MI6s new look enhanced team are currently working through the finer details of their plan to infiltrate Wewelsburg Schloss, the headquarters of the Wolfenkorps. The team consists of 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 Franklin Fort, hard bitten soldier and teleporter.

Hanslope Park, Buckinghamshire, England, November 1942
The morning after the Norwegian Embassy party I awake with a sore head and two medals pinned to my chest. It was a good night, and a great party, but the words of Doctor Jackal are still fluttering around in my head and causing me some disquiet.

Late morning we meet with Captain Ledman and he informs us that the mission is scheduled for forty eight hours time. We decide to up the level of training so that we can get used to working with Frank in combat. And with Frank’s permission I borrow his teleporting ability and practice with it. It is weird to begin with but I slowly get to grips with the feeling of moving from one location to the next in a heartbeat. Once I am confident enough I attempt to teleport in shadow form, it is a success and Madeline is impressed.

The evening before Operation Pelican was a go we were sitting around the table in Hut 17B having dinner and finalising the details when the still night was shattered by the sound of a massive explosion in the direction of the laboratory that was being used to test the enhanced chemical. We rush outside and can see the building in flames, our paranoia levels rise and so we all arm ourselves before investigating. By the time we arrive there are a dozen people stood around in shock, at that moment the fire alarm is sounded.

Frank spots a group of firefighters struggling to get the fire pump out of it’s shed and so rushes off to help them. We quickly question those standing around and discover that they believe that the site of the main explosion was near the chemical store, which also happens to be near where the gas main enters too. We agree that it could be a cover for stealing the enhanced chemical sample and so we quickly head off to secure the perimeter. I rush to MI6s main offices at Hanslope Park and Sven dives into a dark alley and then transforms into a bird and leaps into the sky.

I quickly scout around the outside of the building but can see no sign of a disturbance so I dash back to Madeline, who is keeping an eye on the burning building, and quickly borrow her powers. I then rush back to the offices and slide in under the doorway. I discover that the place looks completely undisturbed and shut up tight.

With Frank’s help the firefighters succeed in getting the fire under control, Madeline also spots that a group of scientists are talking animatedly to Colonel Lambert, Hanslope Park’s base commander. Madeline gets into a position where she can read their lips and discovers that they are talking about a missing scientist by the name of Anderson, who was working late on an experiment. Madeline remembers that Anderson was one of the scientists who was involved in the work on the enhanced chemical.

Sven, who has been circling the burning building looking for any sign of life within, glides higher and spots only a couple of cars on the road near the base. One heading away and one towards, but as it is early evening he doesn’t see anything unusual with this and so does not bother investigating further. By the time that Sven is spiralling higher and higher over Hanslope Park, I had once again joined Madeline and we decided to head into the building to search for any clues as to what has happened.

As we slip into the building I reach out with my senses and make sure that there are no enhanced still on location. I am relieved that other than Madeline and Frank I don’t detect any other enhanced individuals. We both slide as shadows further into the building towards the centre of the explosion. Madeline looks around what is left of the laboratory and comes to the conclusion that someone filled the area with gas and then ignited it creating the explosion. She also discovers a small area of intense heat on the laboratory worktop that must have happened prior to the gas explosion. It is possible that the gas explosion was set up to cover something up.

While Madeline is engaged in her scenes of crime investigation I slip in and out of the rubble searching, unfortunately, I discover a body. I inform Madeline of my discovery and we decide that it is time that we contacted Captain Ledman. I telephone Captain Ledman on the number that he had given us all of those months ago and it is answered by a very professional and clipped young lady. She asks if my call is urgent and I inform her that it is;

Please hold!

Five minutes later a very tired Captain Ledman asks who is calling. I very quickly give him a precis of what has happened and he is surprised that he has not already been contacted by the Hanslope Park staff already. He asks us to go on watch until he is able to get on site. An hour later we are all sat together in Ledman’s office giving him a full debrief. He assumes charge and orders an immediate search of the burned building to recover the body.

By morning, and not having got much sleep, we visit Captain Ledman once more. He lets us know that the body in the destroyed laboratory has been confirmed as being that of Anderson and that the medical examiner believes that he was seriously burnt before the gas explosion happened. He then asks us a question that surprises us;

When did you last see Doctor Jackal?

We tell him that it was as he was leaving the Norwegian Embassy and asks why he is asking. He lets us know that he is the only other member of base staff that cannot be accounted for. That surprises us all and we conjecture that Doctor Jackal may have been involved in the destruction of the laboratory, but then Madeline points out that he would not have been party to killing Anderson and we are all left somewhat confused by the evidence in front of us.

Captain Ledman asks us to carry out a search of both Jackal’s and Anderson’s rooms to see what we can find. Madeline and I head off to carry out Ledman’s orders. When we arrive at the scientists hut that Doctor Jackal had moved into when he left Hut 17B we question his hut mates and discover that Henry was last seen between seventeen and eighteen hundred hours yesterday. He had entered his room for a short while and then had left once more. He wasn’t carrying anything bulky. Madeline and I search his room thoroughly and Madeline discovers that while an effort has been made to make it look like nothing has been taken, all of Doctor Jackal’s immediate personal effects are missing.

We move onto Anderson’s room and search it with a fine tooth comb. Eventually, as I am flicking through the books on his bookshelf a small piece of folded paper drops out of the pages of a scientific textbook. When I unfold it I discover a typed message in German;

Kill Doctor Jackal. SS-Major Julius Schwartz

We return back to Captain Ledman and give him what we have found. We also suggest that he double check that the body that has been discovered is that of Anderson, he and Doctor Jackal were of similar build and the body suffered from very bad chemical burns to its front. We don’t have to point out to Captain Ledman the enormity of the fact that we have had a German spy working within MI6s enhanced division.

I remember feeling very guilty about the fact that Doctor Jackal either was assassinated, or that someone attempted to assassinate him and Mr Hades is responsible for the destruction of the laboratory. If it was Mr Hades, then it is likely that he would have made his escape on foot through the woods. So I convince the team that we should search the perimeter for any signs of his passage. But we find no trace.

