The inspiration for this fanfic is the movie Inglourious Basterds, the Dutch movie Zwartboek (also known as Black Book) and my own recent visit to the Dutch Resistance Museum. For those of you who haven't seen Zwartboek, (you really should, its fantastic!) don't worry, I'll make sure you know everything you need to know, and if you feel confused just let me know in a review (I'll accept questions without actual reviews if you want) and I'll clarify any issues.

Understandably, as I am melding together two great films a lot of things are going to be different, so please don't bash me for that. If its crap, then you can bash me as much as you want.

I own none of these characters or stories, they belong to their respective owners and this is merely a fun tribute from me. No money is being made and no disrespect is intended. Please enjoy

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It was a gloomy September afternoon when she arrived in Paris. The clouds were gray and left no room for the sunlight or any trace of blue sky to be seen. She hated such long train journeys, especially when she was by herself with no one else to talk to. It left her too much time to think, and these days thinking meant remembering. She clutched the diamond shaped locket draped around her neck tightly, her mind unwillingly reminded of the three happy faces in the pictures held inside of it. A distinguished looking father, a mother who had been glamorous in her youth, and a young man with a warm smile who was a little over 21 years old.

The photograph they had been taken from had also contained a young woman. She was beautiful, with a flirtatious nature that nearly always came across in photographs even when she didn't mean it to, and which had always irritated her parents.

Not that any of that mattered now. None of these people even existed anymore.

The young woman who had been in the photograph, Rachel Stein, was buried somewhere in a secret mass grave for Jews near the Dutch/Belgian border for all anyone knew. That was where the rest of her family was anyway, and according to records Rachel was there too. But she wasn't, at least not physically.

Rachel had managed to get herself and her friend Rob on to a boat bringing Jews secretly into Belgium. The Resistance had arrived at just the right time to warn them to leave Holland for good and had arranged the whole thing. What she hadn't expected was to find the family she hadn't seen in more than 2 years waiting for her at the docks. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw them. She ran to them immediately, Rob trailing behind her, and embraced them all. Instead of crying with happiness at seeing them, all she could feel was a giddy lightness, and above all the belief that everything would finally be all right. She had forgotten how to feel that way for so long.

But everything wasn't all right in the end. Just over an hour later, Rachel lay hidden among the reeds in the freezing cold water, watching a troupe of Germans who had discovered their escape drag bodies from the water and rifle though their belongings and even the clothes they wore in order to take anything valuable for themselves. Her family were amongst those bodies. At the rivers edge the commanding officer lit up a cigarette casually, as if it was all rather boring for him. His lighter briefly made his face visible to her. That face would forever been burned into her mind, as if she was an animal branded by a master. He had taken her family, and now any memories she might have had of them would be marred by his malignant image.

After that Rachel Stein had ceased to exist. She was no longer allowed to exist. In her place soon appeared Ellis de Vries, the ex-cabaret singer turned secretary in the German headquarters in Amsterdam. The Resistance counted on her to relay the every move of the German command to them daily, and she was more than willing to. Whatever she could do to punish the Germans she would. ß

The train suddenly came to a stop, waking her from her unhappy trance. She was finally in Paris after travelling all the way from Amsterdam. Looking down, she saw that her hands were clenched tightly. She opened them, stretching her stiffened fingers. There were deep indents in her palms from her nails. She wasted no time now, wanting to avoid any lingering thoughts that may still be in her head, and pulled down her bags from the overhead baggage rail. The little old French woman who had been sharing the compartment with her in silence had already left by the time she had gathered all her things together.

She stepped out of the train, making sure that most of the other passengers left before her. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to do this, after all she didn't look particularly suspicious and she wasn't carrying anything suspect, but she still felt more at ease seeing everyone else pass through the barriers and by the German guards checking papers before her. So far no one had aroused any suspicion, hopefully no one would get the Jerries backs up before she could make it through.

"Papers, madam," one the German guards asked her in French. He looked extremely young. It would be easy for her to make it past him, young men were always so much more eager to please ladies.

"Mademoiselle, mein Herr," she chimed, handing over her well-made fake documents to him. "I know much better than to be married". She spoke in German, knowing it would only ingratiate her more with him.

"Oh," he said, blushing slightly. He only glanced fleetingly at her papers. "My apologies. Um… what is your business in France, Miss du Vries?"

"I have a job singing at a place called Bobino in Montparnasse," she replied, trying to sound as pleased with herself as she thought she should be. She handed him the letter the manager of the Bobino had sent as proof of the job.

"Oh, very nice," he smiled now. "Maybe now we'll hear some German songs in Paris without a French accent. You must be very good if they wanted you to come all the way from the Netherlands."

"I'm all right," she said coyly. "But you should certainly come by tell me how my accent is."

"I will," he nodded enthusiastically, handing back her papers to her and signalling that she could move along now. "I will make sure to come and listen."

She thanked him politely and moved out of the train station. That had been easy enough; she hadn't even had to flirt that much to get by

Not long after she had arrived at her rented room in Montparnasse. It was small and very basic, but it was clean and enough room for her things. Sitting down on the bed at last she ran over the details of the plan in her head.

She had been sent by Gerben Kuipers, the leader of the Dutch Resistance to Paris in order to be there eyes and ears there, and their liaison with the French resistance. Also she was to keep them informed of the Allies progress in France, their only hope of ending the German Occupation of both countries. With her job at the club she would be able to mingle with the Germans and hopefully some of the high ranking officers in order to track their movements also. She had been able to charm the Germans in Holland; the ones in France were her next target.

But there had also been a last minute change in the plans. Kuipers had been informed of a group of American soldiers who had been terrorising the German occupiers in France. The Jerries had managed to keep their existence mostly secret from the people they occupied, but the Resistance knew now and fully intended to work alongside these so-called Basterds. According to the plan Ellis would head down to the Café Molière at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning and sit in a booth at the back of the café. There she would meet with one of these Basterds and be brought to meet the rest of them. Hopefully this would mark the beginning of a very fruitful collaboration between them at the expense of some Nazis.

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Well, there you go! I know it was Basterd-less but don't you worry, they are on their way in Chapter 2. I just wanted to introduce Ellis to non-Zwartboek fans and explain about her past and who she is. She and Shoshanna are certainly alike anyway, so hopefully you'll like her:-) Thank you for reading and do come again!