35

Usual disclaimer: I don't own thunderbirds.

It was springtime. Jeff was sat at desk contemplating (and not for the first time) what the hell had he been thinking when he had had set off on this venture. Today he felt the pressure and the enormity of the whole project was getting to him. So far, they had made excellent progress. Jeff had built this beautiful villa as his base, velocity one was the first aircraft to be fully completed and tested. She sat in the silo directly below him, the second craft was mid production below. Due to the size and the risk of it being recognised if fully complete, they had had the parts produced in several different factories globally before being sent here to be constructed by a specialist in house team that Jeff had handpicked himself. They were a mixture of old forces squaddies, astronauts and engineers. Jeff realised to maintain these machines he was going to need a trusted team that knew how to construct the parts for the future in case they needed spares, repairs or replacements. Jeff had decided these individuals would be signed up as agents. They each had the capability to store and engineer these parts at short notice and under the radar to keep IR operational. They had signed strict contracts and agreements in the presence of Jeff's Lawyer. Jeff had also successfully registered international rescue as a non-profit organisation which allowed him to set up accounts that would continue to fund the organisation into the future.

With all of this going on Jeff found he was starting to fall behind on Tracy industries. He couldn't pull out of the company fully as he relied on it as his main source of income but he couldn't continue at the level he was currently at either. Since he had returned from Malaysia last year he had never fully returned to the role as he saw it as a good opportunity to start distancing himself from the CEO role. Instead he had been working with Mike to take over some of his more practical duties so that Jeff could continue to work part time effectively sharing the role with him. Eventually he would step back further but right now the company needed him to maintain the 16.5 billion turnover it currently churned out.

The difficult part of all of this was having his family spread to the five winds with no guarantees. This was the biggest calculated risk he'd ever undertaken in his life. He didn't have a plan B, for example; What if his two middle children failed their astronaut training? Scott and Gordon were still serving and Jeff was fully aware of the life-threatening risks they already undertook every day, a year and a half was enough time for something to easily go awry for them. Virgil was the only one Jeff was sure was a complete guarantee. He had already done so much for the organisation. Virgil had created the logo, submitted designs for the secondary craft and designed their uniforms with his input. Brains was the best hiring decision Jeff had ever made; The kid was hardworking, passionate and intelligent. One craft built, one mid production and the other just passed out of the design phase they were well on their way to hitting their target of being operational in 2065.

An email notification pinged and caught Jeff's attention. It was Gordon, he must have made it to mainland. There was a photo of him next to Sydney harbour and an attachment. Jeff smiled fondly at the picture; it was good to see his son was getting to check off his bucket list. W.A.S.P had really been the making of him.

Hey Dad,

I hope all's well with you? I'm fine, had a great time here in Sydney on a brief respite. Back on ship later today. While I had a moment, I thought I would send over that provisional design we discussed for your project? Anyway, it's all in the attachment, you'll receive the password to your phone shortly to open it. Let me know what you think? I'm also working on my own rebreather and tank design. When I next see you, we can go over that too, it would definitely be useful for what you want.

I see that Alan is still at college, must be a new record! Maybe it helps having the bookworm to make him toe the line? I spoke to Scott a couple of nights ago. Its pretty rough where he is right now but he says he's coping ok, he's recovering well. Say hi to Virgil and Brains for me and give my love to Grandma when you talk to her.

Gordon

Jeff felt his phone vibrate with the code notification. He authorised it before clicking the attachment. He waited for it to load. Jeff was worried about Scott, the last time he spoke their camp had come under attack. Luckily Scott had already been airborne and had managed to dispatch the couple of attacking jets after coming back in from patrol. His jet had been severely damaged in the assault but Scott had managed to land her even with a cockpit full of smoke. He couldn't get much more information out of his son but according to Major Newton, Scott had then leapt from his own smoking jet and raced over to Mavi's; she had been shot down close to Scott. He still didn't have the full details but Scott had eventually been pulled off the field suffering from smoke inhalation and a nasty burn wound to his leg. Jeff had been advised he was in the infirmary all of two days before being discharged. Although still recovering Scott had passed the fitness tests easily and had been put on admin duty for a week anyway as a precaution. They needed as many active personnel as they could. The warfare was getting more intense daily. There had been too many casualties already and the first U.S marine death of the conflict had been reported just yesterday. Jeff was really anxious but he knew there was nothing he could realistically do to help Scott, he just had to focus on what he could do.

