In the middle of the Eastern Mediterranean four individuals are preparing to hijack the  cargo ship Orpheila. They are Mademoiselle Mimi Dubois, La Résistance fighter and mistress of skills; Miss Madeline Forsyth, SOE operative and a living shadow; Sven Hyse, Norwegian Resistance soldier and shapeshifter; and Doctor Jackal, timid physician with his less than timid friend Mister Hades.

Cargo Ship Orpheila, Eastern Mediterranean Sea, August 1942

Just before eighteen hundred hours I leave Captain Orleff’s cabin and head for the galley to help prepare dinner for the crew. Captain Orleff once again strolls around the deck of the ship talking loudly in German at the Argentinian sailors, they humour him by smiling and nodding but they have no idea what he is saying. By nineteen hundred hours I am serving the hungry crew and singing a lilting Spanish ballad. The crew are very appreciative and call for more so I launch into a more up tempo Italian tune, by the end of which I have them eating out of my hand.

I leave Captain Orleff in the saloon drinking with some of the crew and slip into the chart room so that I can look into the ships radio room, it is empty and so I check out the radio set. I confirm that it can be disabled by removing one of the valves. It would be quickly identified and repaired, but it should buy enough time if we need it to. As I step out of the radio room I hear someone walking down the stairs from the bridge. Without any time to hide I just stand there and am met by the ship’s Second Officer. He looks momentarily suspicious as to why I am there, but I quickly ask him to escort me to my cabin and all suspicion is forgotten.

As we are strolling back to my cabin, the Second Officer seems desperate to engage me in conversation and so I ask him what time he is due to finish his shift. He tells me that he is working until midnight and then will be relieved by the First Officer. He also tells me that he is just below decks and in the first cabin on the left. I gently kiss him on the cheek and wish him a good night. He walks away with a spring in his step. If only he knew what was in store for him and the rest of the crew.

Not long after the Second Officer leaves I notice a tapping on my cabin door. When I open the door I find a large seagull outside, I stand aside and he hops in. Madeline, Sven and I settle down in the cabin and wait. Meanwhile, Henry sits in the saloon pretending to read and watching the crew slowly drift away to bed. Just before midnight the First Officer meets with his shift in the saloon, they sit down at the table next to Henry and the First Officer goes through the orders for the shift. Henry listens in, and once they have headed off to their posts, he gets up and walks back to the cabins.

Henry knocks on my door and enters. He lets us know that there are four men on the night shift, two will be on the bridge, one in the engine room and one has been dispatched to the bow of the ship to stand on watch. We wait until twenty minutes after shift change and then leave the cabin. Sven seagull flaps up to the top of the foremast and watches the bridge, while Henry and myself stroll towards the saloon. If anyone was watching closely they may have noticed that the moon seemed to be casting three shadows off of the two people walking the deck.

I make two cups of coffee and Henry then doses them librley with strong sedatives. I loosen the top button of my blouse, pick up the two cups and head up the stairs to the bridge. I smile demurely as I pass the two sailors their coffees and look on encouragingly as they start to drink. I make small talk with the First Officer and listen intently as he rattles on about what everything on the bridge is for and how adept he is at piloting the Orpheila.

Madeline, who had slipped onto the bridge behind me as I was distracting the crew, starts to lower the temperature gently to encourage them to finish their drinks. After about twenty minutes Henry joins us on the bridge, as soon as he enters it is obvious to him that the crewman manning the ships wheel is fast asleep and the First Officer is yawning expansively while settling his head on my shoulder. A couple of minutes later, he is also sound asleep. Henry and I search the sailors and tie them up while Madeline heads back down to the radio room.

Henry puts on the crewman’s jumper and hat and I show him how to steer the ship towards the new heading. Sven seagull, who has been watching from his perch, flies down to the lifeboat where he had previously hidden his equipment. Sven changes his appearance so that he is now the doppelgänger of Captain Orleff and stealths towards the bow of the ship. Sven silently steps behind the sailor on lookout at the bow and clubs him over the head with the butt of his pistol. The sailor drops to the floor poleaxed. Sven lifts his unconscious form up and hides the body out of sight.

