Supreme Dalek (Prisoner of the Daleks)

A Supreme Dalek directed the Dalek war effort during the Second Dalek War of the 26th century, (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks) although it was still subordinate to the Dalek Emperor. (AUDIO: The Dalek Conquests) It succeeded at least two other Dalek Supremes who did not survive the war: one lost on Spiridon (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe) and the other attacking the Cathedral of Contemplation. (AUDIO: Out of Time)

Biography
The Supreme Dalek was based on Skaro towards the end of the war, circa the 2580s, from where it oversaw conflict. The Daleks privately realised they were losing and enacted a bold strategy intended to prevent an impending defeat. The Supreme Dalek's Temporal Research Team was involved in secret operations on Arkheon, seeking to win the war via time travel by exploiting the Arkheon Threshold to alter human history. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks) One of its predecessors had also unsuccessfully sought to exploit time to the same end. (AUDIO: Out of Time)

When the Tenth Doctor was captured on Arkheon, the Supreme Dalek was informed. He dispatched the Dalek Inquisitor General, Dalek X, to interrogate him and extract any useful information from his mind via a mind probe. The Doctor was facetious, acting insulted when he learned the Supreme Dalek was not coming to interrogate him himself, but Command Dalek retorted that he would have found an interrogation by the Supreme Dalek preferable to one by Dalek X. The Inquisitor General was totally loyal to the Supreme Dalek and reported only to him, proving to be one of his top commanders.

Ultimately, Dalek X was outwitted and his flagship, the Exterminator, was destroyed by the Doctor on Hurala, along with the Temporal Research Team. The Dalek Fleet was thrown into disarray and the time travel experiments had to be abandoned, with Earth Command successfully seizing Arkheon. Although Dalek X survived the disaster, the Supreme Dalek gave him up for dead. The Doctor warned Dalek X that, in light of his role in the catastrophic reverses suffered by the Daleks, the Supreme was unlikely to be in a forgiving mood if the Inquisitor General ever returned. (PROSE: Prisoner of the Daleks)

Behind the scenes
The Supreme Dalek never appears in Prisoner of the Daleks and is only talked about. Dalek X, his enforcer, acts as the novel's leading antagonist.

This Supreme Dalek is one of several established as leading the Daleks during the decade s of the Second Dalek War. Others include: the Gold Dalek in Frontier in Space; the black and gold Dalek Supreme in Planet of the Daleks; the red and gold Dalek Supreme in Out of Time; and the Daleks proposing Operation Divide and Conquer to the Dalek Emperor in The Dalek Conquests. Other stories establish that the first three Daleks have been destroyed, indicating that this Dalek is not the same individual as any of them.

Like Dalek X, the Supreme Dalek is among high-ranking Daleks who are referred to as "he" (by the Doctor at least) rather than an "it" like all the standard Daleks.

According to Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe, the Black Dalek Leader became the only surviving Supreme Dalek on the Dalek Council after the fallout from Operation Divide and Conquer and the Spiridon campaign. This individual could be the same one referred to in Prisoner, but the existence of other Supreme Daleks in other stories leaves this match uncertain.