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Fridolin/Turtledove Blog Entry |
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December 20, 2024, 12:00:29 AM 12/20/24: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's character from my anthro WWII storyline is "Turtledove" (obviously not his real name). He's a civilian agent who works a spy radio for the Abwehr (German intelligence agency) yet ends up secretly assisting the Americans more than once. There'll be more about him later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. Regarding his design, he's a short, somewhat chubby, nerdy type, which actually helps his spy efforts since everybody just kind of overlooks him and forgets he's there. TUMBLR EDIT: Note! I know next-to-nothing of how radios operate, even after reading up on it a bit. Please take my blithering with a big grain of salt. A semi-clandestine British military outpost near the German border one day starts receiving a message on their radio. It's in Morse code, so an operator starts transcribing. The message is perplexing: It's relaying an SOS allegedly sent out by a tiny American unit, which is currently pinned down behind enemy lines. They're under heavy fire and are running low on food and ammunition. The unknown radio operator gives the approximate coordinates (the Americans aren't entirely sure where they are), mentions that one of their number has already been captured by the Germans, and adds that their radio battery was dying and the signal was soon lost. When the British operator asks who this is relaying the SOS, the communication abruptly cuts out and goes silent. The British are confused and suspicious. They aren't even supposed to be here; this is the first they've heard of Americans being on German soil. Why are they here? Is the message even reliable or is it some sort of trap? They decide to contact military authorities in the US for confirmation. The response soon arrives: Yes, that's an authentic American unit; and relief is being sent their way immediately. Not so long after, a small handful of weary, battered soldiers huddling wet and filthy in an old trench, flinching at every nearby blast, gasp and jerk back when something tumbles and splashes violently into the ditch with them. They blink and gape in surprise when the something moves, pushing itself up and nudging up a helmet to reveal a face. "Alpha Squad...?" the newcomer asks; the soldiers hesitantly nod. The newcomer rises into a crouch as there are still explosions and gunfire nearby; he's dressed in camouflage fatigues and poncho. "Corporal Drake," he says; "Who's in charge?" After a few glances around one of the soldiers lifts a hand and shrugs: "Guess it's me." Drake tells them that a battalion is on the way to help extract and get them to safety, and as soon as that's accomplished, they'll make plans to retrieve the captured soldier from German custody. The Americans are skeptical--this is just one guy who literally fell into the trench with them, what good is he going to do?--when new, closer gunfire erupts overhead, making them all duck. "Heads down! Follow me!" Drake yells, and clambers up the trench wall and out. With no other ideas what to do, the Americans follow. The members of Alpha Squad are taken to an outpost in the woods. Digging and fortification is already taking place. Sheltering in what is soon to become Trench Rat Headquarters, the soldiers are given new codenames--Blue--Battleship Gray--Teal--Indigo--Copper--Turquoise--Silver--and odd new uniforms that resemble German uniforms from the Great War. Indigo, the one who'd claimed leadership, asks how on earth they were found? Battleship Gray confirms to the sergeant's, Camo's, questioning that he sent out a radio SOS as described by the British, yet got no response, and the radio's battery was so weak by then that he was sure the only parties likely to receive it would probably be enemy Germans. It was a risk they decided they had to take, as their position was already compromised. Upon learning that an unknown party picked up the message and relayed it to the British, who passed it along to the Americans, they're dumbfounded; they have no idea who this "unknown party" could be. The newly formed Trench Rats First Battalion quickly constructs its headquarters and assigns everyone to their posts; Alpha Squad is incorporated, with Copper, Indigo, and Silver taking charge of Charlie, Delta, and Echo Companies (Indigo also accepts a position as a medic), and Battleship Gray becoming the radio operator. After further coordinating, including establishing connections with the known partisan and resistance groups, they at last have enough resources and knowledge to launch an attack to retrieve the captured soldier; they succeed in liberating "Doomsday" as he comes to be known (named after the medical project in which he was involved), but Teal is unfortunately captured in return. Details of these events can be found in the relevant entries. Doomsday needs rehabilitation, as he appears to be suffering some sort of psychological programming and at first speaks only German. His former comrades from the squad insist his personality has completely changed, and he doesn't seem to remember them at first; although he recovers with astonishing rapidity, he never does regain all of his memories or his old personality. He has in fact gained some new abilities; he's much more intelligent than he was before, quickly