“So who are you?” asked Chris. “I am the leader of this group” said the man “My name is Charles Louise” “If she isn’t as good as you say she is, why did you assign this mission to her?” asked Chris. “Well, it was a friend of her fathers called Jens Ronneberg sent the information, he is her fathers friend, I think she can survive the train journey to the village near Olavsvern in Norway, there she will meet some local resistance members, some of which may know her and they will take care of her” said Charles. “Tell me, what happened in Verdun?” asked Chris. “Well, in her old cell, she had to take care of three British army soldiers, she said they got killed by flying triangular alien objects that bare the allied symbol, personally I haven’t seen these triangular alien objects but I do think she is saying this because of her trauma and that she hasn’t stopped talking about these triangular alien aircrafts” said Charles. “I have heard rumours about these triangular alien aircraft, something about stealth fighters built in America” said Chris. 

A few minutes later, there was the sound of wheels, there was one BTR-60 APC, one BMP-1 IFV, two T-55 medium tanks and at least five UAZ jeeps driving slowly, and they had entered the village. The APC stopped outside the village inn, then a few Soviet conscripts and an officer exited the APC. The commandos hid in the cellar, while Jack decided to hide his Steyr AUG and mix in with the crowd, as did Katherine and Cherie. 

The Soviets walked in, “Don’t worry if you haven’t got anything to hide” said the Soviet officer in French “This is just a routine check, you know what we are doing” The Soviet conscripts with their PPsH-41 machine pistols in their hands and their AK-47’s slung on their backs ran upstairs to check for anything suspicious that would link anyone to the local Marquis. Meanwhile the Soviet officer with walked around with his Makarov pistol in his hand. He glared at a few people, he has visited this inn every two days, but he glared at Jack, he did not recognise his face, Katherine knew that there was something wrong, and so she grabbed Jack and kissed him. 

“Excuse me!” shouted the Soviet officer at Jack “But I do not recognise you, do you have any form of identification?” After Katherine stopped kissing Jack, she said to the Soviet officer “Sir, he is my friend from Paris, I haven’t seen him in a long time” “I didn’t ask you, I asked him, get out of my way!” said the Soviet officer strictly. The conscripts ran back down stairs... “Comrade, there is nothing suspicious here, the only weapons here, if you would call them that, are pitchforks, hunting rifles and shotguns, stuff only farmers use, nothing that will link them to the Marquis” said one conscript in Russian. “Wait for me in the APC, I need to deal with this one here” said the officer in Russian. “Now about your identification, do you have any” asked the officer in French. Jack kept still... “Please, you’re scaring him” said Katherine. “I’ll do more than scare him” said the officer as he switched the safety off on his Makarov pistol. 

A conscript ran into the inn, “Sir, there has been a report of an attack on one of our convoys, not far from here” he said. The officer looked at Jack, “I’ll deal with you later” and then he walked out and back to the APC. “That was close” said Katherine. “Did you really think he was going to shoot me?” asked Jack. “I don’t really know, but if he was I would have tried to stop him, but then there would be chaos” said Katherine. “Yeh, there are tanks outside” said Charles. 

Charles opened up the cellar, “Ok, they have gone, but your friend was lucky that something happened, that officer was going to shoot him” he said to the commandos. “Why” asked Chris. “Well, he didn’t have any form of identification and he didn’t say a thing” replied Charles. By 23:00 hours the commandos decided that it was best to get some sleep. Charles gave them keys to two separate rooms. The commandos stayed in the two-bed room, while Jack and the two Marquis girls stayed in a three-bedded room. “Jack, do you have any family?” asked Katherine. “Both my parents both perished on the S.S. North Atlantic merchant ship, it was sunk by a Soviet submarine” replied Jack. “I am so sorry to hear about that” said Katherine. “Don’t worry, it’s ok, it happened along time ago” said Jack. Katherine entered the room to see a bed that one of the Soviet conscripts has wrecked while searching the inn, its legs has been broken off. Jack entered in as well, “I shall go and ask Charles for another room” he said. “No don’t” said Katherine. “Why not?” asked Jack. 

