What had I done, I sent my little brother into space all alone without any experience of solar flares and no knowledge of how to escape the sun's pull. Sure Thunderbird 3 had ways of avoiding it and Brains had designed a new way of detecting the smallest leaks of radiation, but this was more than that, I couldn't get through to him, neither could I get through to Kayo, if anything happened to her I would've never been able to live with myself. I pushed myself away from the main centre of Thunderbird 5 and left EOS in charge.
"EOS, prepare the elevator please? I need to go down to the surface."
"Home John?"
"Yes."
"With pleasure."
I walked along the outer ring and down into the elevator carefully, as the craft descended the station, EOS asked me what was wrong.
"I've done something terrible; my brothers are never going to forgive me. What if Alan doesn't return?"
"He will John. Eta to Tracy Island, now two minutes."
"Thanks EOS."
Gradually the craft attached itself to the pod within the hangers and I walked out, Scott was there to greet me, the last brother I wanted to see right now.
"John, what's going on up there?"
I looked down at my feet "I've sent Alan to his death."
Scott looked at me in shock "what do you mean death? He's got Thunderbird 3 in control right?"
"Not exactly I'm afraid. It's hard to explain."
Scott surprisingly put his arm around my shoulders "come on, we all need to discuss this, the others are in the lounge." Scott kept his arm there until we got into the lounge "now, what's going on?"
I told them exactly what I had seen and when Thunderbird 3 had lost contact, my brothers' reactions were mainly all the same, worry, deep worry.
"He's smart John. He'll figure something out, don't doubt him just because he's the youngest" Virgil frowned slightly.
"I know he is, but he's the weakest physically, always has been."
"Kayo is up there with him. She'll help out in whatever she can. You know she can look after herself?" Scott smiled and I sighed looking into my hands.
"If only I had known what was really happening. I could've predicted the flare and told him to slow down much sooner" I sat back in my uniform with a sigh.
Gordon leant forwards "well, have we managed to get any word from them, even just a whisper?"
I shook my head "I'm afraid not."
Little at that point did I know that Alan and Kayo were making a breakthrough up in thunderbird 3, they couldn't get communication but whilst I sat feeling sorry for myself I felt a buzz on my wrist "it's a signal, they've got navigational control back!
"Can you communicate with them?" Virgil raised his eyebrows.
"Base calling Thunderbird 3? Alan?" Nothing "afraid not, but their signal is turning, they're moving away from the sun and back towards Earth!"
For a moment everything seemed to be under control again, so I went to get changed. I got into my jeans and patched shirt whilst keeping an eye on T3's signal, waiting for anything. I returned to the lounge and watched the hologram which was showing us our sibling's position, Brains joined us and frowned thoughtfully.
"They've changed course back to the meteorite but they still have to conserve their fuel. They're not out of danger yet."
I took a deep breath "what are their chances Brains? And be honest?"
The scientist sighed "if they can't get out of that meteor, they won't be able to take off and get out, they need a pulse of power, something to push them out of the rock".
The next twenty minutes passed painfully slowly, and none of us wanted to move until we saw Thunderbird 3's path change and head back towards Earth, if it ever did start to head back, as 5 turned into 5:30 I became more worried, when suddenly a loud beeping came from the map.

"Alan! Kayo! Thank God you're safe" I exclaimed "what happened?"

"It's a long story, but this is the important part, we've got the minor on board, however we're pointing in the wrong direction, at the moment we'll be drifting into interstellar space" Kayo said sharing a worried look with Alan.

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Gordon asked.

"We'll get back to you on that" Alan smiled.

"At least you guys are safe. Tracy Island out" I closed my eyes in relief.

"See John, there was nothing to worry about" Gordon smiled.

"Except Thunderbird 3 needs to change its course back to Earth" Brains said quietly.

"You always have a positive don't you Brains?" Gordon raised an eyebrow.

"Sarcasm?" Brains laughed.

It wasn't long before Alan got in touch with us again.

"Hey guys, I'm going to try something, but it's a little crazy."

"Alan Tracy crazy, or, should I be worried crazy?" Scott smirked.

"I'll let you guys be the judge of that. Basically we have one case of explosives on this meteor, we're thinking of blowing it up under Thunderbird 3 and getting a powerful surge of energy to blast us out."

Virgil looked nervous "and if it doesn't?"

"Then, well. I guess we'll be in big trouble."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

Kayo smiled next to Alan "don't worry. We'll be fine Virgil."

"Let us know what happens as soon as you've fired the explosive" I said running a hand through my hair.

"FAB."

The room fell back into silence until Gordon broke it with a sigh.

"This wait is killing me."

"I feel the same Gord, I wonder if they've been successful?" Scott crossed his arms across his chest.

Just as Scott had finished saying that, Thunderbird 3's signal appeared showing her moving back onto an orbital path to Earth.

"We've done it, we're now on route to earth, ETA now three hours."

"Well done Alan, are you guys alright?" I asked warmly.

"We're fine. We'll be home soon, don't worry."

Later that evening Alan told us the whole story and what they had done to escape the meteor, I kept my eyes on Kayo who looked troubled. I decided I would call her once I was back on Thunderbird 5. Alan dismissed himself and went to bed, I yawned and stood up.

"Well, I'm going to head back up. Good job up there Kayo" I smiled to myself and went back to the hangers.

I began the journey back to Thunderbird 5, had Kayo reacted to my farewell or had she ignored it? Not even my brothers know how I feel about her, she's just perfect in my opinion. I was thinking this through when I suddenly got a distress call through the radio on board the elevator. I radioed back home and into Alan's room, he was needed again. Whilst Alan went off to his rescue I decided to call Kayo to ask about how Alan was on the recent mission.
"He was scared John, I've just been telling the others. We're still in the lounge. Scott's gone to Thunderbird 1. Alan also mentioned that he had never felt more alone."
"Alone?" I queried, Alan was usually very confident in Thunderbird 3.
"He felt disconnected to you and your brothers."
I hummed thoughtfully "so almost how Virgil was in London a few weeks ago" there was a frustrated "hey" which told me Virgil was still in the lounge.
"Don't get me wrong" Kayo continued "I was terrified too, in case I wouldn't be returning home. Space can be very unnerving."
"Tell me about it."
Kayo laughed slightly and I felt warmth in my heart "anything else?"
"Not really. He saved the minor, he remained a Tracy and he was successful."
I nodded "good. Take it easy Kayo, you should get some rest, you never know when Shadow will be needed."
"FAB John. Catch you later."
I, now back on Thunderbird 5, stretched out onto my bed and stared up at the millions of stars all around me, the ones that were constantly in the same position above I had named after my family, I knew their real names too but these were their second. I gazed at the one I had named Kayo and smiled, she knew about the star but not the true meaning behind it.

Author's note: So hoping we see John and Kayo's relationship at some point :) I'm gradually building up character's personalities which is good, this means I can make longer fanfics. Thanks for the kind reviews for all my stories, really does mean a lot to me xx