The following day we are visited by Captain Ledman and he lets us know what they have discovered so far. The body is definitely Anderson, and they have discovered that there is a car missing from the bases motorpool. Ledman also tells us that there is quite a bit of suspicion about the typed note that we found. Everything points to it being a smoke screen that Doctor Jackal has fabricated so that he could disappear, but once again Madeline points out that Doctor Jackal would not kill. With no further leads, and the possibility of a German spy being in the camp unlikely, we agree that Operation Pelican is once more a go.

Paderborn Lippstadt Airfield, Germany, November 1942

At twenty three hundred hours, three days later, a stolen German Siebel Fh 104 lands at the small air strip three miles west of the village of Wewelsburg. Once the aeroplane has taxied to a stop, subtly on the apron of the runway away from the direct lights of the base, four German military personnel disembark.

SS-Major Burgher, his two SS-Leutnant aides, and his SS-Unteroffizier guard are met by the airfields Luftwaffe Leutnant and his driver. As soon as they see SS-Major Burgher they quickly snap to attention. Sven, living the role of an up his own backside SS-Major, turns to me and in perfect German says;

Deal with this!

He then buries his nose in a notebook. I slip into my role as a hard done by aide, ably assisted by Madeline, and we both turn on the heavy charm. Within seconds the Luftwaffe Leutnant is pitching his driver out of the car and hurrying the three of us in. He says that his driver will walk our SS-Unteroffizier to the mess, and we pull quickly away leaving Frank with the German driver. As we pull away Madeline makes eye contact with me and flicks her eyes towards Frank. At that moment I remember that Frank’s German leaves a lot to be desired. We could be in trouble.

The German driver, also an Unteroffizier, begins to lead Frank towards the main airfield buildings while trying to engage him in conversation. Frank tries his best not to speak but it becomes impossible and so he attempts a short, clipped response. The German driver senses that something isn’t quite right with this SS-Unteroffizier. The German driver stops in his tracks and demands to know what is going on, Franks stops and puts his kitbag down, turns to the driver and attempts to answer once again. Again it doesn’t go well and the driver starts to shout at Frank demanding to know what is going on and who he is.

A split second later there is a knife in Frank’s hand and he quickly puts it to use with two quick stabs into the drivers chest. The German driver slumps forward dead and Frank catches him before he hits the floor. Frank bends down and picks up his kitbag once again and starts to drag the body of the German into the darkness.

Still reeling from Doctor Jackal’s decision, MI6s team of enhanced individuals are shattered and trying to work out how to convince Henry not to leave. The team consists of 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 hopefully Doctor Jackal, timid physician with his less than timid friend Mister Hades.

Euston Station, London, April 1942
Sergeant Williams gives the freight car yet another once over, checking to make sure that all of the oil drums are secured and that the guards are alert. He spots Private Fort staring out of the freight car doorway and along the platform, Sergeant Williams follows his gaze and realises that he is staring at a very attractive blonde stood in the rain smoking a cigarette. Typical of Private Franklin Fort, the man should be a Sergeant at least by now, maybe even higher given his abilities. But his temper puts him in constant hot water, and the incident of insubordination during the Battle of Dunkirk didn’t help at all. Regardless of the fact that it saved hundreds of lives.

Hanslope Park, Buckinghamshire, England, November 1942

Over the two days after Doctor Jackal walked out of the briefing we make a couple of attempts to reconcile with him. However, they do not go well. It culminates in a blazing argument between Doctor Jackal and both Madeline and Sven over saving one quarter of the German troopers that we encounter. We try to agree that we will attempt to save as many lives as possible, but the argument spirals out of all control and ends up with Henry storming out.

I later discovered that that he went straight to Captain Ledman and attempted to resign his commission. But I guess that Ledman convinced him to stay around and work with the science teams on the enhanced formula as he moved out of Hut 17B and into accommodation with the scientists. Captain Ledman visited us that evening and spoke to all three of us to see what we thought of the situation and if it could be resolved. I overheard Sven refer to Doctor Jackal as a conscientious objector, and it was easy to overhear Madeline shout;

The man is an idiot!

I agree that it is not likely to be tenable for the team to continue to work with Henry. Captain Ledman says that he is disappointed, but understands. With the decision made we all agree that we need to move on, and the best way to do that is to start planning the next mission. It’s always about the next mission.

The following day we request a briefing with Captain Ledman to get information about the Wewelsburg Schloss mission. Ledman visits us in Hut 17B and brings a number of maps of the target area with him. He also informs us that he believes that they have a potential candidate to replace Doctor Jackal in the team. A replacement with enhanced capabilities. We are all stunned into silence, eventually Madeline says what we are all thinking;

I thought that you said that we were the only enhanced on the Allied side?

I give him his due, Captain Ledman at least had the good grace to look slightly guilty, but he admitted that he had not been entirely truthful with us and he summed it up with a single word;

Compartmentalisation!

Captain Ledman went on to tell us that the proposed member was a Private Franklin Fort. He was one of the guards in the freight car transporting the enhanced chemical on the train that we all took from London Euston on the day that changed our lives. Private Fort sustained serious injuries as he was much closer to the explosion and therefore his recuperation took much longer than ours. He has also had to train in total isolation. Once again Ledman used that word. Compartmentalisation!

Sven asks Captain Ledman what Private Fort knows about us and Ledman replies that he is unaware of our previous missions or our powers. Captain Ledman says that he thought that it might be a good idea if we shared that information with each other over a drink, maybe down the local pub. I realise that I am beginning to really like Captain Ledman.

Late afternoon three days later we are introduced to two soldiers, Private Franklin Fort and his commanding officer Captain Bradman. At first look, Private Fort looks like a career soldier in his late twenties or early thirties. He also looks like he is not unaccustomed to a bar brawl, in fact it looks like his nose has been broken at least a couple of times. Captains Ledman and Bradman leave us in the kitchen of Hut 17B with several beers, and so we sit down and start to talk.

Several beers, and a number of war stories later, and Frank seems to be settling into the team. We have told him about stealing the tank in North Africa, hijacking a ship full of provisions and delivering it to the under siege island of Malta, as well as the recovery of the Norwegian Regalia. Frank tells about his exploits in Dunkirk, and about that fateful train journey from Euston station. That leads us very neatly into the discussion about enhanced powers. I ask him quite bluntly what he can do.