solving advanced equations and formulas, and possesses unbelievable strength. He's made chief engineer although he never possessed any such skills prior to his captivity. Burning with curiosity over the anonymous person whose radio transmission triggered the squad's rescue, D-Day teams with Battleship Gray to try to bring this person out into the open. They send out a few tentative transmissions, wary of catching the Germans' attention; BG attempts to recall the frequencies he'd used the last time, maybe this person is still monitoring them. Days go by with no luck, and BG gets impatient, needing to get back to his regular work. D-Day, more patient, sticks with it, using a portable radio and scanning through it for long periods when he's not busy with his own duties. Late one night, just as he's dozing off, the beeping noises of Morse code snap D-Day awake--he'd dropped a particular clue in his own transmissions, so he'd know if a response was meant for him, and this immediately makes reference to it. As soon as he responds and confirms that he's listening, the anonymous person sends an odd message: YOU MADE HIM VERY ANGRY DERAILED WELTUNTERGANG WELTUNTERGANG CONTINUES YET HIS IMPOTENCE IS A SIGHT TO SEE GLORIOUS RAGE Whoever the radio operator is, they know who he is, and they're familiar with Project Doomsday...and they're very amused by the lead doctor's, Kammler's, fury toward losing his star test subject. This confirms that the operator is German, something he'd already suspected based on reading the original transcription received by the British, which, although in English, had a few linguistic peculiarities that pointed toward the operator not being a native English speaker/writer. Yet when D-Day asks the operator who they are, they again abruptly end the transmission, and he's unable to get another response. D-Day reports his findings to Camo and Drake. They ponder attempting to cast a wider net, yet this poses lots of risk, and D-Day reluctantly admits that he believes the operator does not wish to establish further communication just now. They could end up jeopardizing this person's life as well, and he doesn't believe the risk is worth it, if this person is the reason they were rescued in the first place. Camo instructs him and BG to monitor the frequency the anonymous operator used in case they reach out again, but other than that, they should let communication go dark for now. If the anonymous person wants to get back in touch, they will. In the meantime, the Rats work on strengthening their relations with the nearby resistance groups. The two primary partisan groups are led by a former French soldier named Champere, and a Romani woman named Didrika, whose second-in-command is a Red Army deserter named Boris. The entire situation is complicated and delicate, as Champere dislikes both the Trench Rats and Didrika, and Boris dislikes both Champere and the Trench Rats, and Didrika tends to play everyone; convincing them all just to get along is a chore, but one the Rats have to deal with. (One of Champere's men, Papillon, does most of the heavy lifting of diplomacy.) They learn of an additional, yet more dispersed, resistance group known as the Diamond Network; it doesn't have a strong presence in the countryside, though the Rats make occasional contact with them, especially on furtive visits to the nearby city. The Diamond Network makes use of radio, so the Rats are able to engage in occasional communication in this manner, mostly to keep apprised of events in the city. Everyone is caught off guard by the German attack that is eventually launched against Trench Rat Headquarters. Alpha and Bravo Companies are decimated, with Camo and Drake and a female corporal named Anna Julian being taken captive; Delta and Echo Companies, away from HQ at the start of the attack, arrive to provide reinforcements and suffer minimal casualties, with Charlie Company, which had been doing reconnaissance in the woods, arriving last, having successfully avoided an ambush. The Rats manage to keep hold of HQ and repel the Germans, though at a severe cost. As the last stragglers of the attacking forces are departing, gunshots start ringing out from the woods, picking them off; Didrika and her partisans arrive, too late to stave off the main assault, though they promptly begin providing aid to the wounded Rats. Some time later, Champere and his men appear; the uninjured Rats have to intervene to stop Didrika from punching the surprised Champere. She seems convinced that his forces knew of the attack ahead of time and could have arrived sooner than her men did, yet they held back. The Rats aren't sure whether to believe this or not, until Champere himself pretty much admits it, without shame. His men do help in the aftermath, but relations between the three groups are severely strained thereafter. D-Day manages to escape serious injury, and provides a great deal of help to his fellow Rats during and after the attack. He goes without sleep or food as he works to pull others from the rubble and clear debris out of the way, and only stops when Burgundy, the chief surgeon and the Rat temporarily in charge in Camo's and Drake's absence, orders him to do so, for his own wellbeing. "Go get a decent meal, a shower, and eight hours of sleep," Burgundy orders, "and don't come back here until you do." D-Day reluctantly heads back to his cubbyhole, washes and pecks at his supper, then sits, weary yet