The cargo ship Orpheila is under the control of four MI6 agents, for now. 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

I remember the day that I met Lieutenant General William Dobbie, the Governor of Malta. Mon Dieu, quel salaud! He was a hidebound, misogynist who, despite what we had achieved for his island, could not see beyond our methods, nationalities, or gender. Less than twenty four hours earlier…

On the recommendation of Madeline, who reasoned that it will make Captain Garcia believe that there are more of us than there really are, Sven enters the bridge disguised as different people. Unfortunately, Sven got a little carried away with his role and at one point Captain Garcia was very surprised to see what appeared to be the Fuhrer walking onto the bridge practicing one of his Nuremberg rally speeches.

I’m stationed in the ship’s engine room and am instructed to check in with the bridge every thirty minutes. Sven also dictates a message to me that I write out in Spanish and stick to the wall at the end of the crew corridor. The letter states that the ship has been captured and that no one will be injured if they follow instructions. By oh six hundred hours Madeline and Sven have searched the cargo hold thoroughly and we are all at our stations, Madeline and Henry on the bridge, Sven atop the bow in the guise of a seagull, and myself in the engine room, when the crew start to awaken.

It all starts with a single crew member coming out of his cabin and walking along the corridor directly towards the letter. He fails to notice it and turns left into the head. A few moments later he reappears and heads back into his cabin. I get on the intercom and let Madeline know what is happening, she heads to the locked hatch in the galley. Five minutes later, and now fully dressed, he heads for the staircase leading up to the galley.

There follows several minutes of banging and shouting at the locked stairway hatch as the crewman tries to get someone’s attention. When he realises that no one is coming he heads for the engine room door. I slip backwards into the shadows and watch through the engine room door porthole. When he finds that locked and can see his crewmate tied up with a bag over his head in the middle of the floor he starts to shout alarm. Crewmen in various states of dress tumble out of their cabins and mill about shouting at each other in Spanish.

Eventually, one of them notices the letter and it is handed to the Second Officer. He reads it and then moves towards the stairs once more. He then starts shouting to speak to Captain Garcia. Madeline heads towards the bow of the ship to let Sven know what is happening, and then both of them head for the bridge. Meanwhile, after a few minutes of shouting the crew head into one of the cabins and I can hear the sound of banging coming from inside. I inform the bridge, and Henry tells me that Madeline and Sven are escorting Captain Garcia to the galley.

The crew reappear from the cabin with a makeshift battering ram and head once more towards the locked stairway hatch. After a couple of hefty hits with the ram against the hatchway Sven shouts at them to move back, and with Madeline covering the stairway with her MP40, he unlocks the hatch and opens the cover. The crew momentarily begin to move forwards, that is until they spot Madeline with her submachine gun pointed at the front rank. Captain Garcia talks to his men and tells them to cooperate with us and that they will get out of this alive.

The hatchway is sealed once more and then Sven and Henry then escort Captain Garcia to see the injured crewman in the fore cabin. Captain Garcia is pleased that he has been cared for but is obviously upset that he was assaulted in the first place. Captain Garcia asks Sven what our intentions are and where we are going? Sven replies that it is of little significance to the captain.

Captain Garcia is then escorted back to the galley where he is told to make the crew breakfast, which he does under the watchful eye of Madeline. By oh eight hundred hours all of the prisoners have been fed and watered and are once more under lock and key. And so begins a long day of a small team keeping control of a big cargo ship and all of her crew. We believe that we have convinced them that there are more of us than there really is and so we hope that they will not try and overpower us. We set up a four hour rotating watch with one of us in the engine room, one in the bridge, one on constant patrol, and one sleeping.

Just after ten hundred hours, Sven is on patrol around the deck of the Orpheila when he hears the unmistakable sound of an airplane's engines. He rushes to the cabin and wakes Madeline who heads straight to the radio room and replaces the missing valve and she is joined by Henry while Sven takes up position on the bridge. A twin engined German spotter plane flies towards us from the north east and once it is within range the radio crackles to life;

Unknown ship. Unknown ship. State your name, port of departure and destination. Over!

Henry, speaking in his best German with a Spanish accent, relays the response. There is a moments static, and then;

Confirm destination! Over!

Henry repeats himself once more. The tension in the radio room is palpable, and Madeline starts to think about moving towards the anti aircraft gun at the stern of the ship.

Are you suffering technical issues Orphelia? Over!

Thinking quickly, Henry tells them that there was an issue on the bridge and that we are trying to correct for it. Again there is nothing but static from the radio for what seems like an age and then;

Details confirmed Orphelia. Safe travels. Over and out!

There is a collective sigh of relief around the radio room as the German plane continues its journey.

Around sixteen hundred hours, Henry remembers that he hasn’t checked our baring since we first altered course, when he checks he discovers that we have drifted north by a significant margin. No wonder that the spotter plane believed our story, from their point of view it would have looked like we had only drifted west from the correct route. Henry resets the ship’s course and I steer us onto the new baring, Henry believes that we have added approximately an additional hour to our journey.

