Prisoner of the Daleks ( novel ) Prisoner of the Daleks was the twenty - seventh Tenth Doctor novel released . Publisher ' s summary . The Daleks are advancing , their empire constantly expanding into Earth ' s space . The Earth forces are resisting the Daleks in every way they can . But the battles rage on across countless solar systems . And now the future of our galaxy hangs in the balance . . . The Doctor finds himself stranded on board a starship near the front line with a group of ruthless bounty hunters . Earth Command will pay them for every Dalek they kill , every eye stalk they bring back as proof . With the Doctor ' s help , the bounty hunters achieve the ultimate prize : a Dalek prisoner — intact , powerless , and ready for interrogation . But where the Daleks are involved , nothing is what it seems , and no one is safe . Before long the tables will be turned , and how will the Doctor survive when he becomes a prisoner of the Daleks ? Plot . The TARDIS arrives on the planet Hurala . Whilst investigating a deserted site , the Tenth Doctor makes his way to the base ' s computer data core room , where he is locked inside by the computer with someone ' s corpse trapped inside along with him . Five days later , the bounty hunter ship " Wayfarer " lands on the planet , its crew of five hoping to use the stores to refuel their ship . They soon come across the TARDIS , and hear a repeating tapping noise . One of them , Scrum , realises it ' s a Morse code SOS message . They trace it to the computer data core room where they find and free the Doctor , who has been sending it with a spoon . On the insistence of the Doctor and another of the bounty hunters , Stella , the group investigate the computer ' s systems . They discover an override which , when activated , took control of the base and trapped the Doctor . Someone had used the computer to set a trap . Who did is soon answered when the group are attacked by a Dalek patrol . The Doctor and the bounty hunters , who reveal that they kill Daleks for a living , race back to the " Wayfarer " , escape to the TARDIS being blocked by Daleks . They take off but the Daleks blow up a refuelling pump , sending debris flying into the ship through the open landing ramp , badly wounding Stella . As the crew attempt to put her into cryo - freeze a Dalek gets into the ship through an air - lock . It exterminates Stella . Before it can kill anyone else , the Doctor freezes it with the emergency cryo - charge intended for Stella . With the Dalek immobilised , Stella ' s body is also frozen and the crew make a course for Auros , Stella ' s home world . On the way , the Dalek ' s eye stalk is removed so the crew can claim the prize - money for killing it , and it is placed in the cargo hold . Whilst talking with the crew the Doctor realises he ' s travelled back along the time line to before the Last Great Time War . At this point , the Daleks are locked in a huge galactic war with Earth ' s first empire , at a moment when victory can go either way . The Doctor also learns more about the crew . Commanding the ship is Bowman , a former Earth trooper who has been fighting the Daleks for years . Scrum is the crew ' s technician , Cuttin ' Edge is a former Space Marine who was dishonourably discharged and Stella was the ship ' s Medic . The other crew member , Koral , is a humanoid alien whose planet and people of Red Sky Lost were destroyed by the Daleks . Upon arriving at Auros the Doctor and the crew discover that the planet ' s population are abandoning the planet as the Daleks are about to invade . Using the Osterhagen Principle , they detonate a series of nuclear bombs and destroy the planet to prevent it falling to the Daleks . The Doctor and Bowman realise the Daleks will ambush the retreating convoy . They try to warn them but the Daleks arrive , forcing the convoy to surrender and destroying its flagship as a warning to the other ships . Furious at the loss of Stella and her homeworld , the crew of the " Wayfarer " decide to interrogate the captured Dalek . With the Doctor ' s reluctant help they disarm it . Koral uses its claws to open the casing . They remove the creature inside and torture it , despite the Doctor ' s protests . They give up when the Dalek tells them nothing . After they ' ve left the cargo hold , however , the Doctor returns and reveals to the dying Dalek who he is . The Dalek , amongst its predictable ranting , lets slip that the Daleks plan to " eliminate all humanity from its very beginnings ! " Eventually the Dalek dies , and the Doctor works out what it meant . He reveals to the crew that the Daleks must be looking for the Arkheon Threshold , a schism in time and space which , if opened , will give the Daleks access to the Time Vortex . Deciding that the Doctor is telling the truth , Bowman orders the crew to head for the remains of the planet Arkheon , destroyed at the start of the war . They find the planet has been split in two , with the surviving half still retaining a breathable atmosphere . The " Wayfarer " lands and the Doctor and the crew disembark . Whilst looking round the devastated landscape they encounter dozens of mutated Arkheonite s , devolved by the radiation fallout . They chase the crew to the very edge of the planet , where they are captured by Daleks . After destroying their weapons , the Daleks force the Doctor and the crew onto a lift , which descends the side of the planet towards they core . Here the Doctor discovers that the Daleks , far from searching for Arkheon , have been on the planet for years . They have constructed a huge underground base where thousands of human prisoners from Auros mine the core , looking for the Threshold . The base also contains laboratories and the largest Dalek Prison outside of Skaro . The Doctor and the crew are taken into the base where they are scanned for " suitability " . Scrum is found to be of marginal use . Cuttin ' Edge and Koral are sentenced to work in the mines . When Bowman is scanned it is discovered he is in fact " Space Major Jon