sleepless, by the radio. He's just started dozing off when it starts beeping, startling him awake; it takes him a moment to realize that the transmission is asking directly for him, using the same disguised cue he'd established previously when attempting to contact the anonymous German operator. He replies, letting the operator know he's alive, and then, just as he feels a small, irrational spark of spite at having to say so, the operator responds to his unasked question with I DIDN'T KNOW. D-Day lets out a breath...his anger abruptly drains away, leaving him exhausted. Of course if the radio operator had known, they would have tried to establish contact sooner...yes? After all, they already endangered themselves helping out in the past. D-Day doesn't feel like chatting, but he does ask one more thing, tapping out in Morse code, WHO ARE YOU? The radio is silent for a long while before the dots and dashes start coming through with what feels like great reluctance: TURTELTAUBE. Turtledove. D-Day blinks. Tries to ask another question, clarification, but gets no response; "Turtledove," whoever they are, has again ended the transmission. The word turtledove, in German, is feminine, so D-Day is left even more confused than he started...is the radio operator, after all, a woman? He's destined, for now at least, to go on not knowing. Recovery, cleanup, and rebuilding efforts at HQ take up all the surviving Rats' time, and Turtledove doesn't call again, though scattered messages do come in from members of the Diamond Network, offering what aid and information they can. D-Day is so preoccupied and exhausted that it never occurs to him, or BG, to do the obvious: Ask the Diamond Network if they know anything about Turtledove. The operator is forgotten until, quite a while later after new recruits have filled in the Trench Rats' thinned-out ranks, newcomer Mahogany Rat gets on the radio to browse the frequencies for possible information. He receives a Diamond Network transmission and the two share a few comments; then the operator, when Mahogany requests sources of info on German operations, offers to try to get him in contact with an inside source. Mahogany is intrigued, but rightfully skeptical, and asks how do they know it's an authentic source; the operator gives him a cue, and tells him, ASK WELTUNTERGANG FOR CONFIRMATION. They sign off and Mahogany is left a bit perplexed; he decides to ask Corporal Gold Rat for advice, as Gold has never steered him wrong and is never annoyed by his frequent questions. Gold frowns a little at news of the message--he too is skeptical--but as soon as Mahogany repeats the comment to "ask Weltuntergang" for proof they're sincere, he blinks. "You don't get it--?" he says in surprise at Mahogany's confusion. Mahogany asks, well, how do you ask a Nazi project for confirmation?? Gold laughs, coughs, blushes and says, "Sorry." Then says, "You know 'Weltuntergang' means 'world downfall' in German, yeah--? They're saying to ask Doomsday." Mahogany is the one surprised, now. Feeling a bit foolish, he brushes it off and seeks out Doomsday, who prefers going by D-Day to distance himself a bit from the project (another reason Mahogany didn't think of him when Weltuntergang was mentioned). D-Day reacts when he mentions the cue--"That's legit!--that's Turteltaube--Turtledove"--and quickly fills him in on previous communications. He's convinced Turtledove is a German radio operator, possibly female, with at least tangential knowledge of Project Doomsday, as she(?) was aware of Dr. Kammler's fury following D-Day's liberation. Turtledove also had early knowledge of the semi-secret British outpost yet never attempted to expose them to the Germans. "I don't think Turtledove is a Nazi," D-Day muses, "I know it's just a gut feeling and gut feelings are irrational...but it's the feeling I have." He encourages Mahogany to take the Diamond Network up on their offer--if Turtledove agrees to the same. She's(?) been pretty reticent, so far. Mahogany gets on the radio, says he'd like to talk with Turtledove. His mention of the operator's nickname proves that D-Day verified the information; after a brief back-and-forth, it becomes clear that the Diamond Network got in touch with Turtledove, yet Turtledove is reluctant to communicate with Trench Rat Headquarters. Mahogany asks if it would be possible for them to meet as a show of good faith; they can do so wherever she(?) feels most comfortable. The Diamond Network operator expresses doubt, asks Turtledove for an answer...another brief back-and-forth...then, wonder of wonders, Turtledove agrees to meet. She(?) chooses an odd location: the abandoned trench that Alpha Squad was rescued from so long ago. Mahogany gets the coordinates, informs Gold of where he's going, and sets out on his own, as stipulated (though the Trench Rats remain on standby just in case something's up). Mahogany arrives and climbs down into the ditch, looks around, nobody's there. Waits a bit, puzzled. Wonders if he's been stood up. Finally, a noise--somebody appears above the trench, claiming to be with the Network, is he the contact? He joins Mahogany and says that Turtledove requested him to be there as well, just in case, yet he too is a little perplexed that so far Turtledove hasn't shown. They wait. The Network guy offers Mahogany a cigarette (Mahogany declines), smokes one himself. They peruse their watches. "Do you two know each other well...?" Mahogany