This is part 1 of the first of the two unpublished Jeff Hawke stories , kindly provided by their author Duncan Lunan. These stories were scripted but never actually drawn and the strip finished before their scheduled publication date. Nonetheless they may be of interest to our readers.

Duncan’s friend and co-collaborator on “ Pharoah’s army” was Jim Campbell who since 1985 had been involved in the creation of a Viking re-enactment society. This interest is reflected in the appearance of the Vikings in the airship over Calais in PHAROAH’S ARMY, who are revealed to be film-set actors who were making a film set in the Dark-ages when C-day occurred.

Duncan and Jim decided to use the Viking theme again in DIRE STRAITS and as Duncan says “ Jim was even more keen for the Viking re-enactment group to be portrayed authentically” in the new story and to this end they decided to create a new group of re-enactors . Duncan takes up the story…

“Our Vikings are not from Bordeaux but from Florida, where there is a Viking re-enactment group even now.   At the time of C-Day thls group was taking part in a re-enactment exercise in which they had sailed in longships to an island off the coast of Florida. Since they had their families with them, and were in the middle of setting up a realistic Viking settlement, they had what they needed to survive the disaster and were able to establish a viable settlement.   However for some years they have been facing a threat of increasing severity, and becoming very tough as a result.   They have no inclination to turn to the Space Force for help – unlike the film-set Vikings, who will yell for help when they came up against the ‘reality’.

That encounter takes place in Cornwall, where the film-set Vikings are exploring with the airship.   Seeing the imitation longship under it, and knowing that there were slavers in the area, the ‘real’ Vikings assume that one of their ships has been taken and launch a fierce attack on the airship when it comes to ground.   The airship gets away, but heads back to base with severe casualties, and calling on the Space Force for help.

Hawke comes down with a medical team from the Hope to assist, and is on the ground when the ‘real‘ Vikings attack Bordeaux by sea.   They capture the airship, taking Hawke with them initially as a hostage, but then forcing him to help them avoid searching landers as they take the airship out into the Atlantic under cover of bad weather.   The task force concentrates their search on Europe, not realising that the airship is now making for Florida, hiding in the fog-banks where the Gulf stream is eating away the edge af the ice-pack.

Because of the fall in sea-level caused by the new ice age, the island became joined to Florida by a peninsula, and this was the start of the Vikings’ problems: the historical re-enactment got a bit too serious. Someone, somewhere to the north had been engaging in genetic engineering experiments (there is a genetic engineering lab on Long Island, so we’d better not be too specific!) and had produced a breeding pack of Dire Wolves – as big as tigers, highly intelligent and, unlike tigers, able to work together. The Viking community became their major target because unlike other POC groups they didn‘t have guns.  They’ve held their own for a time with crossbows and catapults (ballistas) but as the wolves’ numbers have gone up, they’ve found themselves literally in Dire Straits – this is why they started sending longships out, to find somewhere to escape to.   Now that they have captured modern weapons, however, and have a flying platform to use them from, their object is to go back and do battle. “

Part 2 to follow.     Skipper Prossitt