First Dalek Incursion

The First Dalek Incursion was an early and destructive large-scale engagement of the Second Dalek War, fought "over forty years" before the war's conclusion. In a few significant ways, it set the stage for the end of the war. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks)

Origin
In 2540, the Dalek Empire conspired to provoke war against the empires of Earth and Draconia in order to weaken the galaxy before a conquest of their own. Their plan was exposed (TV: Frontier in Space) and the preparation of their army was delayed. (TV: Planet of the Daleks) The humans and Draconians united against the Daleks, beginning the Second Dalek War. (PROSE: Love and War, Deceit) Seeking to avoid conducting a war on two frontiers, the Daleks deprioritised hostilities with the Draconian Empire to focus their efforts against the Earth Empire. (COMIC: Star Tigers)

Attack on the edge of human space
The First Dalek Incursion struck against the edge of human space, in the regions where pioneers and explorers had once sought to push beyond, although these efforts had since been abandoned.

The Wayfarer, an Earth military patrol ship, saw action during the Incursion. A neutronic missile struck the Wayfarer in the secondary hull but she survived when the missile failed to detonate.

Jon Bowman, a veteran of the Draconian War, fought in the Incursion. In his own words, he "did some good stuff". Earth Command recognised his for his actions.

The Daleks made use of missiles known as planet-splitters, which were responsible for the destruction of many worlds. The most notable loss was Arkheon, the inhabitants of which appeared to have been totally unprepared for the attack. When the planet-splitters were noticed in the skies of Arkheon, many Arkheonites tried to flee from their cities to safety, to no avail. Most of the population was killed by the shockwaves caused by the missiles' impact. Half the planet was blown apart, leaving the other half a deformed hemisphere with an exposed core. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks)

Picking up the pieces
The Wayfarer was decommissioned after sustaining combat damage. She was originally set to be scrapped but was rescued and repurposed into a merchant vessel.

Jon Bowman was promoted by Earth Command for his efforts against the Daleks. Eventually he reached the rank of Space Major and was removed from the front lines to help design the defence system for Earth Central. Upon the project's completion, he was no longer required and Earth Command considered his knowledge of the defences a security risk. Bowman deserted before his memory was wiped and lost Earth's trail after burying his chip in the desert on Mykron.

He began working on the fringes of Earth space and found work aboard the Wayfarer, which came into his ownership circa the 2560s. As the war dragged on and Earth became desperate enough to hire criminals to harass the Daleks, Bowman found work as a bounty hunter used it as an excuse to the re-join fight against them.

On Arkheon, the remains of the former civilisation remained largely undisturbed. While there were some survivors of the planet's destruction but devolved into savage mutant creatures. It became known as "the Planet of Ghosts". (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks)

Ghosts of the Incursion
While Jon Bowman, the Wayfarer and Arkheon had all been involved in the Incursion in separate capacities, all three were brought together directly towards the end of the war, circa the 2580s.

Within Arkheon's core lay the Arkheon Threshold, a rift in time which was soon discovered by the Daleks. The Supreme Dalek's Temporal Research Team worked to breach the Threshold in an attempt to break into the Time Vortex and achieve mastery of time travel. Because the planet had been destroyed and abandoned, the Daleks were able to conduct their experiments in secret.

Partly as a result of the Daleks' experiments, the Tenth Doctor's TARDIS "slipped a time track", travelling back to the time of the war where he fell in with Bowman and the crew of the Wayfarer. When the Doctor began to suspect the Daleks were hunting for the Arkheon Threshold, he convinced Bowman to take the Wayfarer to Arkheon. There, they discovered the Dalek plans.

In the Doctor's escape attempt, the Temporal Research Team was destroyed. With the Dalek Fleet in disarray, Bowman reported the Dalek base on Arkheon to Earth Command. A squadron of ships was dispatched to "seize Arkheon" and liberate all prisoners on the base. The Doctor expected such a mission "could be quite a battle", but in its aftermath, he was able to close the Threshold. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks)

The Second Dalek War thereafter drew to an "untidy conclusion" and soon "fizzled out". (PROSE: Deceit)

Behind the Scenes

 * It is not clear exactly when the First Dalek Incursion started and how long it lasted. It is possible it encompassed the 2543 battle at Bellatrix detailed in Return of the Living Dad, in which the Daleks make use of "planet-ripper" spaceships.