He looked over the design concept and the detailed annotations his son had included. It was a small nimble submersible bright yellow in colour (Y'know like yellow submarine!) Gordon was referring to the old Beatles song that his grandmother used to play. Jeff shook his head and continued reading. It had two turbines and four vertical thrust hover jets for emergency launch. It also had a battering ram, missile launcher (The note read: For clearing of debris, rockfaces – not for my own gratification of owning a missile launcher.) and laser. It also had its own integrated air lock and the ability to cruise above as well as underwater. Jeff had to admit it was pretty impressive, Gordon's military knowledge of current craft on the market could clearly be seen in this design. Gordon had thought through a multitude of rescue scenarios and had given detailed examples as to how these gadgets would assist the rescue effort including the missile launcher and laser. Satisfied with the design. He emailed it to Brains and asked him to provide the technical specification for approval taking into account this design but he could submit tweaks of his own. Then Jeff sent a quick reply back to his son thanking him.

He still had 85 outstanding messages in his inbox just from last night. Sighing he stood up and walked on to the veranda for a smoke. The next craft being assembled was the easiest one of the lot. Jeff had made his fortune from building satellites and space stations after all. He looked up to the sky as if he could picture it in front of him. John and Jeff had worked on the design collaboratively, Jeff focusing on the life support systems and materials. John worked on the telecommunications and satellite scans. It's a shame John was so young and still in education, he would have been an incredible asset to the communications design team at Tracy industries.

He heard soft footsteps approach from behind. He turned to face Virgil. "Hey father. Just thought I would see if you fancied a break from the office? The carrier is coming along nicely if you wanted to see?"

"Yes, that sounds like a welcome distraction, lead the way." He gestured for his son to walk in front of him. It was funny a lot of people said Virgil looked just like him but Jeff felt he was the perfect balance between his resemblance and Lucile's. He had her eye shape and smile although Virgil's chin and general facial features were similar to his. Virgil was gentle natured and even tempered just like his mother although the occasional hot headed Tracy streak did appear at times when he was under pressure. They hopped into the lift together, Virgil pressed the secret button that allowed them to descend to the lowest floor of the silo.

Virgil wondered if his father was taking on too much. The last week he had looked especially worn but that could have just been because his eldest son had been injured on tour. Virgil wanted to see Scott come home more than anything, he hated it when he was on tour it reminded him of the constant gnawing anxiety he would feel as a child when his father had been deployed, always being terrified of him never returning home. He just hoped Scott said yes to international rescue, it was dangerous but not in the way the forces could be. Gordon had yet to see any action as his role was technically a research role but Virgil knew it was a high possibility the longer he remained enlisted.

They exited the elevator and Jeff gasped. It had come on a lot even just in the week he hadn't been down here. Virgil smiled over his shoulder as he walked, directing his father to the frame. "So, I think the last time you were here she was on the floor in bits, right?"

"Yeah! How have you pulled this off in a week?" Jeff was struggling to pick his jaw up off the floor. It was just him and Virgil - the others were at lunch in the round house where they were staying till completion of this project. "Dad these guys are the best, they are making incredibly light work of this craft, that and Brains engineering is so simple it's a pleasure to fit. You'll have to watch out Lee already wants to hire him off of you." Virgil passed his dad a tablet. As you can see from the task list, we have completed thirty percent of the fit so far. She has the main frame, the shell of the cockpit and the fuel tank installed along with the stilts. I'm just about to try the hydraulics on them out. Do you want to see?"

"Alright." Jeff stood back a little. Virgil grabbed the tablet and pressed the button. There was a hissing sound as the legs began to lower, the sliver frame sliding closer to the floor. The mechanism locked in place as the frame docked on the floor.

"Wow! works like a charm!" Exclaimed Jeff.

