A “Captain Scarlet” story for Valentine’s Day
By Marion Woods
“I should only be
away for seventy-two hours at the maximum; the World President doesn’t let these
things drag on.” Colonel White sighed and looked along the line of officers
standing at ease before his circular desk.
“I know I can trust you all to maintain the high standards of Spectrum in my
absence. If you receive a
Mysteron threat I expect you to notify me of it – however trivial it may seem –
but you have my authority to order whatever action may be needed in the event of
an incident.” There was a
murmur of muted ‘SIG’s from his assembled senior command.
White stood and picked up his briefcase, before saying, “I am leaving
Captain Grey in command, although I expect you all to cover for my absence.”
“Thank you, sir,”
Grey saluted his commander.
The colonel returned
the salute. “Permission to leave, Acting-Commander?” he asked formally.
“Permission granted,
sir. I hope your conference is an unqualified
success,” Grey added.
White strode from the
Control Room to join the plane waiting for him in hangar two, and he tried not
to worry at the whoops of delight that reached his ears as the door started to
close. They were all sensible men, well-trained and trustworthy. He just wished the World President hadn’t decided to call an
emergency finance meeting this weekend because he had a feeling that they were
planning something. Oh, well… he
had more things to worry about than minor breaches in regulations – as long as
they stayed minor, that was.
Back in the control
room, Captain Grey was sitting at the control desk, and Captain Ochre perched on
the console whilst Captain Scarlet was peering round the corner of the
observation tube, watching the SPJ take off.
“He’s gone…”
Lieutenant Green chirped merrily from the communications desk as the colonel’s
jet left the runway and turned for London.
“Right,” Ochre said
decisively, “let’s make a start.”
The night sky was
ablaze with millions of stars and the moonlight glazed the massive airborne base
with silver by the time the emergency shuttle from London landed smoothly and
sank into one of the hangars to be unloaded.
Captain Scarlet clambered from the cockpit and opened the door of the
freight bay as the hangar pressurised.
He could see Ochre, Magenta and Blue walking across the hangar with a
trolley and he waved a welcome to them.
“Did you get them?”
Magenta hissed.
“Every one I could
get,” Scarlet explained. “There
should be more than enough – I must’ve emptied Covent Garden…” He started
handing down boxes to Blue who passed them to Ochre and Magenta, who stacked
them on the trolley with great care. “You know, I’m beginning to think I may
have overdone it…”
“I think you may be
right. Never mind, we’ll think of something to
do with the spare ones afterwards,” Magenta said, eyeing the overloaded trolley
with a jaundiced eye.
“Where to now?” Scarlet asked as he jumped down and
closed the freight door behind him.
“We thought the VIP’s
quarters might do – we’ll have plenty of warning if any VIP is expected…” Ochre
said.
“Right, Adam, you
scout ahead and we’ll follow …”
“Launch Angel One! Angels Two and Three immediate launch!”
Lieutenant Green snapped the command with his accustomed authority. Moments later the gleaming white plane
roared off from the carrier and soared in the direction of the breaking dawn.
The other two jets were soon following.
“What orders,
Lieutenant?” Angel One’s pilot asked.
“Proceed to grid
reference 649 mark 2… and await orders…”
“S.I.G.,” Destiny
Angel’s voice sounded suspicious.
“What has happened?”
“No confirmation at
this time, Angel One. Proceed to
grid reference.” Closing the comm.-link, the lieutenant turned and grinned at
Captain Grey, “The Amber Room should be empty now, Captain.”
Grey nodded, and
pressed the red coloured light on his console.
“Captain Scarlet, proceed with care – Operation Doolittle is under way!”
“S.I.G.,” Scarlet
replied.
“Well, it wasn’t what
I’d expected, that’s all,” Rhapsody said as she and Symphony walked from the
canteen towards the Amber Room.
“Paul has always done something to mark the occasion before. Last year we spent
the weekend in Rome – this year – nothing!
I mean, don’t get me wrong, it is nice to get a card.”
“Hmmm,” her American
friend said thoughtfully. “Adam’s
been even less talkative than usual since the colonel went to this conference. He seems awfully preoccupied. I couldn’t find him at all, last night…”
They looked at each
other and said simultaneously, “They are up to something…”
“Angel One, you have
permission to land,” Lieutenant Green said. “Angels Two and Three, please land
immediately Angel One is secure.”
He glanced up at
Captain Grey who was watching from the observation tube. He activated his cap
mic and reported, “Grey to Scarlet, Angel One is down… Two and Three are down…
Now!” He strode back to his desk and punched a communication link. “Destiny Angel, please report immediately to the Control
Room,” he snapped into the console mic.
“But, Captain, that
will leave Angel One unmanned….” she protested.
“Destiny Angel, I
gave you an order!”
“S.I.G., but I am not
happy with it…” Destiny was
annoyed, they had been sent half way round the globe for no other reason than a
whim of the captain’s – as far as she could see – and now she was being told to
abandon her post. “Is there a standby pilot to replace me?”
“Rhapsody and
Symphony are on their way to the Amber Room…”
The main door slid
open almost at the same time as the pilots of Angels Two and Three arrived back
in the Amber Room in their hydraulic chairs direct from their cockpits. The chair from Angel One
could be heard approaching the Amber Room launch bay.
Rhapsody and Symphony
Angels gasped with surprise, Harmony grinned and Melody whooped with amazement
as they all looked at the transformation of their duty lounge.
On every available
surface there were flowers. In the
centre of the seating area was a huge floral heart, made of red roses, and a
depiction of the colourful Spectrum logo, made from hundreds of flowers threaded
onto a circular wire frame.