The rest of the journey passes uneventfully, Captain Garcia is allowed to talk to his crew once more and convinces them to remain calm and follow our instructions. The prisoners are fed and watered once more and by twenty one thirty hours Madeline and Henry can see the twinkling lights of Malta on the horizon. Henry heads to the radio room and starts to broadcast;

Falcon calling Castle! Falcon calling Castle! Come in Castle!

Eventually, the correct response is issued and out ETA is requested.

Ten minutes later and the drone of aircraft engines can be heard moving towards us. Minutes later three Spitfires fly by off the starboard side. They bank and give us a low level pass before climbing and positioning themselves into a covering formation.

By twenty two thirty hours a tug from the Port of Valletta is steadily moving towards us and once again the radio crackles to life;

Cargo ship Orphelia! Cargo ship Orpheila! This is the Maltese tug Rozi preparing to come aside. Captain Hurleman in charge. I wish to speak to whomever is in charge. Over!

Once again, Henry gets on the radio is tole that the tug will fire a line and that we should stand ready to make secure. Madeline makes me a cup of coffee and brings it to the cabin to wake me up. As she is heading along the deck she hears a shout of;

Line ahoy!

A rope is fired across our deck and Madeline gently steps over it and continues on her way. The tug reels in the line and is surprised to find that it has not been attached.

Orphelia! Orphelia! Do you require assistance with securing the line? Over!

Henry requests assistance and several Maltese sailors launch from the tug and secure the Orphelia for towing into harbour.

On the bridge Captain Garcia, who has worked out that we are docking in Malta calls Sven and Henry traitors. He is very surprised to learn that we are English, well Henry and Madeline, and that we are not the Germans that he believed us to be. As we are docking Henry pays Captain Garcia the rest of our bribe money for the journey. The Captain is very surprised, but Henry tells him that a deal is a deal and that we are now settled.

As soon as the Orphelia is docked Captain Hurleman comes on board. We all meet him at the top of the gangplank and he snaps off a brisk salute to us all. We return the salute and then are surprised by the fact that he then shakes us all by the hand. He seems genuinely pleased to see us and the ship. He asks for a very quick debrief and if the ship is secure. Madeline gives him the bare facts and he waves on a troop of soldiers to remove the crew.

We then take Captain Hurleman to the bridge, where Captain Garcia immediately surrenders to him. Madeline makes a point of informing Captain Hurleman that Garcia and his crew cooperated throughout the entire journey and should be treated accordingly. Captain Garcia gives Madeline a nod of respect for this gesture. He is then escorted off of the ship with the rest of his crew.

Captain Hurleman tells us that Lieutenant General Dobbie wishes to see us straight away. We quickly gathered our belongings and climbed aboard the waiting truck on the dockside. We were driven up into town and taken to the parliament building, we were instructed to leave our kit in an antechamber and then shown into a very grand office lined with books.

We must have looked a sight. Sven in his Norwegian outdoorsman garb, all rollneck sweater and heavy cloth; Madeline dressed head to toe in black commando garb; Henry in his civilian suit carrying his doctors bag; and myself in an ill fitting pair of mechanics overalls with a grease smeared face. Even so, the way in which he spoke to us, I thought that Sven might attack him there and then.

He completely ignored me, he looked at the others with disdain and said;

Well I suppose that I should say thank you. But I am very unhappy with the nature of this operation, and the fact that I have been kept in the dark. I have no idea how foreigners and women have managed to do this, and it is just not how war is carried out by gentlemen.

I could see Sven’s face darken and my mind flashed back to images of a man with his face bitten off. I think that look would have suited Dobbie.

Fortunately, Madeline stepped in and politically took control of the debrief. She deftly supplied Lieutenant General Dobbie with facts and half truths and answered any questions that he raised with consummate ease. When asked about the drugging of the bridge crew Henry stepped in with long chemical names and a detailed explanation of how the drugs interacted with the subjects body in order to achieve the goal. When Madeline gets to the fact that we actually paid Captain Garcia for the use of his ship, Leuitenant General Dobbie is almost purple with anger. Yet again he barks about this not being the way that wars are fought.

In the end he remarks that our superiors have asked that we are allowed to leave the island of Malta as soon as possible. I put in that we can probably all agree that getting us off of the island is for the best, and even Dobbie agrees.

We are dismissed and Captain Hurleman shows us to the barracks where Sven and Henry are given quarters, he then takes Madeline and myself to the servants block and we are given a room there. We all fall into a very deep and exhausted laden sleep.

Valletta, Malta, August 1942

Late the following morning we meet up in the mess hall. Captain Hurleman has sourced us uniforms and makes sure that we have everything that we require and he tells us that we are free to come and go as we please. As soon as he has any news for us he will contact us. So, we make the most of the day and head for a bar.