The Star Wars Adventures: A Problem with Daleks - Series I

A Deadly Discovery!

Captain Johnson looked out a side viewport of his Shuttle, and sighed worriedly. "Why," he asked tiredly, "Why am I leaving my ship to go out on a scouting mission? Surely this work is more suited to a droid or a scouting team."

His adjutant, Corporal TK-337256, stirred from his seat. "Perhaps if you had asked Moff Yage to send someone other than yourself to help Moff Joyee, you would still be on patrol in the Kalamith Sector. Sir."

"One can't turn down Moff Yage's requests." said Johnson. "He words it as a request, but it's more like an unofficial order. If I had turned it down, he'd have probably passed me on to Admiral Andro'oz. And you know how much that man hates me, it's only because I'm in good graces with Yage that I'm not hauling a garbage skip in the Weert System."

Corporal 33's amplified voice rang through the small room. "How did you find this planet, Sir?"

Captain Johnson squirmed uneasily. "Through... Impbay."

Corporal 33 stiffened noticeably, his posture more erect. "Impbay? Are you sure you... legally bought this planet, Sir?

"Of course I did!" said Captain Johnson, drawing himself up, "Why, I'll have you know you can buy entire square metres of land on Naboo, for the small price of 200 credits a meter. They give you a certificate and everything!

"Mmm. And will this planet satisfy Moff Joyee, Sir?"

"I hope so. The planet has breathable air, plenty of forests, seas on over 40% of the Planet's surface, things like that."

"I hope it doesn't have any unfriendly locals, Sir."

Captain Johnson hesitated. "Well... there shouldn't be any, they didn't mention any on the site."

As Corporal 33 was about to reply, the Shuttle's final landing sequence began, and the Ship began to rock violently as it prepared to land on the planet's surface.

With a final judder and a hiss of hydraulics, the shuttle's landing legs were on the surface of the planet. At the press of 33's gloved finger on a button, the bottom airlock opened, and a ramp extended.

Captain Johnson stepped out first, with Corporal 33 following him close behind. The ramp was extended above the ground, and after a moment's confusion, Captain Johnson jumped down to the ground.

"Well," he said cheerfully, looking about. "Here we are!"

"It's a lot more rocky than I thought it would be, Sir." 33 observed.

And indeed it was rocky. So much so, that the Shuttle was tilted forward a good deal, its back landings leaning forwards, causing the ramp to be slightly above the ground. They had landed in a very mountainous area, and though there were no mountains to be seen, the ground was very uneven, and sloped up and down at places.

"Rocks are lovely, there must be some good ores in the ground, eh? Reminds me of... Utapau." Johnson finished wistfully.

Corporal 33 shook his head and asked "How much did you pay for this planet, Sir?"

Captain Johnson paused. "1,879,384 Imperial Credits. A bargain, for a planet like this.

Corporal 33 sighed. "High Command is not going to be pleased about this, let alone Moff Joyee."

Captain Johnson clasped his hands behind him, rocking back and forth on his toes. "Don't be pessimistic, Corporal. I... it's a gem of a planet! High Command will love this place!"

Corporal 33 began to form a reply, then he stopped. He tilted his head back slightly, then pointed and said "Sir, what's that?"

Captain Johnson spun around, and looked at where 33 was pointing. There, in the cloudless blue sky, was a golden oval shaped ship. It had protruding fins on the side, and several windows in front, presumably viewports. Corpora 33 also noticed another, much smaller, shape much closer to them.

He watched transfixed as the shape, now only about 700 Meters away, came closer and closer, while the golden ship turned to the right, and steadily continued its journey. Captain Johnson had by now seen the smaller object as well.

It was Corporal 33 who first discovered that the object had a metallic sheen. It was a droid of some sort, he thought.

Though droid it was, it looked strangely organic in some respects. It was pot shaped, but with its body tapering back, with several appendages in the middle of its body. Its first "arm" was a long, stick like object, ending with a sucker. Its second "arm" was shorter than the other, and was made of some odd mesh, ending with a hole at the end. To 33's trained eye, it looked like a gunstick. Its "head", was dome shaped, with a luminosity discharger on each side of its dome, and a long eyestalk between them, which ended with a black bulb which housed a glowing blue eye.

Corporal 33 saw and noted all of this in the time it took the thing to clear the distance between them. The thing, levitating two meters above the ground, lowered its eyestalk, presumably to look at them, simultaneously pointing its gunstick in their direction.

"Identify yourselves!" The creature screamed.

Captain Johnson and Corporal 33 exchanged a quick look, then Johnson stepped forward and said in his most official voice, "I am Captain James Ness and this is Corporal 33. I don't believe I know of your species. What is your business here?

The creature, swiveled its eyestalk to look at Captain Johnson. "We are the Daleks! We are here to claim this planet for the Da-lek Em-pire! Sur-ren-der or pre-pare to be Ex-terminated!"

Captain Johnson gulped, and decided to try to be diplomatic. "I'm afraid there's been something of a misunderstanding, you see, this planet is now Imperial Property, and under the protection of the Galactic Empire. Er, we won it through Impbay.

The Dalek seemed to grow distressed at this, for it screamed in a distressing voice, "NO! WE DID!"

Captain Johnson started at this, and asked, "What? How much did you bid?"

"994,456 Dalek-anium Credits!"

"I suppose that evens out to 1,879,383 Imperial Credits." Mused Captain Johnson. "You lost. Well, there'll be other planets to bid on, er, Dalek. I'm afraid you'll have to go back to your ship, and go straight back to your home planet."

"We disagree!", grated the Dalek.

"Disagree all you like," said Captain Johnson, feeling more brave, now that he felt that he was winning the argument. "This planet is the property of the Galactic Empire, and there's nothing you can do about it!

The Dalek said nothing for a moment, then turned its gunstick, and fired a blue ruby ray beam past Captain Johnson's head. Corporal 33 raised his blaster rifle at the Dalek, but didn't fire.

"A simple warn-ing shot!" The Dalek screeched. "You will leave our planet now, or you will be
Ex-terminated!

Captain Johnson scrambled over his heels in his haste to get behind 33. " I suppose we should notify High Command of this little problem, Corporal." He said, trembling.

The Dalek rose in the air another meter, and turned. But its head didn't turn with the rest of its body. Its eyestalk fixed on Captain Johnson. "Leave! And tell your su-periors that they will suffer the wrath of the Da-leks should they re-taliate with force!"