Battle of Magella

Prior to the Last Great Time War, the Daleks waged a battle against the Mechonoids on Magella.

The Battle
By the time of the battle, Magella was the final stronghold of the Mechonoid resistance whom resided within their power complex, a massive city of stilts high above the jungle. The attack was waged by bronze Daleks led by the Dalek Commander of the Seventh Incursion Squad who too used a bronze casing. Waiting in geostationary orbit was a massive space saucer, the Main Saucer, whose scanners recorded every moment of the battle below, from the Dalek units moving through the buildings, to the robotic life signs of the Mechonoids winking out one by one, pinpointing the exact points of fire, detonations, explosions and deaths. The information would be analysed and any useful conclusions were fed back into the Dalek battle computers for future campaigns.

Rather than stay on the saucer, where it would have been plugged directly into the Military Computer where it would absorb every piece of data as they came in, the Dalek Commander touched down on the planet to witness the battle, believing that it could react more quickly to changes on the battlefront if it could observe them close up and at first hand. The Mechonoid complex was defended by a heavily fortified security wall with gun emplacements which was reduced to a blackened, ragged edge. Situated with three other Daleks on a ridge halfway up the mountain that overshadowed the Mechonoids' power complex, the Commander watched as a series of explosions caused the power complex to go up in flames. As smoke drifted across the valley, the observing Daleks switched frequencies on their visual scanners to see through it while their listening scanners picked up and mointored the sounds of the explosions, as well as the robotic croaks of the Mechonoids as they retreated and the Daleks' own constant cry of "Exterminate!"

Among the Dalek combatants was Unit Nine, whose casing withstood the blast of Mechonoid flame guns, scarred and scorched but intact. Hovering from out of the fire, Unit Nine gave the Commander a report as ordered; the Mechonoids were regrouping in the main reactor area, suggesting that they were preparing to mount a counter-offensive against Dalek forces. Another Dalek, from the Commander's group, reported that the Unit Nine's analysis was confirmed by the Main Saucer, the Military Computer of which determined that the best strategy was to advance all units immediately into reactor area. From this Dalek, the Commander learnt that Dalek scanners had neglected to check for plasmic activity, their belief being that the Mechonoids would not deploy plasmic explosives so close to their main reactors

Anticipating the possibility that the Mechonoids were preparing to completely destroy the reactors in order to wipe out the Dalek forces within the main city complex, the Commander ordered a check for deployment of plasmic explosives which confirmed a plasmic signature, a priming sequence had begun with detonation to follow in approximately fifty rels. The Commander then instructed Unit Nine to order all Dalek units to disengage and retreat to the outer city perimeter. Keeping in touch with the saucer, the Commander's subordinate reported analysis which suggested that the total area of devastation would extend beyond the city and destroy all Daleks on Magella. With forty rels before detonation, the Commander ordered his subordinate to isntruct the saucer to target the Mechonoids' main reactors with thronic missiles to fire in thirty rels.

Appearing as two beams of light which streaked down through the sky to focus on the main reactor building, which still stood almost intact in the middle of the devastation, the thronic aura beam acted as a guide for the thronic missiles which soon struck their target, causing the building to exploded into flames, shaking the whole city and leaving a gaping, smoking hole in the centre of the city complex, while the structure round the edges remained intact. As the explosions continued, the Battlefield Commander explained that the thronic missiles had enhanced and focused the plasmic detonation, resulting in the reactors being completely vaporised and minimising the blast damage. Reporting that all the Mechonoids had been exterminated with no loss to Dalek forces, the Commander, confident that Dalek strategy remained supreme, noted that the Mechonoids had given the Daleks the means to destroy them as it openly proclaimed that the Daleks would conquer the universe.

The Commander than received a report from a subordinate Dalek, who informed it that the data recorded by the Military Computers had been relayed to Dalek Central Control and that the Dalek was ordered to report to Skaro immediately. Though the Commander ordered all Daleks to return to ship and compute a course to Skaro, the subordinate, who was to relieve the Commander of its duties on Magella, clarified that the order, which had the ident codes of the Dalek Emperor, assigned the Seventh Incrusion Squad to complete operations on the planet, while the former Commander returned to Skaro alone. (PROSE: Birth of a Legend)

Aftermath
Arriving on Skaro, the Commander was escorted by an Imperial Guard Dalek to meet with the Emperor in his throne room within the Dalek City. There, it found three other bronze Daleks: the Commandant of Station Alpha, an Attack Squad Leader in the Thirtieth Assault Group, and the Force Leader of the Outer Rim Defensive Batallion. The four Daleks were addressed by the Dalek Emperor, who identified that that they had all demonstrated abilities above and beyond the simple execution of orders and that they proved successful in every endeavour by having used initiative. Revealing that Dalek strategy computers and assessment engines had predicted a war through all of time and space with an ancient enemy whom were potentially a match for the Daleks, the Emperor announced that the four were to reconditioned to think as no Dalek had ever been able to think, to think like the enemy and dare to plan and act in ways that no other Dalek would countenance, not even the Emperor himself. Together, the Emperor assembled the four Daleks into the Cult of Skaro who received individual name. In addition to now Daleks Thay, Caan and Jast was the Commander from Magella who was named Dalek Sec. Its original bronze casing replaced with a new black casing made of Metalert, Sec was appointed the leader of the Cult of Skaro. (PROSE: Birth of a Legend)