With the bridge crew secured and Henry slowly altering our course for Malta I head down the stairs towards the radio room. As I get to the bottom of the stairs I meet Madeline stepping out of the radio room holding one of the radio valves. I guess that great minds really do think alike. I grab another cup of coffee from the galley and head below decks towards the engine room. All is quiet in the crew area with nothing but the sound of the occasional snore and the throb of the engines to be heard. I open the door to the engine room and step in, I take my time allowing Madeline to slide through in shadow form, when I turn around I am faced by a dumbfounded engineer.

I offer the engineer the cup of coffee and he almost falls over in his rush to get to me. I engage him in polite conversation, mostly just pouting and smiling, while Madeline solidifies behind him. I tell the engineer that he probably wants to look behind him, when he does so he finds himself starting down the barrel of Madeline’s gun. He drops the coffee cup and puts his hands up. I quickly tie him up and gag him, as an extra precaution we place a sack over his head so that he cannot see. We then wedge the engine room door closed and leave the engine room via a porthole in shadow form.

Sven, in the visage of Captain Orleff, knocks on the cabin door of the Orpheila’s Captain. Captain Garcia invites Captain Orleff into his cabin and asks how he can be of assistance. Captain Orleff says that he wishes to discuss some business and, noticing a bottle of drink on the table, suggests that they do it over a glass of something. Garcia pours two glasses of very fine brandy and hands one to Orleff. Captain Orleff says that he would like the Orpheila to collect something from Malta. Whilst surprised, Garcia just answers that Malta is not in the hands of the German’s. Orleff continues to suggest that certain sections of Malta are friendly to the German cause and that he can pay handsomely for the trip.

Madeline and I head back into the galley and shut the hatch above the stairs leading below decks. We lock it in place and have now effectively trapped the remainder of the crew below. While Madeline stands guard I head to the stores in the bow of the ship to find more chain to lock the engine room door leading to the crew section. I find what I am searching for and, turning once more into shadow form, slide back into the engine room and chain closed the engine room door. The crew are now definitely trapped within their sleeping quarters. I then pick up the intercom;

Engine room to bridge! Engine room to bridge! All secure below decks. Report?

Henry responds that all is quiet on deck. He states that the crewman in the bow has been dealt with by Sven, he then says that he strangely thinks that he saw himself enter Captain Garcia’s cabin. I head back out of the porthole and Madeline and myself head for Captain Garcia’s cabin.

Captain Orleff offers Captain Garcia a large sum of money to head for Malta, but Garcia is now beginning to get suspicious and refuses. In the blink of an eye a silenced pistol appears in Captain Orleff’s hand. Garcia looks surprised for a moment but quickly gathers his wits;

If you believe that by holding me at gunpoint the crew will take you to Malta you are very much mistaken.

Your crew is currently being dealt with.

By who? Your secretary? HA!

There is a PHTT! sound as Captain Orleff fires his pistol. The bullet ricochets off of the wall six inches to the right of Garcia’s head. Captain Garcia looks serious once more;

As soon as my crew discover what is happening it will not go well for you.

As I have said, your crew is being dealt with as we speak.

There is a knock on the cabin door.

Now Captain Orleff I suggest that you surrender. Come in!

I open the door with Madeline stood behind me pointing her MP40 straight at Garcia. I will never forget the expression of shock on his face. It still makes me smile to this day.

Madeline and Captain Orleff escort Garcia to the bridge while I go and check on the crewman in the bow. He is still unconscious, and is badly injured, so I drag him into my cabin and tie him to the bed. Captain Orleff leaves Captain Garcia under the watchful eye of Madeline at the bottom of the stairs and climbs up into the bridge.

For the first time in his life Doctor Henry Jackal stares into his own face and not just a reflection in a mirror. Mister Hades stirs deep inside Doctor Jackal. Seeing the strange look in Henry’s eyes, Sven quickly transforms back into himself and calls up Madeline and her captive. The secure the Captain and Madeline informs him that his crew have been captured and secured below decks and that his cooperation will keep them alive. Sven leans forwards as if to drive home the point and utters;

Compliance means life! Defiance means death!

I once more turn into shadow form and enter the engine room via the porthole and keep an eye through the engine room door’s window into the crew quarters. Sven questions Garcia as to the whereabouts of the ship’s gun locker, Garcia keeps quiet until Sven threatens the life of the First Officer. Madeline takes the Captain’s keys and heads for the chart room and the gun locker, when she opens it she finds four rifles and two pistols. She removes all of the ammunition and hides it.

It is oh one thirty hours and the Orpheila is effectively under our control.