He picks up his beer and looks around, a couple of heartbeats later he has vanished. We look about and eventually Sven spots him stood outside Hut 17B looking back at us through the window. Madeline waves him back in, and once again Frank disappears and reappears inside the hut. Frank is a teleport. We question him about the limitations of his abilities and discover that he has to be able to see his destination, but that can be via live moving pictures, and to date he has managed to teleport up to one hundred yards in a single jump.

He looks at me with a questioning look and I tell him that I can mimic other people's skills and abilities. Madeline tells him that she can transform herself into a shadow and create areas of utter darkness. Frank then turns to look at Sven, but finds himself looking straight at himself. He then stares open mouthed as his doppelgänger transforms into a duck, and then finally transforms into a monkey wearing a fez. When he looks around again I am stood there alone as Madeline blends into the shadows on the ceiling of the hut. I smile!

As we have run out of beers I suggest that we continue our meeting at the local pub, everyone willingly agrees. As we are passing through the main gate of Hanslope Park we are stopped by the Sergeant in charge who hands Madeline a number of ration books;

With regards from Captain Ledman Ma’am!

I really do like Captain Ledman.

On our way down to the pub we continue with our questioning and discover that Frank can speak a smattering of German, can ride a motorcycle, and in his own words;

I have quite a bit of experience with flame throwers and grenade launchers!

Sven then asks him how he would deal with a German manned guardpost. Frank responds by saying;

Avoid it all together if possible, but if not then I will kill quickly and quietly. It’s all about the mission.

I think that Frank is going to fit in just fine.

We have a great time in the pub, and Frank is the life and soul of the party. As always, given the opportunity, I sing and have the audience in the palm of my hand. Including Frank, who at one point turns to Sven and says;

Blonde! Yeah!

Eventually we head back towards Hanslope and Hut 17B, when we get through the doors the first thing that catches our eyes is an unopened bottle of brandy and four glasses on the table. I really, really like Captain Ledman. We drink, and talk, and bond into the very small hours of the morning. At one point Frank pulls out his knife and, placing his fingers splayed on the table, stabs the knife between his fingers moving faster and faster. When he stops with a smile on his face I pull out my knife and mimic him. But I do it much faster. Frank’s smile just gets broader. Eventually we all drift off to our rooms and a deep sleep.

When I awake the following morning I discover that the only one up and out is Frank who has gone for a run. I prepare a hearty breakfast and we all sit down together and laugh about the previous night. Captains Ledman and Bradman visit us and ask if they can speak to us individually, we agree. Private Fort heads off with Captain Bradman for a walk, and Captain Ledman sits down at the kitchen table and just says;

Well?

We all agree that Private Franklin Fort seems to be a good fit for the team and that his skill set will definitely be an asset. Fortunately, Frank agrees and by the end of the day he has been transferred to Captain Ledman’s command and is part of the team.

The following day we all attend a briefing for the Wewelsburg Schloss mission, now designated Operation Pelican. Captain Ledman and Major Hoffman are both in attendance and Hoffman starts by reiterating the mission priorities once again, mostly for Private Fort’s benefit. Captain Ledman then gives us a detailed description of the local area and locations of major military bases. We also get a couple of aerial photographs of Wewelsburg Schloss and get our first real look at the target. It is going to be a difficult nut to crack.

Captain Ledman then hands the briefing over to Kaptain Hyse. Sven talks us through his initial thoughts and the rest of us chip in and we begin to formulate a plan. We will land at the nearby airfield in a captured Siebel Fh 104, piloted by an MI6 crew. We will then attempt to requisition a German staff car and go to ground somewhere in the local area. Captain Ledman says that he can provide us with papers for a German SS Officer and his staff, as well as papers for all of us as German civilians. The SS Officer will be a Major Burgher, a financial overseer from Frankfurt. We agree that Madeline and I will pose as the Major’s aides, both SS Leutnants, and Frank will take on the guise of a bodyguard as a Unteroffizier.

We finish off the briefing by pulling together a list of the equipment that we believe that we will require, as well as a request for me to have lunch with a British military accountant. As the briefing is breaking up Captain Ledman lets us know that the three original members of the team have been invited to attend a function at the Norwegian Embassy. Sven gets that big smile on his face again, and we happily accept.

Twenty four hours later we are in full dress uniform mingling with the great and the good. I am just having a drink with Major Linge when I notice over Linge’s shoulder Doctor Jackal enter the room. Both Madeline and Sven studiously avoid him, but I just can’t help myself and I head over to say hello. He is polite but very guarded. I am just about to ask him what he is up to now, when we are all called into a separate room where we are shown to seats in the front row.

Stood on a podium at the front of the room are the Norwegian Prime Minister, the Norwegian Defence Minister and Crown Prince Olav himself. A speech is given recognising the contribution that we have made to Norway in these most difficult of times, and then we are called up to the podium one at a time and awarded the Norwegian War Cross by the Crown Prince himself. After the ceremony there is a marvellous meal and more drinks, as the senior ranks retire for brandy and cigars I spot Doctor Jackal trying to quietly slip away.

I intercept him and tell him that I am sorry how things have turned out, before he leaves he turns to me and says;

If you can’t save anyone else, at least save yourself Mimi!

Hiding in an empty lifeboat station on the outskirts of Narvik, MI6s team of enhanced individuals are awaiting the time that they need to head out for their rendezvous with HMS Active’s landing craft. The team consists of 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.

I shall never forget late October 1942, that was when our small team of enhanced individuals suffered a blow that it might never recover from. That was when one of our number decided to leave.

Narvik, Norway, October 1942

Hidden in the lifeboat station on the outskirts of German occupied Narvik Sven, who never likes to stay trapped indoors for very long, asks me to prepare him an explosive charge with a twenty second fuse. Once I have put it together he heads up to the roof and transforms into a sea eagle and leaps up into the night sky with the charge gripped in his claw. While he is out scouting, and Henry is on the roof keeping watch, Madeline and I take pictures of each other draped in the Norwegian regalia.  When the pictures resurfaced in the early sixties it caused an international incident.

