Terror Task Force (short story)

 was the first story in the 1976 Terry Nation's Dalek Annual. It was notable for containing the origin of the Anti-Dalek Force, the special military team that would serve as the main protagonists of the 1970s Dalek annuals.

Summary
Joel Shaw, a soldier attached to the United Planets Defence Complex, finds himself recalled from holidaying on Venus to begin a new training regimen on Mars. He is one of 100 specially-chosen individuals who are part of a mission so secret even they don't know what it is.

One day, he, Mark Seven and Reb Shavron are called from their course work to join the Supreme Commander in a briefing room. There, they finally get their mission orders.

Shaw is promoted to the rank of Space Major, and told that he will head a new division called the Anti-Dalek-Force. Shavron and Seven will be his joint seconds-in-command. The Supreme Commander gives Shaw carte blanche to set up the ADF how he sees fit. They can use the 50-strong team — for half of the initial training class have already washed out — how they see fit.

The next day, the trio are headed to Skaro in their new deep-space vessel. Their plan: the first direct bombing of the Dalek capital city in a hundred years. Their ship is instantly crippled by overwhelming Dalek firepower on hitting Skaro orbit. It plummets to the ground, crash landing on the surface of Skaro.

Far from being a crushing defeat, however, things are going Shaw's way. He wants to create the illusion of an easy defeat so that the Daleks would be caught off guard by the real plan: a land assault on foot. The Daleks help with his plan by investigating the remains of the ADF ship and declaring that no survivors were found. The Dalek defence thus slackens just that little bit that allows the trio to amble into the Dalek city.

The trio soon completely disable the Daleks' so-called "sky-spy" — a kind of early warning system that allows them to detect approaching enemy vessels. The Daleks capture the trio pretty swiftly after their successful sabotage, and begin to torture Reb for the reasons why she perpetrated her attack.

But the Daleks don't have enough time to get any answers. Their city comes under massive bombardment before Reb says a word. The explosions give the trio a window of opportunity. They run almost blindly, suddenly thinking they might have a chance of getting off the planet alive. Unfortunately, a couple of Daleks block their path. Mark Seven rushes with unusual strength towards one of them. He disables it, but loses an arm in the process. Still, he gets back up and makes a run at the second one. This time, he's hit squarely by a blast from the Dalek gunstick. Momentum carries him forward, allowing his now-limp and lifeless body to upend the remaining Dalek.

Shaw throws the body of his dead colleague over his shoulder, and he and Reb are able to get on the evacuation ship and return to the safety of space. Shaw calls the Daleks to gloat. "I just want you to know that you were raided by the best fighting force in the galaxy. It was just the beginning. You're going to be hearing a lot more of the ADF."

- Space Major Joel Shaw

Shaw and Reb then filed incident reports, taking the time to heap posthumous praise on their fallen second-in-command. Immediately after they finish, Mark Seven pops through the doorway, complaining that the on-board android expert didn't have all the spare parts necessary for his repair. Seven's surprised colleagues are astonished to learn that they've been serving alongside a "mark seven totally humanoid robot".

Characters

 * Joel Shaw
 * Mark Seven
 * Reb Shavron
 * Supreme Commander, United Planets Defence Complex
 * Daleks

Continuity

 * In this introductory story, the Anti-Dalek Force is styled "Anti-Dalek-Force"
 * This story shows us the promotion of Joel Shaw to the rank of "Space Major" before being given command of ADF by the Supreme Commander. Reb and Mark Seven are placed in "joint second command".
 * The story maintains that it's been a hundred years since humans made a direct assault on Skaro.
 * Reb is described as a beautiful Martian girl, and is illustrated as being human. Indeed, Mars is awash with humans at this point, since there's a major United Planets defence base on the planet.  No mention is made of what might have happened to the Ice Warriors.  Then again, there's no hard information about what year it is.

Timeline

 *  is the ADF origin story, and it certainly occurs before any other ADF story. It's placed before Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!, though, purely because that's the next story in this volume.