Thank you to all the silent readers and thank you to Your Brother for your review!

Sorry for the belated update - I've been a very busy bee with my blogs and other stories, and spending time with family and friends.

Enjoy!

THE SAHARA

Amy Cahill turned on her communicator. "Anthony, report."

"Drone army prepped and ready to defend our base. Madrigals all ready for departure," he reported.

Amy nodded, satisfied. "And...Raven?"

"I gave her the red herring."

"Excellent." Amy had suspected for a while that Raven was secretly working with the Lucians, so had Anthony tell her that they were leaving some of the Madrigals behind instead of just the drones. She had complete access to the drone's footage, so if any of the Lucians came, she would know once and for all whether or not Raven was a Lucian mole.

Realising that she had been lost in thought for a few minutes, she quickly added: "I'm on my way" and then called Delilah. Delilah's holographic image appeared through Amy's communicator.

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"Status report on John Tracy."

"Weaponized."

Amy grinned. "Wonderful. John's location?"

"He's with me onboard one of our aircraft."

"Thank you," Amy said and hung up.

This couldn't be going better.

LUCIAN BASE, THE MOON

Gomez's communicator beeped. "Yes?" he said, accepting the call.

"The Madrigals have launched," Raven announced.

Perfect. "Copy," he said and disconnected the call "Launch." He cut that call and quickly called another person. Lucia's hologram appeared. "Launch."

TRACY ISLAND

Rue looked at him apprehensively after Virgil's reaction to the news, which was concerning. Is this changing his feelings for me?

Before she could say anything, there was a beeping sound a yellow holographic triangle with an exclamation mark in the centre appeared in the middle of the room, pulsating.

"Thunderbird 3's distress beacon!" Jeff exclaimed, momentarily forgetting everything to do with Rae and her newly discovered parentage as he rushed forward and pressed a button. A holographic image of Thunderbird 3 appeared as it continued in its path toward Earth.

"It's going to crash into Earth!" Virgil exclaimed, rushing from Rae's side to his father's as they both tried to raise Alan and MAX.

No response.

Rae stepped forward, mind momentarily distracted from Virgil's odd reaction, and switched channels. "John, can you try and contact Alan for us?"

Static was the only response.

"John?" Glancing over at the others in fear, Rae switched channels again and contacted John's companion. "EOS, what's happening? Where's John?"

Static again.

Then a holographic image of Thunderbird 5 appeared with a flashing red line through the image.

No...no...no, that...can't be...

"It's..." Virgil momentarily trailed off as Rue looked up at him and saw his eyes swirling with tears. She reached over and gently squeezed his hand. His eyes dipped down to her and remained locked with her eyes as he spoke the last word, unable to believe, to accept what the schematic was telling him. "...offline."

"What's going on?" Gordon said from behind them, having just walked in.

"Alan's in trouble," Jeff said, immediately switching from terrified father to commander mode in an instant. He turned to Gordon and Virgil, his eyes hard and cold. "Both of you get in Thunderbird 2. He needs your help."

LUCIAN BASE, THE MOON

Gomez stood in the entrance of the room, arms behind his back, staring at the twenty-four transparent glass tubes. Some were currently unoccupied - they were the ones that Penelope, Parker and Kayo had occupied - but the rest were all occupied.

He leaned to the right and pressed a red button. The tubes lifted with a puff of air and white, frosty clouds billowed out. All the occupants eyes opened and all turned to him, simply waiting for his instructions.

He smirked.

"Operatives," he said, his voice loud and clear as it carried across the entire room, all eyes on him. "Follow me."