Katherine looked down the corridor outside the room. “Well, Charles is very busy, he doesn’t like being distracted, I know out of experience” she said. “How about you sleep in my bed and I will sort out something for me” said Jack. “Well, are you sure?” asked Katherine. “Sure” replied Jack. Katherine hugged him, “Oh thank you that is the kindest thing anyone has done to me today” she said. In the other room, the two commandos lied on their beds looking up at the ceiling, staring at the light and the moths flying around it, “I cannot stand these moths fluttering around that light” said Quentin. “Well, either kill them or turn the light off” said Chris. 

There was a sound of a helicopter passing overhead, Quentin looked out of the window, he could see the outline of a Kamov KA-27 Helix helicopter flying into the distance. “I think they are not after us” said Quentin. “That’s good, I can’t wait to get on that train out of here, it is so boring staying here” said Chris. “How are we meant to destroy that cruiser, we don’t have enough explosive to sink it” said Quentin. “Well I am not sure, maybe we are meant to locate it and the air force sends in some bombers, perhaps we are meant to disable it’s computers?” said Chris. 

Next day, everyone came downstairs to have breakfast... “So, the mission, when are we getting to Norway?” asked Chris. “Well, you will have to go by train to a port called Gdansk in Poland, to get into Norway without hassle, you have to take a military train, there is one arriving today at 5 PM and leaving at 10 PM bound for Gdansk, it is picking up supplies and taking them to Norway, they wont take it by boat because it is vulnerable to allied air attacks” said Charles. “How do we get in” asked Jack. “Well, we will take the URAL truck there, there are loads of URAL trucks here so mixing in wont be a problem, we just say it is Vodka and they will let us in immediately” said Charles. “Those Russians, you would think that they feed their babies with that stuff” said Quentin. “I would rather you three leave this village as soon as possible” said Charles. “I see we have outstayed our welcome” said Chris. “No, it is that the patrol from last night might decide to come back, I don’t want to be responsible for the capture of any allied soldiers to the Russians” said Charles. 

That afternoon, the military train came into the freight yard. The large armoured hulking grey and red steam locomotive of Russian origin with the big Soviet military logo on its tender chugged in with a huge military train and SAM launchers, Gatling cannons brought from Soviet naval reserves and light and heavy Flak cannons to ward off any allied aircraft that might think to attack it. The steam locomotives looked it like a huge arrow on its nose, it also had some sort of aerodynamically shaped plough, the cab of the locomotive was enlarged because of the armour, there even was a PKM-T medium machine gun sticking out of the windows. The Soviet JS-4 Mammoth tanks and T-80 tanks surrounded the freight yard to make sure the local Marquis doesn’t attack and loot the train. There were also conscripts walking around the place to make sure no-one has managed to get into the freight yard. 

Back at the inn a Soviet officer, different to the one from the one from the BTR-60 APC walked in. “Hello, what can I get you?” asked Charles. “A bottle of Vodka, please” said the officer. “Here you go” said Charles. “Thank you. Well, I see the supply train has arrived, the engineering convoy from Germany will arrive at 9 o clock” said the officer. “Ok, I will make sure that we will be closed, we don’t want anyone to be drunk” said Charles. “Ok, I will see you later” said the officer as he walked out of the door. “Who was that and why did he give us this information?” asked Jack. “His name is Peter Chekhov, he is one of a few officers who is willing to defect because he was forced to leave his family while they imprisoned them in Siberia” said Charles. “How did he get to know you are the leader of the villages Marquis?” asked Jack. “Long story” said Charles. 

