Chapter One: The Approaching Storm

A chilly breeze ruffled the emerald leaves of the palm tree Gordon Tracy was currently leaning against, making them whisper secrets out into the sparkling ocean. He'd been swimming only moments earlier but the warm water had started to pull him out into its waves with a little more force than he was used to, a definite sign that a storm was on its way. It was unusual for the waters surrounding Tracy Island to be unruly and even stranger for them to become choppy and the aquanaut had not been pleased with the interruption to his morning swim. Every morning he would try to get some time in the water, even if it was just in the family pool; what he enjoyed most, however, was the open ocean where he could explore a little and not be interrupted by four enthusiastic brothers every few minutes. Now, as he leant against the rough trunk of the swaying tree, he could hear their voices drifting towards him from the house and it brought a smile to his face. Though they may not be the most serene of families, he certainly wouldn't change them for the world.

Virgil Tracy was furiously beating some eggs in a frying pan when his brothers entered the kitchen; he was usually the second to wake up in the morning, the first being Scott, and savoured the quiet time he had to himself in the morning before his brothers would arrive to disturb the peace. The early rising did mean that he almost always ended up making breakfast for them, though, and before he could finish beating his scrambled eggs a pale freckled hand had scooped some of the mixture onto a fork and was shovelling it into his tired face.

"Hot! Hot!" Alan gaped like a fish as the sizzling eggs assaulted his tongue and Virgil shot him a 'serves you right' glare as he poured what was left of his eggs onto a plate.

Arms stretched above his head, Gordon sidled into the kitchen and threw some bread into the toaster before sitting down at the table next to his brothers. Alan was shovelling some cornflakes into his mouth, ever the elegant eater, and Virgil had already demolished the six or seven eggs on his plate and was contemplating making some more when Scott joined them. His dark hair was still wet from the shower he'd just taken; he liked to get up early and jog on the beach before breakfast and usually didn't make it back in time to eat with the others. Today, however, the weather was colder than usual and the spray from the sea wasn't just a light speckling of water, it was more like someone setting a hose on him. The smell of burning toast wafted into his nose, overtaking the previously pleasant aroma of fried eggs, and he gestured towards the toaster as smoke began to rise from it.

"Toast's burning."

"Ah! Crap!" Gordon yipped.

He scrambled to the toaster just in time to see two blackened squares of charcoal pop up from its depths. Delicious. Trying not to gag at the burning smell, he tossed the ruined toast in the trash and opted for the safer option of cornflakes before re-joining his brothers at the table. They sat in silence, something they often did and something that was no more awkward than sitting alone, and listened as the wind began to pick up outside. Trees wobbled and swayed as the light breeze became more of a gust and the sea began to slam against the sand rather than lap. Dark clouds loomed overhead, promising rain and maybe even thunder. Alan hoped it would only be the former.

Something banged loudly against the large window facing the ocean and Alan almost swallowed his spoon. Virgil patted him heavily on the back as he tried to contain his laughter and went to inspect whatever had hit the window. It was a small rock that had been lifted from the beach and carried by the wind like a torpedo, slamming into the glass.

"Looks like a storm's coming." Virgil noted as he returned to the table and picked up his plate and Alan's simply out of habit.

"Better get ready," Scott gulped down the rest of his orange juice and got to his feet, "There'll probably be some rescuing to be done if it's as bad as it looks."

Gordon sighed, "And here I thought we'd be having a day off."

A blinking orange light informed the team that John was on the line and moments later his holographic face appeared above the table in the lounge. The brothers gathered around to hear their first assignments of what looked to be a busy day.

"International Rescue this is Thunderbird 5."

Gordon smirked at Alan as John spoke; the spaceman was always so professional. Perhaps being all alone in space for months on end was effecting his human interaction skills.

"Go ahead, John." Scott had his game face on, ready to accept whatever John had to throw at them.

"There's a category 3 hurricane heading towards the mainland of Japan. With the path it's currently on it should miss hitting it head-on but there may be some collateral damage as it passes."

"Best to be on the safe side," Virgil folded his arms across his plaid chest.

"F.A.B, John. We're on our way." Scott cracked his knuckles and pointed to Alan, "Alan, you're with me in Thunderbird 1, Virgil and Gordon you two take 2 and 4, we may need some heavy lifting."