Once we have finished with our photo shoot Madeline and I try and listen in on the German radio signals. Madeline decodes the German’s radio logs and manages to tune into the local military channel based out of the Narvik headquarters, we pick up nothing but standard military communications. Madeline then tunes the radio into the naval channel that the German patrol boat was using, she instantly picks up radio chatter between two German patrol boats working in tandem on a search pattern. We initially believe that they must be out looking for us but as we listen it becomes clear that they are searching for a missing German patrol boat. Which can only be the launch that we encountered and sunk on our way to the island. Finally we hear that they have found no sign of the missing boat and that they are heading back to base.

Up on the roof of the lifeboat station, Doctor Jackal spots two German patrol exiting the Beisfjorden and turning in the direction of Narvik. They are moving slowly and using their searchlights to scan the shoreline, as they pass by the lifeboat station the second boat’s searchlight plays across the dinghy tied up at the lifeboat stations dock. Inside the lifeboat station Madeline and I hear on the radio the second patrol boat radio the first that they have spotted a dinghy and are checking it out. The first boat asks if they require assistance and the say;

It’s probably nothing. We’ll see you back at base. Put the coffee on!

As the German patrol boat turns towards the lifeboat station dock, Doctor Jackal hunches down on the roof out of sight while Madeline and I slide under the locked doors and onto the underside of the dock. The patrol boat coasts up to the dock and one of the Kriegsmarines jumps onto the dock and ties the launch up, as he is doing this Madeline and I slide onto the hull of the patrol boat and slip around to the rear of the boat and wait to see what the Germans do.

Four of the German troops disembark from the patrol boat and move towards the dinghy, one of the troops hands his rifle to another trooper and climbs down the ladder into the dinghy and starts to search it. Moments later he holds up Sven’s rifle and hands it up to his Unterfeldwebel, the officer looks it over appreciatively;

An American M1 Garand, nice rifle. Well maintained. Looks like a hunter. You two, search the lifeboat station.

The Unterfeldwebel climbs back onboard the patrol boat and heads back into the cabin where he places Sven’s rifle in the corner and picks up the radio mic and calls in what they have found and informs their base that they will be towing in the dinghy.

Two of the German troops check out the lifeboat station and find all of the doors locked and so return back to the patrol boat. The Unterfeldwebel orders his men to tie the dingy up to the back of the patrol boat, that was enough for Madeline and I to react. I start to slide up onto the prow of the boat closing in on the German soldier manning the machine gun and Madeline slips up onto the top of the patrol boats cabin. The machine gunner is watching what is happening on the dock and so doesn’t notice me transform from my shadowy self into a knife wielding Mimi Dubois, I sneak up behind him and plunge my knife into his vitals. The two Kriegsmarines in the patrol boats cabin did spot me, but before they could react utter darkness drops on them. In the pitch black of her own making Madeline drops from the ceiling of the cabin and stabs one of the Kriegsmarines in the neck, he drops to the floor.

Madeline spins on the spot and stabs the other Kriegsmarine in the back and he also drops. I stab the machine gunner once again to make sure that he is out of the fight and look up to see what is happening on the dock. I don’t like what I see. The German soldier manning the search light is heading towards the prow of the patrol boat, the troops on the dock are looking back at the patrol boat and one of them locks eyes with me.

Suddenly, a small bird strikes the German soldier heading towards the prow of the boat. Despite the birds small size the soldier is knocked clean off of his feet, and appears to be bleeding from a very large gash in his neck. The soldiers on the dock raise their rifles to their shoulders and take aim. The small bird circles around. I drop to my belly on the prow of the patrol boat and transform into a shadow once more. The Unterfeldwebel steps onto the back of the patrol boat while the other two troops on the dock move along the dock towards the prow of the boat and then one of them climbs onboard.

The Unterfeldwebel moves carefully towards the prone body of the German soldier and checks him, he then shouts out;

He’s bleeding but still alive!

At that moment Sven completes his second attack run striking the Unterfeldwebel in the back of the head, the German drops like a sack of potatoes and the small bird lands on the back of his neck and tears out his jugular. The trooper on the prow of the boat shouts;

Something killed the Unterfeldwebel!

At that moment a small bird soars away from the deck of the patrol boat and the trooper on the dock swings his rifle around and takes a shot. He misses. With the crack of the rifle shot still ringing we all move again. I solidify behind the trooper on the deck of the patrol boat and stab him in the back. A heartbeat later utter darkness covers me as Madeline makes sure that I don’t get shot in the back. The German trooper that I stabbed staggers down the stairs of the boat in the darkness, feeling his way along like a blind man, but he doesn’t detect the bodies at the base of the stairs and trips over them landing flat on his face.

I step out of the darkness and finish off the German trooper laying on his face, but his colleague on the dock takes aim at me. Another blob of darkness falls onto the German soldier, and I once again drop to my belly, the German pulls the trigger shooting blind and the bullet hits the patrol boat where I was standing a heartbeat beforehand. Madeline leaps off of the patrol boat and lands behind the trooper, she swings her blade once again, and once again it ends up in a German trooper hitting the floor.

The final German soldier, stood in the dinghy with his rifle leaning against the dock post out of reach, peaks over the edge of the dock to see what is happening. He doesn’t get the chance to take in the scene in front of him as Sven completes his third attack run.

We quickly throw all of the German bodies into the water and start to load all of our kit into the patrol boat, I check the naval radio frequency and detect no sign of any emergency being sounded. Doctor Jackal stomps down from the lifeboat station and onto the dock with a look of fury on his face;

I demand that you let me tend to their medical needs!

I reply that I checked them and that they were all dead.

I insist that you allow me to save at least one!

Madeline then insists that they were all already dead.

Allow me to save one and I will tolerate your killing!

I have never seen Doctor Jackal so furious, and I am concerned that we might get a visit from Mr Hades, so I point out that we need to evacuate quickly and start up the patrol boats engine. We shove off and move quickly out towards the open sea. After five minutes the radio crackles to life and a progress update is requested. Sven picks up the mic and mimics the Unterfeldwebel’s voice;

We have found a hunter and are checking further.

