The written fiction of the series, as said in the previous part, started at the beginning of February 2012 - the 7th to be exact. It started at the same time TV and Film Residential Camp did, though the two did split from the same posting dates after the first few uploads. Both stories do share similarities in production. For instance, the starting few parts had very little planning, and only after those few parts did any sense of a longer plan - in other words the main of the story - come from that.
The first two parts of the audio series did give me something to work on, and since Doctor Who is in the name, I knew I wanted to start this series with The Doctor. I started it out with the Daleks and Cybermen fighting on some planet with the intention that The Doctor stops the fight. Having him be the one to send the Daleks to the Star Wars universe came from the fact The Doctor has caused problems to be made - sometimes unintentionally - and then having to fix them. I wanted to try a twist of the leaders of a group of Daleks being more human-like in mind, so created the Dalez Corporation. This group could implant a living brain into the shell of a Dalek, as well as alter said brain to be more like the Daleks. When it came to the leaders doing the same process, they left their brains intact from any alteration. Naturally they still imitated the Dalek mindset from time to time so as to blend in with real Daleks. This process of implanting a brain into a machine would be mirrored later in the series in the Star Wars universe. Of course, I'll be mentioning that later on.
The second written episode introduced General Kronis and Max Golden - aka DarkRula - to the scene. With a battle against the Daleks, no less. It might not have been much, but I wanted to show straight away the threat the Daleks are within the Star Wars universe. So they blast through Coruscant and get into a transport only to meet the Mandalorian who owns it. This transport is the Scimitar - the ship Darth Maul owned. I had the idea of using this thing right from the start as Darth Maul being one of my favourite characters, I took an interest in that spaceship he used. Reading up on it, it did look as though it was a one-of-a-kind ship. So what if throughout the many years that separate The Phantom Menace with this timeline the Scimitar changed hands many times only for it to then end up in the hands of a Mandalorian? And then what if DarkRula took that ship after its previous owner had been defeated in battle?
The last episode of Act 1 would detail the third leader of Dalez awaking. This would end the period of no forward planning, though that only extended to the end of each act. It would also start to tie into the audio series more with The Ark making its way into the written series, though it wouldn't be in the hands of Kronis until Act 4.
Act 2 was continuing the battle at hand. The Mandalorian the Daleks had run into was now dead, and the Daleks themselves were thought to be as well. The planet Fresia was once a Mandalorian base, and still had its defences. Multiple turret emplacements were set up around the outside of what once had been a small camp, and with one of those destroyed, the Daleks simply moved to the next. So by the time the rest of the Mandalorians come along, that turret is already active and firing. The Daleks wouldn't know friend from foe yet, and are rejecting any calls coming in, so they fire upon the Mandalorians without knowing they are the rescue team. But get rescued they do. The first episode within Act 2 shows the Mandalorians create a warp from the Federation cruiser. The idea of creating the warp came from black holes in space. A black hole is created either through a loss of energy or the gain of unused energy. I simply put those two things together. Extra power is inserted into what is going to be the warp point. That energy then gets near instantly drained to create the warp. Unlike a natural black hole though, this warp can be stopped by returning power to the point it was drained from. This idea becomes much bigger come audio episode four, in which the technology is used on Endor to get rid of The Doctor. The Mandalorians show that they are the Star Wars equivalent to the Daleks by evading capture and destroying one of their own cruisers as a ploy. Tir LeRane also makes short work of both Kronis and DarkRula, though leaves their fate in the hands of the crumbling cruiser. The two are fine and ready to get back in the action though, with the next act allowing them to stop a Dalek trap. Act 2 also introduced the teleports that get used in the first two audio episodes.
Act 3 starts with the Daleks planning on setting traps, though they run into an old foe. The Cybermen had been deposited on Byss, and a battle takes place between both Cybermen and Daleks. The Daleks overcome the Cybermen and finish the task of setting the trap. Kronis and DarkRula arrive on Byss while the Daleks and Mandalorians are still there and set off the trap before escaping. This would be the point where the Mandalorians, along with the Daleks go silent until they re-emerge during the first two audio episodes. It needed to be done like that so Kronis and DarkRula are still pretty much in the dark about their capabilities. Of course, the Daleks want to destroy those who get in their way, so the hunt was behind the scenes. As we find out later, they decide to draw Kronis out by staging an assault, but making it look like only the Daleks are involved. Within Act 3, I decided that it would be interesting to explore unique ways of building droids. And of other creatures that had the Force. So the planet of Forsaad, and the Forsariun bird, were created with the idea of gaining an egg to extract the materials needed for use. The Polar-Axel 2-22 was also created for this specific reason. There is a chance for it to return, however. With a much more interesting use.