The banner, hung
across the bookshelves and bearing the words, ‘Happy Valentine’s Day!’ was also
painted with some very un-aerodynamic cherubs, carrying bows and arrows. Closer inspection would reveal later
that the faces of these infant warriors bore a passing resemblance to the senior
command, and that one dark-haired poppet was carrying a sub-machine gun. On the
sofas were five wicker baskets, each bearing the name of an individual Angel and
each one full of assorted gifts. Destiny arrived and joined in the general
excitement as the girls collected their baskets and began to open the presents.
“Chocolates!”
Symphony crowed.
“Parfum,” Destiny cooed.
“Opera tickets…”
Rhapsody sighed.
Melody caught the
sound of a smothered giggle and she turned to the door of the small office.
“Come out, come out, whoever you are!” she called gaily.
There was a scuffle
and Captain Ochre appeared stumbling to a halt in front of them – obviously
having been pushed out of the office.
“Is this all your
doing?” Harmony asked with apparent innocence.
She waved a delicate hand around the flower-strewn room.
“Well, not just mine, but I was involved.”
“I bet you made the
statues,” Symphony said, her mouth full of a particularly heavenly chocolate.
“Well, I made the
frames, yes…” Ochre agreed modestly. “But we all did it – we spent all last
night shoving the damn flower-heads through the wire…”
“Non, non, non,” Destiny exclaimed, winking at the other girls. “Such a magical thing as this is the
work of the fairies,
non?”
“Who are you calling
a fairy?” Scarlet demanded as he led the others from the office, amidst the
laughter of the girls.
“Happy Valentine’s
Day!” Magenta carolled.
“Merci bien, Patrick.” Destiny went and kissed his cheek – one side
and then the other. She moved on to
Scarlet, Ochre and finally Blue, who already had Symphony hanging on one arm.
“Did you get
chocolates too, Juliette?” Symphony offered her the box.
“Help yourself…”
“Un seulement,” Destiny purred, daintily selecting a white chocolate
truffle and biting into it with every sign of relish.
“Merci
bien.”
“Chocolate, Paul?”
Symphony thrust the box under Scarlet’s nose and he chose a large
caramel.
“I really hate to be
a party pooper, “ the disembodied voice of Captain Grey said solemnly, “but Angel One is unmanned.”
“Tiens, I go…” Destiny collected her helmet. “That is - if you do not
wish to see me in the Control Room, Captain Grey?”
He laughed, “No, I’m
afraid it was just a ploy to get you all there together.”
“Then I shall save
your kiss for later,
mon cher Capitaine,” Destiny promised
with a merry laugh.
“And the Angel
launch, was it also a trick?” Harmony asked.
“Just another ploy,” Grey
admitted.
“The colonel’s going to have
fun when he reads the duty-logs…” Rhapsody mused as she munched her way through
her own box of chocolates.
“Welcome back,
Colonel,” Lieutenant Green said, as White stepped off the automatic walkway and
returned Captain Scarlet’s salute.
“We didn’t expect you
until the morning, sir. I hope this
doesn’t mean the conference was a failure?”
“Quite the contrary,
Captain. The World President was convinced by the
submission I presented and his support swayed the wavering members of the
council. The budget was passed with
only one abstention. We should be
able to go ahead with all of our new projects next year.”
“Congratulations,
sir. You must be pleased.”
“Satisfied, Captain, very satisfied. I think the Council is finally coming to
see that Spectrum represents value for money and that we do not use our
equipment wastefully.” The colonel
gave a slight smile. “Anything to
report, Captain?”
“No sir, nothing at
all. It’s been remarkably peaceful…”
“Well, that is good news.”
White took his seat and looked contentedly round his desk.
His eyes fell on a small vase of flowers on the edge of the console. “Roses?”
“Rhapsody brought
them in - said it would cheer the place up, sir… you know how these girls are…”
“Well, she is right –
they do cheer the place up, but perhaps this isn’t quite the place for them. Put them on the shelf by the door and
I’ll take them to my quarters at the end of my shift, if I may? I am particularly fond of white roses….”
“Please, sir, be my
guest… personally, I think you can have too much of a good thing.” In his mind’s
eye Scarlet could see the dozens of pots of flowers scattered around the command
decks and prayed that the Colonel wouldn’t get too suspicious.
“I saw some flowers
on my way up from the hangar deck…” He gave Scarlet a wry glance. “I thought maybe someone had ordered some ... for Valentine’s Day?”
“They may well have
done, sir. I really couldn’t say.”
“No, Captain, I am
sure you couldn’t. By the way, I
was talking to Major Alexander before I caught the London shuttle, he sends his
regards. He told me that one of his airport staff
had sent a report that late on Friday someone from Cloudbase had turned up in an
SPJ. He was in civilian
clothes, and he borrowed a truck from the airport staff and drove out to Covent
Garden where, apparently, he bought enough flowers to almost fill the freight
hold. I can’t imagine what anyone
would want with all those flowers, can you, Captain?” Scarlet’s face was a mask of innocence. “I don’t suppose they
turned up here, did they? No? Well, I suspect the major got the wrong
end of the stick – don’t you, Captain?”
“Yes sir, I suspect
he did…”
“Very good, Captain. Carry on.”
“Yes, sir, Colonel,
sir.” Scarlet snapped off a smart salute and
marched straight out of the room.
As the door closed the colonel turned to his trusty lieutenant and said genially, “Now, suppose you tell me just what they did get up to?”
Other stories from Marion
Woods
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