A nervous couple of seconds pass before we hear;

Received and understood!

On Doctor Jackal’s advice we head for the narrows where HMS Active’s landing craft will have to pass so that we can intercept them. Just over an hour later we are met on the deck of HMS Active by Lieutenant Commander Tompkinson, he shows us to the officers mess where we are provided with food and drink. Sven requests access to the ships radio and is shown there, he contacts the Norwegian forces and signals Operation Sea Eagle is a success!

As we approach Scapa Flow we spot a Norwegian launch moving to intercept us. Stood on deck is Major Linge, and even at this distance it is obvious that he is very excited. They come alongside and the Norwegian Crown Jewels are transferred across. Major Linge meets us on the deck of HMS Active and thanks us for our efforts, he then looks directly at Sven;

Kaptain Hyse, will you complete your mission and escort the Regalia to the Norwegian Embassy?

Sven salutes, grabs his bag, and without a look back boards the Norwegian launch.

Hanslope Park, Buckinghamshire, England, October 1942

We had been met by Captain Ledman and returned to Hanslope Park, there was lots of congratulations but the atmosphere around the team remained subdued. A day and a half after we had returned to Hut 17B Sven arrives at Hanslope Park. With the team reunited we are taken in for a mission debrief by Captain Ledman and Major Hoffman. As always we let Doctor Jackal take the lead and fill in details as and when required, I provide as much detail as possible about the enemy enhanced and am questioned intently by Hoffman on the details of their powers that I had managed to gather.

Matters then turn towards the next mission, the infiltration of Wewelsburg Schloss. Captain Ledman goes through everything that they have been able to uncover so far, which is not a lot, and then Major Hoffman tells us that as he sees it there are four priorities to this mission;

Primarily we need to gain a full understanding of the chemical process that the Germans have perfected. We need to confirm the source of the cobalt 60? How the process of extraction and refinement occurs? And how the chemical is delivered to the subject?Secondly we need you to get information on what enhanced individuals the Germans have created? How many there are? And what are their powers?Priority number three is to obtain any further samples that you can. And finally, if possible, you need to slow or prevent any further use of this procedure by the Nazis.

Hoffman looks around at each of us in turn and asks if any of us have any questions? Doctor Jackal stands up and looks Hoffman directly in the eye and says;

I cannot continue to operate on further missions with these people! I cannot countenance the murder that is taking place!

With that, Doctor Jackal leaves the room. And the team.

Having infiltrated the small Franciscan community situated on an island in the middle of a lake in the wilds of Norway, MI6s team of enhanced individuals have discovered that they are not the only enhanced beings within the small church. The team consists of 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.

Thirty Miles Southeast of Beisfjord, Norway, October 1942

Hidden on the ceiling of the winding staircase leading down from the bell tower of the church, I push out once again with my senses and try to discover if the two enhanced that I have located somewhere beneath me have any further powers. I get two strong returns again and realise that they both have some form of resistance to being damaged by physical attacks. I realise that this is similar to the guard beasts that we discovered under Kohnstein, yet again pointing to the Germans ability to control the enhanced process. I push even further with my senses into their minds and ascertain that neither of them have any further enhanced abilities.

Madeline and I retreat back up the tower to Sven, where Sven suggests that he could cause a distraction by planting an explosive device on the German launch tied up at the dock. I quickly rig him up two explosive charges with twenty second fuses and pull pins to start the countdown. While I am preparing the explosives, Madeline looks out from the top of the bell tower and spots that the monks at the front doors of the church are now gathered around the prostrate form of one of their brothers. As Madeline watches, a pool of dark red stains the snow beneath the prone monk. Madeline turns to inform us of what she has seen and on hearing this Sven looks very angry, if a sea eagle can be said to look angry. He grabs the two charges, one in each clawed foot, and launches himself into the night sky.

As Sven heads off on his explosive mission, Madeline turns her head quickly to look down the bell tower stairs. She cocks her head to one side as if listening and then turns to me and says;

I can hear metal hitting stone. I think that they are breaking into the crypts!

We both once again become shadows and slide quickly down the spiral staircase. After several corkscrew turns we can see a rectangle of light in the right hand wall of the staircase, and we believe that we have reached the ground floor. The doorway opens up into a large room, but as we are looking in we can hear the sound of metal striking stone once more from below us and so we carry on down the spiral staircase.

Sven lands on the quietest part of the island to the north and plants the first of the explosive charges. He pulls the timer pin and flies away as quickly as possible, heading clockwise around the island towards the dock.

Madeline and I can see lamp light at the bottom of the stairwell and so we slowly slide along the ceiling until we can see what is obviously the crypt of the church, it is a small room whose walls are defined by row upon row of shutter stones that are covering niches where the Franciscan Brothers are entombed. But what captures our immediate attention are the two German troopers breaking open one of the niches, they are being watched by three other Germans. One is another trooper but the other two are a Leutnant and an Hauptmann. All five of them are wearing the insignia of the Wolfenkorps. As soon as I spot the two officers I once again push out with my senses and confirm that they are both enhanced.

At that moment we hear a loud explosion from somewhere outside, it definitely gets the Germans attention. After a brief discussion the Hauptmann says to the Leutnant;

Take Müller and investigate it!

The Leutnant salutes and heads straight towards us and the staircase, closely followed by the German trooper, Müller only pauses briefly to grab his rifle from the corner of the room. They walk straight below us and pay no attention whatsoever to the two slightly darker patches of shadow on the stairwell ceiling. Madeline and I let out the breath that we were both unconsciously holding. The Hauptmann barks a brief order at the remaining two troopers and they resume breaking into the niche.

By the time that Sven is approaching the dock it has been left unguarded, the Wolfenkorps trooper stationed there having left his post to investigate the explosion to the north. Sven lands on the rear of the motorised launch and drops the second of his charges, once again he grabs the pin pull in his powerful beak and arms the explosive. Twenty seconds later a second explosion disturbs the peaceful, Norwegian night. And a heartbeat later a third explosion rips through the darkness as the motor launches fuel tanks ignite.