asks, at which the Network guy shrugs and admits they've never met, have only talked on the radio. Mahogany suppresses a sigh, wondering if this was a stupid idea. Then, from overhead: "Herr Mahogany...?" Mahogany and the Network guy jump a little. Somebody's standing above them, peering down; Mahogany can tell they have a spy radio set slung over their shoulder. Mahogany lifts his own radio to show it off, and the newcomer climbs into the ditch. Mahogany finds himself looking at a short, drab, slightly chubby, bespectacled man; he confirms that he's Turtledove. Never one to put a lot of thought in before he speaks, Mahogany says, "You're not quite what I expected," to which Turtledove replies, "Ja, well...you are not what I expected, either. You sounded like a woman on the radio." The mysterious German radio operator, after all, is a rather nerdy, unassuming little man, with an overly stiff, formal demeanor that could be taken either as haughtiness or discomfort. He doesn't seem very used to actually interacting with people face to face. He's still reluctant to divulge too much information about himself--he strictly avoids giving out any personal info, including his name--but finally explains his connection to everything. He's a civilian spy radio operator working for the Wehrmacht, out of their intelligence agency, the Abwehr; he and other operators like him listen in on enemy transmissions, broadcast their own disinformation, and collect intel. They're loyal to Germany...yet many of them absolutely despise their competition, the Schutzstaffel. Although it can't be said by a long shot that the majority of the Abwehr is aligned against and willing to betray the Nazis, still, a sizable minority are disgruntled by the turn the country has taken, and a handful, like Turtledove, decided to actively work against the Reich. Turtledove expresses a longing to return to the Weimar Republic--"I don't care what the propaganda says, times were good then, we were on the right track, with good hard work we would have been respected by the world again"--yet knows this is likely impossible, so, "I can try the next best thing, pull the rug out from under these brownshirts' boots." Sensing that something was afoot when he stumbled across that American SOS, he hesitated only briefly before deciding to forward it along to the British outpost whose presence he'd already detected. And then as soon as they attempted to reach back out, he ended the transmission and hurriedly dismantled his radio: "I thought then, what am I doing?--I'll be killed for sure if I'm found out. Yet these thugs are going to get us all killed anyway, if we don't act. I have no gun...I have a radio...that has to do." He's been communicating off and on since then, always cutting off when he felt worried that he was getting too close to being outed. Out of everyone he's communicated with, including the Diamond Network operatives he now uses as intermediaries, Doomsday Rat is the one he's found most trustworthy; thus why he decided to choose a nickname for himself, and gave it when asked. Turtledove was the first thing that popped into his mind...the fact that it's a feminine word has nothing to do with anything. "How is Herr Doomsday?" Turtledove asks, unexpectedly; Mahogany says he's fine. "They did awful things to him in that project," Turtledove says, "some things I'm sure never made it into any official record. This is why I get on the radio. Not all of us are monsters. I hope I can prove it, Herr Mahogany." He expresses regret that he can't provide any information on the missing Teal Rat, other than that he's alive. Now that Turtledove's identity and general motivation are known, Mahogany asks if he's willing to continue to help them out. Turtledove still seems rather reluctant, and after some hesitation requests that if he's to do so, that he communicate with either D-Day or Mahogany. He doesn't feel comfortable dealing with anyone else: "Herr Doomsday I already know. As for you, you seem decent enough." Mahogany feels a bit nonplussed but agrees; when Turtledove asks what name he should be called by on the radio, Mahogany gives him a blank look, and says, "Uh...Mahogany will do, that's what people call me." Mahogany tries to make sure not to call on Turtledove too frequently, not wanting to jeopardize his position, though Turtledove does provide key information at various points, such as helping to reunite Jakob Wolfstein with his family, and suggesting the Albrechts as a decent couple to take in Kolten after the Trench Rats capture him. It turns out he and Mahogany have a lot in common, both preferring books and facts and statistics to dealing with people, which they find awkward. They both often say incredibly rude things without intending to, and find others to be hard to understand. Turtledove manages to make it through the war and even provides information that helps the Allies in their cleanup efforts afterward, including tracking down war criminals. Turtledove and Mahogany meet up again to shake hands, and finally properly introduce themselves: "Gregory," says Mahogany, and "Fridolin," says Turtledove. Mahogany furrows his brow: "Fridolin...?" he echoes. "What's wrong with Fridolin?" Turtledove asks, a bit defensively. "Nothing," Mahogany insists, "just...it's kind of an odd name." "Ja?" Turtledove retorts, "Well...you sound like a woman on the radio." [Turtledove 2024 [Friday, December 20, 2024, 12:00:29 AM]] |