The teams split up to board the crafts, a buzz of anticipation filling the air as they did so. Rescues were what they lived for, what their father wanted to do from the very beginning, and it made each and every one of them feel not only closer to one another but closer to him too. Helping people in need was their only reward and sometimes it was a risky business but they wouldn't change what they did for anything. Saving lives was their day job.

Up in the silence of space, John Tracy floated calmly as he watched the tiny flickering blips on the hologram in front of him move out. The blips were those of Thunderbirds 1 and 2 setting off on their path to Japan and John took both pleasure and a sort of peace knowing that he could track and monitor his brothers and know exactly what they were doing even from over one hundred miles away, up above the atmosphere.

He took a moment to simply watch the pulsing lights travel across the Pacific Ocean, towards their destination and tried to imagine what his brothers would be talking about on their journeys. Scott would probably be lecturing Alan on safety procedures and making him check the first aid boxes tenfold, whereas Gordon was probably telling Virgil some cheesy jokes or chomping at the bit to travel all the way to Japan in Thunderbird 4. The thoughts brought a smile to John's face and he took a mental note to use the elevator as soon as the mission was complete to go and see his family in the flesh. It had been almost four months since his last 'drop-in' and, although he would never tell them as much, he did occasionally miss the company.

A bright red warning light dragged John from his reverie like an icy hand to his spine. The pale orange symbol that had indicated a category three hurricane had suddenly morphed into a red triangle, the symbol for a category five. The difference between the two was devastating; a three meant some uprooting of trees and loss of power for a few weeks whereas a five could mean absolute destruction. Not only that but the speed and power of winds up to 160mph meant that the 'birds may not be able to land let alone fly in those conditions. John needed to inform his brothers now, before they got any closer to the storm. Attempting any sort of rescue in those conditions would be reckless and dangerous.

With fingers like those of a concert pianist, John tapped the necessary holograms to contact Thunderbird 1. Scott was their appointed leader after all and would inform the others of the impending danger in time for them to turn around. Thunderbird 2 was a lot slower than 1 and so Virgil would be able to turn around easily. According to the tracking information on the screen before him, however, John could see that Scott and Alan were almost in the danger zone. Perhaps another thirty minutes and they would be in real trouble. He needed to warn them immediately, before it was too late.

"Thunderbird 1 this is Thunderbird 5 please come in."

A moment of silence and then the familiar tones of his youngest brother filled the stale air of the space station.

"Hey John, what's up?" The holographic image of Alan looked excited like he always did when heading out on a mission.

"Alan, the hurricane is no longer a category three, it's increased in size and is now a five. You cannot fly into that."

Alan's face shimmered and then blinked out completely.

Static.

"Thunderbird 1?"

Static.

The astronaut stared intently at the blinking light that represented Thunderbird 1 and his brothers.

"What was that, John? You got cut off."

It was Scott's voice now but there wasn't enough signal to produce an image. He sounded further away somehow, like they were shouting at each other down a long tunnel. They were losing signal, fast.

"The hurricane is no longer category three, it's a five! Do not fly into that storm!"

Scott looked at his baby brother with a raised eyebrow as John's image flickered into nothingness.

"What did he say? The signal's cut off, must be this storm messing with the equipment."

Alan shrugged, "Sounded like he said, 'I really need to pee, I'll take a dive'."

"Oh," Scott shook his head and smiled, dimples and all, "I'm sure that's exactly what he said."

John slammed his fist into the nothingness at his side and tried his best to calm his mind; he was the calmest of the brothers and was known for keeping his head in tough situations. When it came to the safety of his brothers, however, keeping calm was easier said than done. Mumbling to himself, he tapped Thunderbird 2's icon and listened as a barrage of static wafted through the speakers.

"Thunderbird 2 do you copy. Virgil are you there?"

"What's up, John?"

Virgil's image didn't come through static-free but it was clear enough to let John know that Virgil wasn't close enough to the storm for it to effect his equipment yet. He and Gordon were still safely out of range.

"The hurricane is no longer a category three, somehow it's jumped to a five."

Thunderbird 2's pilot disappeared and for a moment John thought he'd lost signal with him, too. After a few seconds Gordon's tones came through, though, and the astronaut could relax a little.