One of the two troopers in the crypt hits the shutter stone once again with his pickaxe and it breaks in two revealing a large box within the niche. It is at that moment that the Germans in the crypt here the double explosion from outside, the Hauptmann barks an order and the troopers drop their pick axes and grab their rifles. They all then leave the crypt heading for the outside to investigate. Madeline and I slid into the now empty crypt.

The Wolfenkorps trooper who was guarding the dock skids to a halt at the sound of the launch exploding, he turns and runs back towards the dock with a second trooper from the doors of the church close on his heels. Sven transforms into a thrush behind the cover of the launch’s cabin. The two troopers arrive and quickly search the area, but obviously find nothing, and stand there looking confused as the stern of the launch burns slowly in the night.

Madeline slides into the now open entombment niche and attempts to enter the box within, however the box appears to be very well constructed and she cannot gain entry. I piece together the remains of the shutter stone and am able to read the name;

Brother Egil Larsen

The Wolfenkorps knew exactly where to look as none of the other shutter stones had been touched. I help Madeline remove the box from within the niche and we quickly open it. Within the box, laying wrap in crushed velvet cloth, are the Norwegian Crown Jewels. Madeline and I quickly remove them and stuff them into our rucksacks, before closing and placing the box back in the niche. We then both turn into shadows once more and slide back up towards the top of the bell tower.

From his perch on the cabin of the burning launch Sven surveys the chaos that he has sown. The Leutnant and the Hauptmann are in discussion while the German troopers look dumbfoundedly around the island. After several minutes things start to quieten down. The Hauptmann returns with two of the troopers back into the church leaving the Leutnant and two more troopers guarding the doors of the church, while two more of the Germans position themselves on the dock looking south towards the interior of the island.

From the top of the church’s bell tower Madeline spots that the group of monks have gently lifted up the body of their Brother and are carrying it with reverence back towards the building that we believe to be their residence. By chance Madeline glances north and can see the patrol returning at double time, she assumes that they also heard the explosions.

The Hauptmann reappears at the church’s main doors, but this time he looks a little flustered. He says something the the Leutnant and they both renter the church at pace. Sven quietly transforms back into himself and slides in behind the machine gun on the prow of the launch, he slowly rotates the gun so that it is pointing at the dock and the oblivious Wolfenkorps soldiers. Seconds later the two troopers die in a hail of bullets as the machine gun barks for a couple of seconds.

At the top of the bell tower Madeline and I try and work out where the shooting is coming from. And more importantly if it is Sven being fired on or doing the firing. But we cannot see where the shots came from and all is now quiet again.

Sven lifts the machine gun from its position at the prow of the launch and places it on top of the cabin so that he can get a better corridor of fire towards the centre of the island. As he sights up two more German troops run down towards the dock and into his line of fire. When they are forty metres away he gently squeezes the trigger and two more invaders are forcefully removed from his home soil. Like the true guerilla fighter that he is, Sven knows that it is time to move to a new location and so he transforms back into a bird and flies towards the bell tower where he believes that he can get a good line of sight with his rifle.

Up on the bell tower we watch on as the muzzle flashes can be seen from the dock. Madeline then spots the Hauptmann and two more Wolfenkorps soldiers leave the front of the church and use cover to stalk towards the dock, the troopers with their rifles raised to their shoulders.

A bird lands on the bell tower and transforms into Sven, he unslings his rifle and moves to take up a position at the parapet. Madeline and I can see the sheer look of murderous determination in his eyes and know that it will be difficult to get him to disengage. So I simply say;

Sven. The priority must be to save the Norwegian Crown Jewels!

The fire in his eyes diminishes a little and then he seems to resign himself to the fact that I am right. He transforms once again into a sea eagle and within seconds he is winging his way north with two dark shadows clinging to his form.

After a few miles on the wing Sven spots the light of a small fishing vessel chugging slowly south down the river. He swoops low and it is obvious that the fishing vessel is being steered by Doctor Jackal, Sven lands on the boat and Madeline and I slide off and all three of us transform back into ourselves. I quickly take control of the fishing boat and swing her around to travel north. Sven spots the two rucksacks stuffed with the Crown Jewels and is momentary horrified by how we have treated them, but he is soon relieved that we have recovered them all and so he just starts to unpack them and wrap them gently in blankets.

Madeline extinguishes the boats lantern and then takes up a position in the prow of the boat to spot for ice flows. Doctor Jackal joins me in the small wheel house and I give him a quick debrief on what happened on the island. He then reminds me that we have been given designated radio frequencies and codes to contact HMS Active for extraction. He also tells me that we require a powerful radio set to reach HMS Active and suggests either the lifeboat station that we past or the air strip. I decide that we would be better heading for the lifeboat station as it appeared empty the night that we arrived.

By eighteen hundred hours the walls of the river close in and we find ourselves heading back through the gorge. The water here flows faster and we are able to pick up more speed. Sven keeps throwing murderous looks at the unconscious form of the bandaged Kriegsmarine in the stern of the boat, he and Madeline attempt to convince Doctor Jackal to let them throw the German overboard, but Henry is resolute and refuses. Eventually, they convince Doctor Jackal that we should leave him as soon as possible by the roadside where he will be found.

And so once we have exited the deep gorge, about twenty thirty hours, we moor the fishing boat alongside the road and place the Kriegsmarine wrapped in a blanket and with a lantern marking him beside the parallel road. There was a moment as Henry was reboarding that I thought that Sven might shoot the German, but he didn’t and we carry on towards the village of Beisfjord. At twenty forty eight I cut the engines on the fishing boat and glide it quietly into the dock that we originally ‘stole’ it from. Working on the theory that it is easier to hide a needle amongst a host of needles. We disembark and quietly stealth up into the treeline heading for our hidden dinghy.

Once again Sven transforms into a seagull and heads out to scout ahead. From aloft he can see a German patrol boat docked in the centre of Beisfjord, he also spots sitting out in the fjord about a mile from the village a second patrol boat. Sven glides closer and can see that the patrol boat in the fjord is crewed by at least eight troopers. Sven flaps back up into the night sky and heads for the lifeboat station.