Later on, behind the inn, Charles, Katherine, Cherie and other Marquis members were preparing the URAL truck with Vodka, removing the cross of Lorraine attached on the side to reveal the Soviet red star that was kept on for infiltration. “Now what we will do is that you all will sit behind crates of Vodka” said Charles. Soon three men dressed up as Soviet conscripts came out from the inn, “Hay, it fits very well” said one of the men in Russian. Katherine laughed. “We better hurry, the sun is setting, it will be dark soon and the convoy will be here soon” said Charles, “I wish you the very best in your mission, I cannot go just in case that officer from last night comes back and I am the leader of the local Marquis in this village, I cannot abandon the men and women who are fighting for France” said Charles. “Well, I’ll be seeing you soon” said Chris as he slung up his SR-25SD rifle, “Thanks for letting us stay the night” Soon it was 9 o clock, and it was getting very dark, Jack, the commandos and the Marquis girls were hiding in the truck. 

The three Marquis men dressed up as Soviet conscripts drove out, they saw the lights of the URAL trucks, a few UAZ jeeps, ZSU-23-4s, ZSU-57-2s T-72s and BMP IFVs that formed the Soviet convoy heading towards the village. As they passed the village, the Marquis URAL truck joined them. They kept their lights off to avoid suspicion, they drove to the Freight yard. One of the Marquis men who were in the URAL truck held his AK-47, “Hay get your hand off that” said one of the men. “I must be prepared” said the man with his hand on his AK-47. “We must not look tense or anxious otherwise they will know there is something wrong, don’t worry, I’m prepared” said one of the men as he had his PPsH-41 machine pistol by his side with the safety off. 

The man that held his AK-47 let go of it. Soon it was their turn to pass the checkpoint, “Why aren’t your lights on?” asked the guard. “Those imbeciles that call themselves mechanics didn’t bother” said the driver of the disguised Marquis URAL. “Could I check your cargo?” asked the guard. “Ok, it is only Vodka for the men” said the driver. The guard looked pleased and ran to the back. The commandos, the Marquis girls and Jack could hear the guard unloading and opening the crates to find Vodka, Chris held his silenced L-2A7 Sten gun with the safety off if the guard found them. The guard took out and opened up the third crate, only to find more vodka, “Ok, you can pass, I’ll just put these back” said the guard. “Ok, thank you” said the driver. “Those Russians, you would think that Vodka was their life blood” said the driver. 

The URAL soon arrived at a train wagon. As soon as the coast was clear, Jack, the commandos and the Marquis girls disembarked the truck and entered an old coach that was attached the military train. The train was so large that another two armoured steam locomotives had to assist pulling the large train to Poland. Jack, the commandos and the Marquis girls went into a small compartment in the coach, the windows partly boarded up and the light glowing dimly, Katherine locked the door so that no conscript can get into the compartment, she could hear everyone talking and Hind helicopters patrolling the area, then all of a sudden, the door handle was moving, “Blast those old rotten coaches” said a voice coming from outside the compartment. “Come on, lets find another compartment” said another voice. Around 10 minutes later, there was a booming voice coming from the loudspeaker that was attached to a small wooden building with cranes and towers with bright lights attached to them, “Attention, the supply train bound for Gdansk will depart in 10 minutes” it said in both Russian and French. 

The door handle rattled again, “I cannot get this door open!” said a voice in Russian. “Here, let me try” said another voice. There was a banging on the door. “It is no use, it wont open” said the first voice. “You have to share another compartment with someone else, there are more important things going on than that compartment” Suddenly, the train started to move, the steam locomotive blew its whistle and finally the train went. “We will all have to sleep now” said a voice outside the door “We have a long journey ahead of us, we will have to go to Germany, and into Poland” “Where are we caching the ship?” said another voice. “A place called Gdansk, we will transfer onto a large cargo ship and head to Olavsvern” said the first voice “Now go and get some sleep, I will be on my guard here” There was the sound of footsteps walking away. 

Chris looked out of the gaps in the planks that boarded up the window, he could see only darkness and the lights from the village and the freight yard. “Right, we need a code if any of us is going to venture out on the train” said Jack “I propose knocking on the door 4 times on repeated slow succession, so that we know who it is."