on the hunt for new technology to create more advanced weapons. Searcher One, commanded by the Black Dalek, encounters a dead planet in a seemingly empty region of space before discovering the rest of the planets in the solar system are cloaked by an invisibility shield. Meanwhile on Phryne, Saf warns the Controller that ships are landing on Phyrne's moon but the Controller takes no immediate action. When they intercept Dalek transmissions reporting that the Daleks are working to pierce the invisibility shield, a squadron of fighters is dispatched to stop them. They are destroyed by Dalek missiles. The last surviving ship it set by its pilot on a suicide course and destroys the Dalek machine. Searcher One takes off just in time and passes through the invisibility band.
The Phrynians activate their actinic rays while the Controller tries to stop the citizens from panicking. The rays begin heating up the Dalek ship so the Daleks response with a gamma beta ice ray with destroys the defences and they land. Citizens flee and Phrynian atrevolvers are swiftly overcome. The Controller is quickly captured and tells Saf to get everyone into hiding so that they may construct new weapons to one day fight back. The Daleks demand the Controller tell them the secrets of Phryne but he jumps from the building so that the secrets die with him. The Daleks conquer the planet but the Phrynians are determined to one day win back what is theirs.
And so another Dalek mission ends in death and destruction, though at least the Phrynes manage to find the spirit needed to survive. The fate of the rest of the universe in the Daleks' ever-escalating war is unknown, however, with it uncertain if there will ever be an end to their bloodlust.
References
- While he is calling for help following the Monstron attack, the Golden Emperor remembers the "countless" similar pleas he has ignored in his "long and bloody" trail of conquest and fleetingly recalls all those he has left to die on Earth.
Notes
- While in TV Century 21, The Penta Ray Factor was followed by the events of Plague of Death instead of The Menace of the Monstrons and The Menace of the Monstrons was followed by Eve of War instead of the events of The Archives of Phryne, here the cliffhangers of those stories are recontextualised to create one coherent narrative.
- The newly-added reference to the Golden Emperor's long conquest implicitly suggests this story takes place around the time of the ADF-Dalek War, as with the rest of the book, instead of the earlier timeline placement which was originally present in TV Century 21.
- The first two parts of this story are printed in colour while the third was printed in black and white.
- The Quest was partially reprinted in DWM 54 and DWM 55, though it was preceded in the fifty-fourth issue by a reprint of Eve of War, contradicting the first page of the part and thus disregarding the order of events as presented.
Continuity
- The Daleks are in an ongoing conflict with Earth and humanity. (PROSE: Terror Task Force et al.)
