It was Nicholas 'Nic' Marsh's last mission, before he retired from active service to a deep cover role integrated into the very fabric of Norwegian society. He was to live a boring and ordinary life so as not to betray his true purpose. It is a considerable personal sacrifice that he is making in the interests of the Free World.
However, prior to this he agreed to carry out one final mission: To infiltrate the Baltic state of Estonia. To this end he requested the assistance of a small band of men of good character. This trip was to involve aircraft and small boats.
Each man was selected because his own specialist skill, judged critical to the success of the mission.
It is to the credit of these men that the mission was a success, despite a considerable personal cost to many of those involved -- many of the men's arms still hurt a bit from rowing. At least two members of the party suffer from terrible gout-related injuries, believed to have been sustained during the Tallinn leg of the mission. Some even suffered tiredness and nausea to fulfill their duties. And Nic himself will bear a scar for the rest of his life from an injury suffered, when he attempted to vault a small waste-bin in a Tallinn city centre park. Lastly, all are expected live considerably shorter lives due to exposure to toxins on the Pakri islands shelling range. Sorry about that, chaps.
Wear your scars with pride, Gentlemen...
The objectives of ++OPERATION NIKOLAI++ were four-fold:
i)Destabilise the country’s economy by introducing large sums of foreign currency.
ii)To provide the Norwegian contingent with first hand experience of the dangers of a political system which does not protect its citizens from alcohol with a punitive tax regime.
iii)To deplete the Republic of Estonia’s beer reserves.
iv)To boost Nicholas Marsh’s morale prior to his entry into said sleeper role.
Mission Accomplished.