"What?" Gordon sounded shocked and John imagined his blond eyebrows knitting together, "How is that even possible?"

"It may have picked up speed whilst travelling, I'm not sure. But the crafts will not be strong enough to fly through or anywhere near it. You have to turn back."

"F.A.B," Virgil paused and then his voice was suddenly more intense, "Did you tell Scott already?"

"I tried but the storm must be effecting the electrical equipment on board Thunderbird 1. I don't think they heard me."

John looked down through the gravity ring towards the glowing blues and greens of Earth beneath his feet. He could practically see where Scott and Alan would be, could almost touch it with his hands but had no way to warn them of their predicament. All this technology and no way to stop his brothers flying towards such chaos.

It had been almost a full minute since John had told Virgil about losing communication with Thunderbird 1 and he was beginning to think that the same had happened with the bigger craft when Virgil's voice echoed into the quiet space.

"We'll go and get them."

"What? No, Virg-"

"No arguments. T2 is more stable than Thunderbird 1, she can take it. We'll get close enough to regain comms and tell them to get their butts out of there."

John shook his head, causing his red hair to flap in his eyes, "No way. It's too dangerous."

"Danger is my middle name," Gordon now.

"Your middle name is Cooper," the older brothers chimed in unison.

"We're going and that's that," Virgil's voice was almost drowned out by the whirring and clattering of Thunderbird 2's engines roaring faster, "We'll be back before supper, promise."

And with that the communications between the brothers fell silent. John knew that if he were in the same quandary as Virgil he would probably do exactly the same thing as his brother but it felt so wrong to just let them fly right towards the danger. Feeling like a lame limb on an otherwise working body, John flicked on 'away' mode and made his way to the space elevator. He'd be damned if he didn't at least try to help.

Meanwhile, on Thunderbird 1 things were starting to get bumpy. About ten minutes after they'd lost communications with John the wind had started to increase in speed, sending the 'bird wobbling in the wrong direction a few times. It was nothing Scott hadn't dealt with before though and he kept his calm as he corrected their course manually.

As they flew further and further into the storm, however, Scott knew something wasn't quite right. The dials and monitors started to flicker and rise and by the time they could actually see Japan's coastline through the main window alarms were starting to sound and a flashing red light lit up the brothers' faces. Scott was using all of his strength to keep the craft on course but it was a futile effort; Thunderbird 1's nose started to dip and rise sporadically, sending it bouncing over the crashing waves like a skipping stone.

"This wind is crazy!" Alan had to yell to be heard over a loud alarm that was sounding.

"We just need to find somewhere to set her down!"

Scott gave his brother a smile and tried his best to hide the panic in his voice. Thunderbird 1 was almost totally out of control and its systems were beginning to fail. If he couldn't get a handle on the situation they were going to crash into the rough sea. The pilot looked out of the viewing window towards the fast-approaching land and tilted the rocket towards it as best he could. White-knuckled hands gripped the thrusters and he sent more power to the engines in the hope that he could get there faster and in one piece. That's when something very fast and very large hurtled towards Thunderbird 1 and crashed into its right side.

An almighty screech filled the cockpit as the metal peeled away from the 'bird like skin from an apple. The impact sent the craft twirling in large circles as thick black smoke billowed around it. Something had hit them and pierced at least one engine. Fuel was spilling out, covering both Alan and Scott in slickness as they spiralled out of control.

"Scott!"

The older brother looked over at Alan, neck straining against the spinning motion. Alan looked terrified, big blue eyes filled with panic and confusion, and yet he still looked to his big brother for assurance that they'd be okay. He trusted Scott with his life and would follow him into an active volcano if he said to. Scott grabbed Alan's trembling hand in his own and shouted over the wailing and screeching of his beloved 'bird.

"We're going to crash! But I'll try to keep her steady!"

Alan only nodded silently in response, his large eyes fixed on his brother.

"Hold on to something, it'll be bumpy!"

And with that, Scott gripped the steering levers with both hands and pulled with all his might towards the island of Japan. Land came up on them faster than he'd anticipated and with Thunderbird 1 still spinning all he could do was keep her level and hope for the best.

Land. Sea. Land. Sea. Land.

An earth-shattering thud and suddenly everything was silent. Darkness enveloped both the craft and its occupants.