The Agility droids do well on their first test, and get sent to the Reverb-class cruisers. A battle is taking place above another Federation base, and Valon gets called to action. DarkRula has visions of something happening, though only after he refuses and gets stunned twice do they resolve to any meaning. Valon will die in this battle. Since Kronis was the commander of The Ark during audio episodes one and two, the current commander of the written fiction needed to be offed. He could simply have been offered a place elsewhere, but this thread was building up to something. It needed to look as though DarkRula could have been the one to kill Valon. And so in the space battle, DarkRula heads out with Valon with a squad of his own. Their adversaries are strong, and all three Reverb cruisers get taken out. DarkRula senses Valon in trouble during the retreat and helps, thus setting up the Neimoidian's distrust of him. Well, less setting it up and more giving them even more reasons to distrust him. Even so, upon the meeting on Neimoidia with the Federation High Council in Act 4, DarkRula is at least able to keep his squad, while Kronis gets command of The Ark.
Episode three of the audio series had been published by the time Act 4 started, and so now was the time for a bit of set up. The third member of Dalez - Dalek Rizon - had found his way to Tatooine. Upon taking command of Tosche Station to get a message out to his fellows, Rizon starts with all-out conquest of the planet. Meanwhile, Thalos is using his command of Stormtroopers to try and keep the situation under control. Rizon's conquest looks as though it ends at the Mos Eisley cantina. This starts the plot thread of Rizon taking command of Thalos for his own ends. Which of course ends with the death of Thalos in audio episode three.
The middle of Act 4 delves into DarkRula's past. Focusing on the battle where he acquired his name of DarkRula. His real name was Max Golden, but since the event of the battle at the Thunder Strike Delta base, he hated the name - and in a way hated himself. Since the event he lived on self-doubt, preferring action to thought lest it stop him from acting. This sets up what happens on Naboo during the battle with the padawan of Jek Nori, and later the guilt at losing yet another team through actions he feels are his own. It would also set up things to happen later on.
The end of Act 4 starts up a small side plot on Naboo, with Act 5 being the start of the Cyrillian arc. In Legends canon, Cyrillia is the world where the DUM Pit Droids are made, so it already had a hand in building droids. Introducing an enterprise to the planet where massive amounts of various droids get made paved the way for the Star Wars equivalent of how Dalez Daleks are made. Implanting the brain of a flesh being into a machine so they keep all their own characteristics. There was also allowance for me to get a few parts of history inserted into this timeline. So the Crime Wars became a thing. It doesn't get expanded on when mentioned within the arc, but the idea behind it was many of the crime syndicates start to catch on to the fact the Republic was crushing them from the galaxy. With the first few entirely wiped out, it pushed them over the edge and they started to retaliate. It took a few months to break out fully, and even less time to be finished. The crime syndicates realised they couldn't match the power of the Republic and even the Jedi, and after two major battles and a few small skirmishes, they retreated to the shadows. Most thought them wiped out. Until a group sporting the name of the New Alliances Rebellion took over a stormtrooper barracks. That name was mentioned in Act 3 by the pirates who were scouting Hoth. As shown, they were captured and let free, and the reason being is hardly anyone knows of the New Alliances Rebellion. The Republic have been trying to cover them up. Neither Federation nor Jedi know of their roots.
So with the tour of Cyrillia over and Nori's padawan taken care of, that was about all I had until The Doctor gets brought to the universe. There was still a few things that needed taking care of. Yes, Kronis and DarkRula were split currently, but there was no way twelve days would pass without the two having contact. And it needed to be twelve days, as I'd planned for the Daleks to have been in the Star Wars universe for a month before The Doctor arrives. Between audio episodes one and three there is a month, then between audio episodes three and four there is a month as well. This was done to keep things simple, but since that was one of the first things ever planned - and three audio episodes already out - there was no way it could be retconned. And so Act 6 was nothing but set up for the start of the audio episodes. DarkRula is kept away from Kronis after escaping Naboo by extensive damage to the Scimitar. Kronis is on patrol duty in a sector far from DarkRula. Almost two weeks pass before DarkRula can get underway again, and Kronis is called as reinforcements for a supply transport that is getting attacked. Though this is the second wave of reinforcements after the Stormtroopers fail in acting their reinforcement request for the transport.
That's the end of part two, and this is starting to get a bit bigger than I had planned. We'll see when it comes to part three of this series, but there might be a part four. In any case, part three will be looking at how I adapted audio episodes one and two into the written fiction, what happened after that point, and at least up to audio episode three, if not four.
Doctor Who: The Star Wars Chronicles Look Back, Look Ahead Series