The reason for their interaction and scuffle is a piece of space debris picked up by the Quetzel: a prisoner stasis chamber containing Davros. They’re taken over by a Thall commando squad, featuring a few named characters who all survive the course of the book, save one. The first two parts take place on a human scavenger ship, the Quetzel, and spends time getting us introduced to its crew who get killed or left behind, save one.

The four parts, also, contain different emphases, characters, and settings, really giving it the feel of a classic televised 4-part Doctor Who story. None of these cut-scenes have anything to do with the story’s plot itself, but simply add background to the reality of the Daleks’ wars with virtually everyone else. The interludes are snippets of the Daleks’ wars across the galaxy against Thalls, humans, Draconians, and Mechanoids, with varying degrees of success. It is structured in four major sections with brief interludes in between each. The 5th book in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel range is War of the Daleks, and it’s quite an interesting read. For now, we’re re-visiting the Samantha Jones era.)

We’ll pick up where that left off later this year. (I’m taking a step way back now, to re-read a couple of the earlier 8th Doctor novels before continuing beyond The Ancestor Cell.