Doctor Jackal and I uncover our dinghy while Madeline makes sure that we have not been spotted. We then push the dinghy out onto the fjord and while I and Henry paddle, Madeline covers us in darkness to hide us from sight. As we head out towards the open sea Madeline spots the patrol boat sat out in the middle of the fjord scanning their searchlight around, it is very clear that the message is out and we are being looked for.

Sven lands on top of the lifeboat station and finds it in darkness and locked up tight. He hunts around until he locates a vent, he transforms into a snake and slithers inside. Once in he moves around closing the curtains and then switches on some lamps to give himself some light. He then unlocks the door from the inside and takes flight once more. Just before twenty one thirty hours we are approaching the bridge to Narvik at the end of the fjord, as we paddle ever onwards we can see the lights of a motorbike racing across the bridge heading for Narvik.

Once we are clear of the bridge Madeline drops the darkness surrounding us and Sven is able to spot us. Sven leads us across the bay towards the dark lifeboat station on the edge of Narvik itself. We secure the dinghy to the jetty and enter by the now open door, fortunately the lifeboat station is not overlooked by any of the local buildings, and so our breaking and entering goes unnoticed. We head up to the second floor and power up the radio set, Doctor Jackal selects the exact frequency and Madeline speaks into the horn;

Sea Eagle calling Eyrie! Sea Eagle calling Eyrie! It is nesting time!

There is nothing but static for twenty seconds and then we hear;

Message received Sea Eagle!

Yet more static and then;

Sixty eight stop. Twenty four stop. Forty stop. Seventeen stop. Two stop. Fifty three stop. Zero three hundred stop.

Static once more.

Doctor Jackal looks around at us all and says;

So pick up is in three and a half hours, out to sea three miles west of here.

Huddled together just within the treeline of a Norwegian fjord, MI6s Enhanced Team are watching one of their number make contact with the local residents. The team consists of 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.

Beisfjord, Norway, October 1942

The fish wife asks Sven into the house and offers him some tea. From just inside the treeline the rest of us watch him enter, and a few moments later a young girl leaves the cottage and runs down the road and enters one of the other buildings. Moments later she reemerges followed by two men dressed as fishermen. They reenter the cottage that Sven is in. Sven greets the two men with a traditional Norwegian military salute, clicking his heels together and saluting smartly. One of the men automatically responds in kind and introduces himself as ex-private Anders Eriksson, the other man is his friend and colleague Lars Munk.

Sven shows Anders the letter signed by the Norwegian Government in exile, and Anders very quickly agrees to allow Sven to borrow one of his boats. Sven says that he does not wish to get them into trouble with the German forces, and Anders replies;

Så var båten best stjålet!

Anders goes on to say that neither boat is running currently, but with parts from Lars’ engine he might be able to get his boat running. Lars nods his agreement. Sven asks if it would be helpful for them to have the assistance of a specialist mechanic, they both look a little surprised but say yes. They look even more surprised when Sven returns with me in tow and tells them that I am the specialist.

I quickly get to work and assess the situation with the engines, I reckon that it will take me twenty five minutes to get one of the boats running and start asking for tools and directing the two Norwegian fishermen in assisting me. Meanwhile, Sven asks Fru Eriksson about the German presence in the area. She informs him that they get the occasional German launch passing to and from Narvik, usually with a couple of crew and up to six German troops onboard. Having gained this information Sven asks Fru Eriksson if he can bring his comrades in, she says that she will happily provide them with tea and so Sven waves down Madeline and Doctor Henry from the treeline.

Twenty seven minutes later, with a grease smear on my cheek and two very amazed Norwegian fishermen looking on, the boat’s engine sputters into life. I signal to the others to join me on the boat and as they are leaving Sven pauses and hands the fish wife two thousand kroner for their troubles. As soon as Doctor Jackal is onboard I ask Anders to describe the route and give us brief details of landmarks and hazards, he only has to say it once and it is all stored away in Henry’s memory. I then apologise for stealing his boat and he replies;

Alt for en god sak!

I pull the fishing boat out into the river and we begin to chug upstream at five knots, I believe that if I pushed it we could manage ten knots but we are attempting to look nonchalant. And in an effort to blend in, Sven sets up a couple of sea rods off of the back of the boat.

Once we are out of sight of the village of Beisfjord Sven transforms into a hawk and heads aloft to scout out the area. He first circles back over the village and confirms that the motorbike and sidecar are still in place at the crossroads, he then heads ahead of us upriver and can see that there are a couple of fishing vessels ahead of us around the next bend in the river and further upstream another small group of boats.

As we round the next bend Doctor Jackal spots the two fishing vessels, I set a course that will drift us between them at the greatest possible distance. One of the fishermen looks up and nods in our direction and I raise a hand in greeting, but at a distance and wrapped in a heavy coat with my hat pulled low he doesn’t realise that I am a women and pays us very little attention. We carry onwards and round another bend and can see a few more vessels ahead of us and so we decide again to chug slowly by.

Four miles ahead of us Sven spots from the sky yet another fishing vessel, but this one has been boarded by German troops from a patrol boat that is tied up alongside her. Sven gives them a closer fly past and can see that the patrol boat is crewed by two German Kriegsmarine with a complement of three German troopers and a German Officer. The fishing vessel appears to have six Norwegian crew. Sven makes a point of checking the German’s insignia but there is no sign that these are Wolfenkorps. He returns quickly back to us.

By the time that Sven returns and gives us this information we have passed the next group of fishing vessels, undetected as imposters. At Madeline’s suggestion I rig up an explosive device connected to a length of rope and the large hook off of one of the boats fishing gaffs. The rope is long enough the the explosive should just sit below the waterline of the German launch. By the time I have finished Sven believes that we are only a mile and a half away. Taking the improvised device, he slips off the back of the boat into the water and transforms himself into a dolphin.

As we round the next corner I spot the German launch moving towards us about a mile away, it is also very obvious that there is a trooper manning the machine gun in the launch’s prow. Doctor Jackal, with some difficulty, lets Sven know that we have spotted the launch and so Sven heads off under the water to circle around behind the launch. Madeline slides her shadowy form onto the back of our fishing vessel while myself and Doctor Jackal remain in the boats small wheelhouse.

