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Landing for some reason (probably a malfunction of some sort) on the planet Ceres-18, a terra-formed agricultural research station, the Time lord and companions find themselves in a valley containing extensive farmland. The only buildings are a cluster of houses, barns and labs some way away. They find nobody about on their way to the farm. When they get nearer, they see someone being chased by a Dalek, shouting "Do-Not-Move! You-Will-Be-Exterminated!" etc. A group of PCs could probably overpower one Dalek if they surprise it (that happens quite often in the series). They learn that another Dalek is guarding all the other scientists and their families. After (hopefully) overcoming this one, they can be informed of what has gone before.
Two days earlier, a small spaceship crash-landed in the now-abandoned terraforming plant. The colonists were about to investigate when a Dalek ship landed. This surprised the colonists, as the Daleks have, at this point in their history, suffered major defeats and are in retreat. The Daleks captured the unarmed colonists, imprisoning all but eight of them. These were taken away on a hoverplatform to the terraforming plant, as slave-workers.
The PCs should investigate the plant, and find one Dalek on guard. After outwitting and/or destroying this, they can find the remains of another one, which has self-destructed for some reason. The small spaceship (actually an escape pod) has crashed through the roof of the plant, and is inside somewhere.
Any PCs investigating the plant, a dark maze of industrial gloom with twisting tunnels and walkways, will be attacked by an Alien. If they're armed or expecting trouble, they should be Ok. If not, the Alien might capture one of them and cocoon them.
At this point, the players, if not their characters, should recognize what the Alien is. Soon, they find survivors of the human party. These could be cocooned victims, or someone already impregnated with a chestburster. The characters can learn that the Daleks ordered them to retrieve egg-pods from the ship, so that they, the Daleks, could gain the genetic material of the Aliens to strengthen their own race. At this point, the consequences of this hybridization should occur to the players. The Daleks sent the eggs back to their ship, but before they were all loaded, one of them hatched and attacked a Dalek. This is the one that self-destructed.
For the safety of the galaxy, the PCs should stop the Daleks and aliens leaving the planet. The Dalek ship, when they reach it, is not defended. Within the ship there is a Dalek, an empty Dalek shell from which a Kaled-Alien has just hatched, a Dalek-shell with an Alien inside it, and an alien which has hatched out from a Dalek and is mutating into a Queen Alien. The Kaled-Alien is like a giant starfish or octopus, with teeth. When I ran this part of the scenario, the players were quite shocked when they defeated a suspiciously clumsy Dalek and were then pounced on by the Alien which had been working its controls. The Alien Queen was growing out of the bottom of a Dalek shell, and could control the gun. The players should be allowed to blow up the ship somehow (rewiring the engines, planting demolition charges or finding dalekanium bombs to use perhaps). This gives them the chance for some 'Genesis of the Daleks' style moralizing about the sanctity of all life etc. If need be, have the Daleks (deliberately) or Aliens (accidentally) set off the auto-destruct for the ship.
Having escaped from the ship, the PCs can prepare to leave. Unfortunately, one of the Alien egg-pods was crushed in the crash-landing and is assumed destroyed. It was not, and it hatched a stray facehugger. As the PCs approach their TARDIS, it jumps out and attaches itself to one of them. Ideally, this should be the Time Lord, who will survive even if it forces a regeneration.
This adventure worked because it combined the threat of two powerful, ruthless races that are both known for being frighteningly aggressive. Whatever the outcome of the Daleks' attempt to control the Aliens, the resultant creature would have been the stuff of nightmares. As I said earlier, it worked in our campaign, which is often quite dark in tone and features a group of very capable PCs. I have written it up here as an oddity, an example of a far-from typical 'Dr. Who' adventure.
By Andy Horton
