Standard Battle type
The Standard Battle type was the original Special Weapons Dalek casing.
Characteristics[[edit] | [edit source]]
Unlike a conventional Dalek, a Special Weapons Dalek had no manipulator arm or eyestalk. Instead, it had an enormous energy cannon mounted on the front of the armoured casing in place of the usual small gunstick and several gold squares below the dome in place of the traditional grating section.
A Special Weapons Daleks' firepower was so powerful that one shot completely vapourised two conventional Renegade Daleks, leaving only a pair of burn marks. Their armour was strong enough to deflect conventional Dalek gunstick firepower without suffering any apparent harm. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
Initially, Special Weapons Daleks had a conventional grey livery, marred by dark green stains. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!) Later, similarly to the Imperial Daleks, their liveries were white with gold sense globes, but with sections of metallic grey armour covering most of the upper portion with many battle scorches. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
Like other Daleks, Special Weapons Daleks were capable of speech, and the gold squares around their domes were shown to light up whenever it spoke, much like the sets of luminosity dischargers seen on the domes of conventional Daleks. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar)
The Standard Battle type was the most widely encountered Special Weapons Dalek. The Dalek creature contained in the life chamber of this model was reconditioned for total obedience and minimal independent thought. It relied on its immediate superior, nicknamed the Minder, for tactical instructions. In emergency situations, the Minder could relinquish control, giving the Special Weapons Dalek autonomy. However, it was noted by all forces engaging this model when in autonomous mode, that the end result was usually self-destruction immediately following the accidental destruction of any other Daleks in the area. It was understood that a Minder Dalek would only set its under ling free when a battle situation was deemed irretrievable.
The Dalek Survival Guide suggested that the Dalek hope was that the uncontrollable Special Weapons Dalek would wreak so much havoc that the outcome would not be a clear victory for either side. When under control of its Minder, the Standard Battle type's creature often suffered from an overactive schrellic gland. It was discovered, during dissection of such a creature, that the schrellic gland became particularly active when a Dalek was in a battle situation. It excreted a noxious fluid, which was thought to attract the attention of other Daleks, potentially as a petition for reinforcements. In the case of this type of Special Weapons Dalek, the volume of schrellic secretion was such that it often leaked out of the Dalek casing around the gun area. This sticky fluid was often mistaken for some kind of lubrication oil, although it was by no means certain that the fluid did not fulfil this function as well.
The energy output of the Standard Battle type's pulse gun was gauged at up to 50 times that of a normal Dalek's not inconsiderably powerful gunstick blast. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide)
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
Origin[[edit] | [edit source]]
According to the Dalek Survival Guide, these "uber-Daleks" originated when, seeking to execute a renegade, time-travelling faction, the Daleks fired what they designated as Astro-thesial radiation, which they believed to be deadly, at their intended victims. This radiation had an unintended side-effect on these renegade Daleks, making them uncontrollably angry and capable of releasing far higher levels of psychokinetic energy to their weapons, making them psychopathic killers even by Dalek standards. After some years, the Daleks once again tracked down these renegades, this time imprisoning them. After massive reconditioning and surgical coercion, the Daleks managed to implant the renegades inside reinforced outer shells, giving them bigger and better weapons through which to vent their psychopathic tendencies, thus the renegades became designated Special Weapons Daleks.
The Special Weapons Daleks proved their worth in battle through a "spectacular" victory in the battle of Cairtros IV. There, General Arthur Brook had no intelligence information about Special Weapons Daleks. Long range scans indicated the presence of 50 Daleks. Brook allocated a force of 300 men, thought sufficient to take care of such a small force of Daleks. On landing, the 300 men were reduced to zero in less than five minutes. The Dalek Survival Guide counted this as the third greatest victory of the Special Weapons Daleks. In its aftermath, the Dalek Emperor ordered the full-scale reproduction of the Special Weapons Daleks. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide)
Civil War and aftermath[[edit] | [edit source]]
After detecting the Sixth Doctor on Skaro, the Daleks later known as the Renegades sent a Special Weapons Dalek to exterminate him. Later, the Golden Emperor sent the Special Weapons Dalek to Spiridon to deal with Davros's Daleks there. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!)
The Imperial Daleks employed a Special Weapons Dalek against the Renegade Daleks during the Shoreditch Incident. It eventually used the Imperial Dalek Shuttle to return to the Imperial Dalek mothership, (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) which was destroyed by the Hand of Omega shortly thereafter. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) According to one account, this Dalek was unique and had been designed by Davros after his ascension to the rank of Dalek Emperor, (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks)
The Hand of Omega affair was counted by the Dalek Survival Guide as the fifth greatest victory of the Special Weapons Daleks, as a single standard-model Imperial Special Weapons Dalek (second class) was responsible for the defeat of an entire Renegade Dalek task force. The Special Weapons Dalek concerned was cited for an award for Extreme Extermination in the Face of Danger, but was unable to attend the ceremony as the Imperial Daleks were wiped out by the Hand of Omega. The late Special Weapons Dalek was instead granted a posthumous award for services inadvertently rendered by the surviving Renegade Daleks. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide)
One account suggested that following this encounter with Davros's forces, the Renegade Daleks also began using a Special Weapons Dalek variant in their campaigns — (PROSE: War of the Daleks) in evident contrast with the accounts according to which the Golden Emperor's Daleks already employed Special Weapons Daleks before the outbreak of the Civil War. (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!) At a point when the Dalek Emperor was back in control, a Special Weapons Dalek named Scout Seven was utilised by the Supreme on Kar-Charrat. (AUDIO: The Genocide Machine)
According to other accounts, the Imperial Daleks were the faction left standing at the end of the Civil War; a new Emperor took control of the remains of the Imperial Dalek faction, forming the Restoration Empire. Special Weapons Daleks were outfitted with new, more conventional Black Dalek-type casings, forming a new rank in the revamped hierarchy: the Dalek Executioners. (PROSE: The Restoration Empire)
Time War and beyond[[edit] | [edit source]]
During the Last Great Time War, the Dalek Combat Training Manual composed by the Time Lords covered Special Weapons Daleks. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
Station 7 had records of the Special Weapons Dalek during humanity's 41st century conflict with the New Dalek Paradigm. (COMIC: The Only Good Dalek)
A Special Weapons Dalek was among the insane Daleks contained in the Dalek Asylum, and was either inactive or catatonic. The planet was eventually obliterated by the Parliament of the Daleks, with the assistance of the Eleventh Doctor and Oswin Oswald, destroying the Special Weapons Dalek along with all the other Daleks in the Asylum. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
Special Weapons Daleks were among the Daleks on a rebuilt Skaro, where Davros, nearing death, lived as he called the Twelfth Doctor to him. While one Special Weapons Dalek checked the Dalek City infirmary, finding Davros without his chair within it, another remained in Dalek control, where it encountered the Doctor in Davros's chair. Later, the Special Weapons Daleks were destroyed, along with the other Daleks, by the rejuvenated Daleks from the sewers. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice, The Witch’s Familiar)