Sven positions himself in the launch’s wake and watches what they are up to. When the launch is less than four hundred yards away from our fishing boat one of the Kriegsmarine begins to hang out fenders on one side so that they can come alongside our fishing boat. As soon as the rear fender is in the water Sven powers forwards and, raising his head out of the water, hooks the improvised device onto the rear fender. He then pulls out the explosive charges pin that we had rigged with a float rope, and swims as fast as he can away from the launch.

At the rear of the launch the German officer is standing up and signalling for us to stop and prepare to be boarded, I slow down our boat and follow his instructions. When they are about one hundred yards away there is significant explosion at the back of the launch below the water line, this is followed a heartbeat later by a second and much larger explosion as the launch’s fuel tank explodes. The launch is thrown into the air and practically broken in half with it’s rear section engulfed in a fireball.  

As we get closer we can still see some movement on the deck of the launch, one of the German troopers is helping the unconscious form of one of the Kriegsmarine towards the prow of the launch. He looks up and shouts in broken Norwegian;

Help! Friend! Injured!

Doctor Jackal shouts back in perfect German;

Everything is going to be alright. I am a doctor. Pass your friend to me.

Our fishing boat draws level with the German launch and the trooper passes the unconscious form of the Kriegsmarine to Doctor Jackal, he then looks up and his eyes lock with mine. There is a moment where he realises that I am a women, and that I am holding a silenced pistol pointing at him. I then fire three times, hitting twice, and he falls dead onto the deck of the burning launch.

Madeline slides from our vessel onto the German launch and confirms that everyone is dead. She then takes some shrapnel from the deck and forces it into the bullet wounds of the soldier that I shot, she then takes his identification papers and then pushes his body overboard. Before jumping back onto the fishing boat she grabs the launch’s radio code book and maps of the river network. Sven also joins us back onboard and we head off upriver leaving the burning remains of the German launch behind us.

Once again, Sven takes to the skies and Doctor Jackal gets to work on saving the life of the Kriegsmarine. By fourteen hundred hours we are heading into a narrow gorge that Sven has said runs for about ten miles, Sven has also reported that it is currently all clear ahead of us. Have given us this information he tells us that he going to once again scout out the island and see what is happening. Doctor Jackal has stabilised his patient and believes that he will live, Madeline points out that he will also provide a very good excuse for landing on the island.

As Sven follows the river towards the island he spots a group of people moving along the valley floor. He is about a mile away from the island and so he heads in for a closer look. Sven lands in a tree across the river from the group and can instantly see that it is a group of German infantry troops being led by an Unterfeldwebel, but that is not what draws Sven’s eye. The most prominent detail is that two of the troops and holding the leashes of large black dogs. Sven has never seen the like of them before, but he has had them described to him before, they are similar to the beast under Kohnstein.

Looking closer, Sven can make out that the German troops are wearing the insignia of the Wolfenkorps. As well as the Unterfeldwebel and the beasts, there are six Wolfenkorps troopers. They are moving very carefully along the valley floor in the formation of a search party. Sven very quickly makes the decision to return to the boat and inform us of this worrying change of circumstances. He lands on the prow of the boat around fourteen thirty hours and passes on what he has seen. We agree the we will stay with the fishing boat until we get to the tributary that leads to the island, that will put us ten miles away and we believe that we will be safe to moor there.

While we are getting the fishing boat to our selected location Sven once again heads back to the island. As he flies over the river valley leading to the lake and island he once again spots the search team moving steadily downstream, they are now a mile and a half from the island lake. Sven carries onwards and flies in over the monastery and the small chapel attached. It all appears quiet there and there is no sign of any Germans. Sven lands on the overlooking mountains and transforms into a thrush and flies to the island. He lands in a tree and watches for a few minutes.

After about ten minutes, three German troops exit the building just below the church and make their way up to the church itself and enter through the large front doors. Sven flies to the bell tower of the church and discovers a set of stone steps that lead down into the tower. He turns into a house cat and begins to stalk downwards, but as it gets darker and darker he eventually has to give up and heads back to us. At exactly that moment that Sven starts to fly back towards us we anchor in the river and set up a number of lines giving the impression that we are fishing.

By this time things are beginning to feel like they are spinning out of our control. We know that the Germans are very close to the Norwegian Crown Jewels and that if they search the church thoroughly they will find them. It is sixteen hundred hours and starting to get dark so we decide to take positive and potentially dangerous action. Leaving Doctor Jackal to take care of his patient, Sven transforms into a large sea eagle and Madeline and I transform into shadows and slide onto him. Sven then leaps into the air and we are hurrying towards conflict.

As we fly over the river valley Madeline can see that the search party are two miles away from the island and starting to turn back. The clock is ticking. By sixteen fifteen hours we are winging above the monastery and I reach out with my senses and confirm that there are no enhanced individuals within there. Sven continues down towards the island and flies close to the church, I reach out again and again can sense no enhanced in the vicinity. But Sven and Madeline spot that there is a sizeable group of monks outside the doors of the church looking up at two German soldiers guarding the entrance.

Sven lands in the bell tower and Madeline and I slide off and begin to head down the stairs, Madeline on the inner side of the stairwell wall and me on the ceiling. Once we have completed one whole turn I reach out once more with my senses, and this time my paranoia pays dividends as I get a sense of enhanced at the very edge of my power. I estimate that puts them below ground level. They must be in the crypts, and in my head the sound of the clock ticking gets louder. I quickly slide back up and inform Sven, before returning and pushing out once again.

On the fishing boat Doctor Jackal is beginning to get bored. He has a look around and seeing nobody accept the unconscious form of the Kriegsmarine makes the decision to head towards the island. He powers up the fishing boat and begins chugging slowing forwards.

Halfway down the bell tower I try and discover what powers the enhanced has, I am assuming that it will be one of the beasts that the Wolfenkorps are using to search. I am very surprised when I discover that there are two enhanced, and that one of them can throw an ice spear and the other is under the effect of an altered time rate. That clock is really loud now.