Bowman " , the designer of Earth ' s defence system and high on the Dalek ' s list of wanted people . The commander is alerted . Upon being told by the Command Dalek that Bowman will be taken for brain excoriation , which will kill him , Koral , who is secretly in love with Bowman , lashes out at the nearest Dalek . In retaliation the Daleks kill Scrum , the weakest member of the group . As the Daleks prepare to take Bowman away , the Doctor stops them and whispers something to the Command Dalek . The Command Dalek , suddenly terrified , orders two of its minions to scan the Doctor . They immediately identity him and prepare to exterminate him . The Doctor persuades them to interrogate him first . News of the Doctor ' s capture is sent to the Supreme Dalek on Skaro , who sends the Primary Intelligence Unit , led by the Dalek Inquisitor General , to interrogate the Doctor . Cuttin ' Edge and Koral are sent to work in the mines . The Doctor is placed in the same cell as Bowman , who reveals to him that the Dalek Inquisitor General , called " Dalek X " by the Earth authorities , is second in command to the Supreme Dalek and is described as being " the Devil in Dalek form " . Dalek X arrives at Arkheon aboard the " Exterminator " , the Dalek Empire ' s most advanced ship , containing five hundred Daleks and accompanied by a small fleet of Dalek saucers . Dalek X takes over command of the base , and exterminates one of the its mining Daleks for failing to meet its target . He orders that every hour the weakest group of workers will be exterminated . Soon after , the Doctor is brought to the interrogation room . Dalek X measures the Doctor ' s capacity for physical pain with a mind probe , simply out of curiosity . After an unknown length of time in pain , the Doctor is released from the mind probe and shown around the base by Dalek X . Meanwhile , the " Wayfarer " is destroyed by an " Aggressor " - class starship , and Bowman is taken to have his brain removed . Dalek X reveals to the Doctor that once the planetary core has been extracted , the Daleks will locate the Threshold with a Large Chronon Collider . They will open it , access the time vortex and defeat the Time Lord s . There is a chance that the collider won ' t work properly , however . To ensure success the Daleks need a control element ; the Doctor ' s TARDIS . The Doctor refuse to co - operate , but the Daleks threaten to exterminate a woman and her daughter from Cuttin ' Edge ' s and Koral ' s work force if he doesn ' t comply Finally , the Doctor agrees to help , but on the condition that Cuttin ' Edge , Koral and Bowman come with them to help him operate the TARDIS . The Daleks agree and Bowman is released , just before he is about to be killed . The " Exterminator " and its escort fleet head for Hurala , with the Doctor , the surviving " Wayfarer " crew members and the Dalek Temporal Research Team on board . When they reach the TARDIS , the Doctor claims to have lost the key , saying it is in the room he was held in . As they head for it , Cuttin ' Edge recognises the identification symbol on one of the Daleks . It is the same one that killed Scrum . He lashes out at it and is exterminated by Dalek X , though he pulls another Dalek into the ray , destroying it . The Doctor , Koral and Bowman use the distraction to escape into a maintenance duct . After escaping , the Doctor reveals his plan . There is still enough astronic energy fuel on the planet to cause a huge explosion . If they can detonate it , they can destroy Dalek X , the Temporal Research Team and the orbiting Dalek fleet . They make their way to a silo that still contains fuel . The Doctor starts to rig it to explode . Dalek X , enraged by the Doctor ' s escape , catches them and prepares to exterminate the Doctor . Dalek X is attacked by Koral and Bowman , who disable it and the push it over the edge of the gantry they are standing on . The Doctor is nearly finished , but realises he can ' t stop the safety override by remote control . Someone will have to stay behind and hold the manual override lever down until the silo reaches critical . Bowman volunteers to stay behind , refusing to leave despite protests from Koral . He knocks out the protesting Koral so the Doctor can take her back to the TARDIS and safety . The Doctor and Koral make it into the TARDIS just as the Daleks arrive . In the silo , Bowman holds the lever as the Daleks approach . As the base begins to shake , the Daleks retreat . The silo reaches critical mass and Bowman prepares to face death . He is saved at the last second by the Doctor , who materialises the TARDIS on the gantry . Bowman leaps into the TARDIS just as the Command Dalek tries to exterminate him . A second later the silo explodes , killing the Daleks on Hurala , as well as destroying the " Exterminator " and its escort fleet . Back on Earth Bowman and Koral report to the Earth authorities . They learn the Dalek fleet is in complete disarray thanks to them , and a task force is preparing to attack the Dalek base on Arkheon and release the prisoners . The Doctor leaves as Bowman and Koral prepare to go and meet Bowman ' s parents . The Doctor travels to Hurala , which has been sealed off for five thousand years due the radiation fallout . There he finds Dalek X , badly damaged but still alive . The Doctor informs it that Arkheon has been taken by the Earth forces , the Daleks are in full retreat on all fronts and that he has sealed off the Threshold . Regardless of the Doctor ' s revelations , Dalek X rants that the Daleks are never defeated . The Doctor replies that the Daleks are always defeated , because they can never accept that every other form of life in the Universe is better than they . To prove this the Doctor points out that there is no form of life in the Universe that would volunteer to be a Dalek . As the Doctor prepares to leave , Dalek X vows to hunt him down . The Doctor responds by stating that he ' ll be waiting . The Doctor finally departs Hurala , leaving Dalek X trapped on the planet , alone .