The Dalek's Playmate

Posted on Sun Feb 15th, 2026 @ 4:42am by Dalek Muul & Ambassador Drusilla Creon & Centurion Ixim & Urek Ramaal & Pawn

1,353 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: UnderMind [4]
Location: Remora Station - Undisclosed Beta Quadrant Location
Timeline: Morning - MD03

Drusilla Creon checked into Remora Station through the usual entranceway and went through the half hour of security procedures demanded of every entrant. Remora wasn’t easy to find, and it was even harder to get inside or out of without permission, by orders of magnitude. This was the only place thought appropriate to hold this ‘Dalek’ within the Free State.

“Prod Creon, welcome. Can I get you anything?” A strong-looking Centurion greeted her. They were practically acquaintances now, with all the time she'd spent here since the Dalek was delivered. She didn't know his name, though.

“Have passionfruit tea waiting for me when I am finished.” Creon told the man, moving without hesitation towards the far end of a long hallway with security doors that parted for her as she came. She didn’t break stride until she’d reached the elevator at the very end, and begun a deep descent.

She crossed through several more doorways once the turbolift stopped, and was security scanned at the last three of them.

Finally, the doorway at the very end unbarred for her, and slid apart slowly as heavy mechanisms unlocked themselves from one another. Behind it closed just as tightly.

She approached the bubbling tank slowly. It was a fascinatingly vile thing in its natural form. A mutant cephalopod growing like a nest of tumours out of a predatory brain.

“Dalek Muul, I would speak to you. Would you speak to me?” She’d read the reports on how successful the Federation had been in speaking to their acquired supersoldier, she’d found success speaking to the Dalek in a similar firm but respectful manner.

“CAPTOR.” The Dalek shrieked in its hideous synthetic montone. It wasn't allowed to touch any components directly, but it had been able to guide them to make a vocalizer for it to use, among other inventions.

“We have completed our review of your project. And we’re pleased to say that the Council approves. We will begin the construction of Pawns on a massive scale.”

“I OBEY.” It said with a tone that sounded disingenuous.

“I haven’t seen one in the flesh yet, but the designs look a great deal like your armour that DS13 destroyed. Why the same design?”

“IT IS THE MOST EFFICIENT WARFRAME IN EXISTENCE. DALEKS ARE SUPREME!”

“Indeed. And as long as the Free State reigns supreme as a result, you’ll continue to accrue perks. Your lab should be complete within the week." She shuddered internally at the thought of rewarding this thing. Among its requests, other than bathing quantities of caustic and exotic chemicals, data on biology of this galaxy’s species, and one simple but unsettling request: a human child. Fortunately, her superiors had denied the last item without consideration.

“WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH MY CREATIONS?” The Dalek asked.

“We will show the Imperial separatists the power of unity.” Creon told him honestly.

“EXTERMINATION. GOOD.” It almost sounded satisfied.

Creon winced slightly at that response. It had been vaguely polite and accepting since its early bouts of rage and shouting, but it never approved of anything before. It was sullying.

“We’d like to bring in a private contractor to get the process going on an industrial scale. He’s waiting outside to join us, if you will allow it.” Creon asked the Dalek as it slithered about its tank.

“YOUR KIND CANNOT COMPREHEND THE MANUFACTURE Z-CORES!” The Dalek said like it had said it a hundred times before.

“We understand that. And the system we have for that process is working. But there are other components that we still rely on your manufacturing processes for. Manufacturing of your beam weapon technology, for instance."

“YOUR KIND CANNOT COMPREHEND THE MANUFACTURE OF DALEK WEAPONS!”

“For me, yes, that’s absolutely true. I’d like you however to meet Urek Ramaal, one of the greatest minds of the Romulan Free State, as well as its greatest industrialist.” She pressed a signalling device on the inside of her palm, and the heavy doors unlocked once more, revealing Ramaal himself. He couldn’t have been older than 40. He approached the Dalek without a single look at Drusilla.

“Wow.” He said after a few moments silent observation. “You’re extraordinary.”

“CORRECT! STATE YOUR REQUEST!” The Dalek shouted at Ramaal from its bubbling tank of noxious chemicals, sealed tighter than the Praetor's vaults.

“I’ve been able to crack 95% of the death-ray process. Exotic zero-point dark energy guided by programmed anions specialising in decaying the gluons of organic matter. But in our universe, we follow the instructions you’ve given us, we get what we call Thaloron raditation which just undoes all living matter, none of the subtlety of the anti-gluonic process your weapons have. It’s close, but not the same. Much more destructive, and spreads without limit if it’s self-powered. Potentially apocalyptic.”

“YOUR UNIVERSE OPERATES UNDER INFERIOR METAPHYSICAL CONDITIONS. I HAVE ALREADY MADE YOU DEVICES TO MANFACTURE SUPERIOR DALEK TECHNOLOGY. TO MAKE MORE I MUST BE RELEASED.”

“And we’re very grateful for that.” Ramaal said earnestly, clapping his hands together in a gesture of thanks. “But the machines you’ve built for us turn out one Z-Core a day and 4 D-disruptors. That’s one pawn and three guns for the pile. We need to be doing a hundred-thousand times that. We’ve got a scared frontier to arm.”

"THEN RELEASE ME!"

"You've already killed five people. Good Romulans, all. That kind of thing isn't forgiven easily. But tell me how the manufacture is done, and things can still get a lot nicer for you." Ramaal said gently.

“DALEKS REORDER SPACE AND TIME TO IDEAL METAPHYSICAL CONDITIONS FOR EXTERMINATION. SUCH CONDITIONS OCCUR WITHIN THE MACHINES I HAVE BUILT YOU. IT CAN ONLY BE DONE AT SCALE BY MY TOUCH.”

“Interesting. I’d love to hear what that involves.” Ramaal said approvingly, leaning against the bottom of the Dalek’s tank, looking up to it from an upside down position.

The Dalek's hateful eye swivelled to Drusilla for a moment, then back to Ramaal.

“YOUR INFERIOR BRAIN WILL NOT COMPREHEND. BUT I WILL EXPLAIN.” The Dalek told Ramaal, before entering into a lengthy explanation with technical terms that immediately confused Drusilla. With the introduction made and the conversation flowing, she turned to leave. This was what the Council had commanded of her, and she had obeyed.

Once she was through the heavy security door, she felt a weight lift from her. The Dalek disgusted her. And she hadn’t thought much of Ramaal before now given his past as a corporate raider, but to see him immediately falling in love with the thing was enough to sour her on him as a person. She was frustrated that they would have to continue working closely together. This was her project, after all.

Her frustration melted away further when the Centurion from earlier brought her a mug of hot tea. The hot sweet sip rejuvenated her.

Through the next door, she saw something she did not expect and jumped slightly, spilling a splash of tea. A machine eye on a stalk, reaching back into a central dome with two indicative lights like ears atop it. A sleek, skeletal Dalek shell. But this wasn't a Dalek. This was their new design. The Pawn. The weapon that would end the Romulan Civil War.

It moved aside for her. "JOLAN TRU, PROD CREON." It said as she passed in its unsettling Dalek voice. Apparently that feature couldn't be changed. The weight that had left her at the security door returned, and didn't seem to fade even once she'd left Remora to return to DS13.

In his tank, as he recounted the three tenets of zero-point dark energy manipulation, Dalek Muul saw the future. He recounted an entirely new science to Ramaal who typed furiously. Muul saw an opportunity in this young genius, foolish and child-like as he was to the Dalek's pitiless eye. The soldiers were constricting, limited. This industrialist could be fed and expand. In the chaos of his growth, opportunity. Soon Dalek Muul would be free.

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