"She didn't earlier, she got stuck midway. I've been adjusting it most of the morning, one of the legs was calibrated just out of sync with the others which was causing it to stick. Here we go." It started to lift upwards steadily; Virgil held his breath willing for it to work. It had frustrated him all morning. She locked into her full height. "Yes!" Virgil pumped a fist in the air grinning from ear to ear.

"You know I swear it wasn't this big on the schematics, she's not even got her full wingspan yet and nearly fills this hangar." Jeff was taking a leisurely stroll around the full thing. She dwarfed velocity one at an imposing 250 metres in length. Jeff spied a large crane assembly and the turbines on the conveyor belt. "Installing the turbines next then?"

"Yep, Brains completed testing them this morning and is happy with their output even under the stress test so we're clear to proceed." Virgil slipped the tablet back into his overall pocket. He folded his arms as he admired what was fast becoming his new pride and joy. The job satisfaction he'd had with this role so far was nothing like he had ever experienced before, not even in his pianist days. Knowing that he would soon be helping to save lives made all the trial and tribulations worth it. Getting to work with the most genius minded engineer of the last decade was also an added bonus. Virgil had learnt so much from Brains and was valuing his new friendship just as much as John. They actually had a lot in common engineering wise.

Virgil looked up at the ship. Although his dad said secrecy was paramount there was going to be no hiding this once it was airborne, he voiced his concerns to his father. "Father, this ship... there's not many that match her size and her design is totally unique. It's not going to be long before people start talking about these machines once they are operational. We're going to need some kind of security surely?"

Jeff was concerned about this too. "Yes, we are, I've already taken precaution with the camera detectors and hand scanners on entry but your right we are going to need security. There will be organisations that pose a threat to our operations and they simply cannot be allowed to interfere when lives are at stake. We also can't let these designs fall into the wrong hands, they could easily be weaponised or used to do just as much harm as good. I need people on the ground on a global scale. Agents that can report anything suspicious of untoward and those capable of disabling the identified threat."

"Say! I think I know of someone, well someone who can cover the UK anyway." Virgil said.

"Oh yeah who?" Jeff was interested.

"You know that year we were based in the India when you were on deployment?"

"Yeah." Replied Jeff uncertainly unsure of where this was leading.

"There was that tea plantation we used to visit; you knew her father? That girl that was a similar age to me… Penelope! That's it! lady Penelope."

"How do you remember? you were barely four years old at the time!" Jeff had requested a posting back to the states just after that as Scott was of an age to go to school and Lucile had wanted them to enjoy an upbringing that she had never experienced, one where they didn't have to move school school, making friends only to leave them behind. Settling into the neighbourhood only to move on. Lucy had been a forces kid, her folks both serving forced her to move from pillar to post as a child hence why she hadn't minded following Jeff from deployment to deployment however when the kids had come along and the family had started to grow, Jeff realised it wouldn't be fair on the kids so that's when he took the full time position with NASA so they could stay in one place.

"We used to play in the gardens of the house but Penelope was always sick. Mum felt sorry for her being the only child she said, that's why she used to take me and Scott to play with her. Anyway, I'm sure you said her father was a British diplomat could he know anyone that would help us?" Virgil wondered. As far as he knew his father was still in touch with them. Lucile had been fond of the family and continued to foster the relationship long after they had moved. Over time they had fallen out of contact but as their father began to become wealthy, they had been reacquainted in social circles. Virgil remembered playing at a charity gala a couple of years back and striking up conversation with Lord Hugh Creighton -Ward, disappointed that his daughter had not been with him. She was at some finishing school in Switzerland. Virgil had wanted to see her again; he knew it was stupid she probably wouldn't remember him from that age but he'd always wondered what had become of her.

"You know I hadn't thought of it at the time but you could well be on to something Virgil. I'm pretty sure he knows more than he used to let on. Diplomat is often a great subterfuge for an intelligence agent, he might know people at least who could help. Hmmm, I'll go and see if I've still got his contact details." He clapped a hand on Virgil's shoulder.

"Thanks son."

"Don't mention it." Virgil smiled as he turned back round to begin the turbine assembly. Jeff had pulled up his contacts and was already making the call before the elevator docked in the lounge.