I did a lot of research on the character background of Conrad Turner as I only had a superficial knowledge – thanks to Spectrum Headquarters and Chris Bishop.
Warnings: Mention of past canon events.
Conrad Turner wasn’t born to fly.
At least, that’s what he thought.
Truth be told, he actually wasn’t sure what he was born to be – losing his parents so young and then having indifferent guardians that didn’t exactly encourage him to find that passion. School and University had repeatedly told him that he was a loner, alone in the crowd, and he’d used that to power through his studies.
Flying had found him, though, through that love of Maths and Physics intense study had produced. And for the brief moment his country was at peace he’d excelled at it like he had done everything else.
But that love of flying ultimately led to his death.
His first death.
Flight didn’t abandon him, though. Six months full of surgery after surgery and a reconstructed face and Conrad was back in business, this time with the WAAF as an agent. And a pilot, but it was as an agent that Conrad found his second calling. His second life.
The best part of this job was that he completely faded from public life, which suited him very well. It was also one of the reasons for the WSP to come calling.
The World Space Patrol was another role where he was once more thrust into the limelight, but although he was praised in the media and many people knew his handle, Conrad kept his private life even more private than before.
But this opportunity…this was the pinnacle of his career.
Spectrum was new on the scene. And they had come calling. The job that they were offering piqued his interest very much. A chance to put his long-ago degrees in use, to be out of the public eye once more – the challenge was grin-inducing. In fact, he’d not stopped smiling since the offer had been made. His third life.
Conrad’s knowledge of space flight and the Fireball ships coupled with his degrees made him the ideal person to oversee the construction of Spectrum’s base of operations. Cloudbase was unique with its own challenges, a floating sky base that could house all the Captains, Angels and support staff needed to keep Spectrum as independent as possible.
He’d excelled at that task too.
Becoming Captain Black was a great honour. It played to his strengths. A couple of missions later and he’d found his calling. Flying may have made him famous as a young man, but this – the covert missions, the protecting of the world – this was what he was born to do.
Spectrum’s secrecy rules didn’t bother Conrad, he relished the anonymity. The
glory hound days of the past were long gone – he’d grown up a lot since his days
at the RAF. Pretty soon, with the increase in terrorism and the mopping up after
Bereznik since that rogue state really couldn’t keep themselves out of world
events, Conrad was soon the agent of choice.
The mission he was currently on was the rogue state creating havoc once again, this time targeting several air bases in the surrounding countries that had been instrumental in running air support for aid drops.
They had intercepted information that had given them enough time to get enough teams to each base. Conrad had taken the biggest base for himself and his new partner, Captain Scarlet. The man had also been WAAF and although he had trained the man this was their first mission together.
The bomb had been difficult to find but easy to disarm, and Conrad was briefing the base Commander when there was a tentative throat-clearing behind him. He ignored it until the report was over and he’d been dismissed. Scarlet was a step behind him as they turned to leave.
‘Turner? Captain Turner?’
Inside Conrad froze but outwardly he kept moving. They had protocols to maintain, namely if identified in the field they were to maintain their Colour Captain identity and stick with that come what may.
No matter that the man currently calling him was the first person a young Conrad had called a friend. A memory of the two of them being hauled over the coals for something they had done together – whatever it was the act was lost in time but the consequences were not – yet now he had to ignore the man.
‘It is you, isn’t it, Conrad?’
He kept walking, relieved when Scarlet was the one to stand between them.
‘I’m sorry Sir. Captain Black and I are on mission and we do not engage with civilians during missions.’
‘Civilians? I am Major Greg Stacks, not some wet-behind-the-ears new recruit!’
‘Nevertheless, we are on mission, Sir, and we will not be having any further discussion.’
At the sounds of a scuffle Conrad finally turned. Stacks was giving all he had but Conrad had trained Scarlet himself and the man was holding Stacks at bay without throwing a punch. But that wouldn’t last for long.
‘Enough. Major Stacks, you are impeding Spectrum in the course of its duties and if you keep on I will have no choice but to have you arrested.’
‘Turner? What the hell? I haven’t seen you since that day, thought at first you’d died and there was nothing from you. I see you here, now, looking better than you did the last time I saw you and all you have to say is that you’ll arrest me?’
‘That’s right, Major. You heard me correctly.’
‘I don’t know who you are, Captain Black. But you are not Conrad Turner. My friend Conrad died that day in that sabotaged plane. You look like him, you sound like him, but you are not him. You came back wrong.’
Stacks shrugged Scarlet’s hands off and straightened his uniform before giving one last look of hatred at the two Captains before turning smartly on his heel and leaving.
Conrad was thankful Scarlet didn’t say anything as they left the base, nor while they were airborne on their way back to Cloudbase.
Back home.
Where he belonged.
Spectrum.
He’d been born for this.