FROM 2040 to 2043, Planet Earth wasn't a safe place to be. A global war had ravaged the planet. Many lives were lost as the armies of the world struggled for dominance. In the East were Russia, Korea, China, Japan, India and the majority of Indonesia against the West, consisting of the United States, the United Kingdom, the whole of Europe and even the majority of Africa. The reason behind the fighting - Australia and New Zealand. The Eastern Alliance tried to pull Australia under their rule but the Australian government refused and asked the rest of the world for help. A brutal and bloody conflict arose with many of the world's cities falling victim to missile strikes, bombardments and acts of sabotage. Even under the surface of the ocean and in space it wasn't safe for several countries had placed deadly sea and space mines ready to strike and immobilise unsuspecting ships.

Whilst no nuclear weapons were actually fired during the conflict, the fear and threat of the world's arsenal was ever present - until eventually, one man decided to act. His name was George Younger, the President of the United States. He saw just how much Australia and New Zealand were suffering, the latter being so close to Australia caused it to fall under the dark cloud of war despite it not actually being a part of the main conflict. He decided one day that enough was enough and made a declaration. He vowed to end the conflict and bring peace to the world. Setting up Unity City in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, he gathered all of the world's leaders together in a neutral environment and showed them the harrowing images from the bombed out cities and said that everyone was suffering due to what described as a petty dispute. He mentioned how people like Napoleon and Hitler had brought misery to the people of the world for needless means of greed or evil and that it all needed to end.

Whilst the main fighting took place during 2040-2041, it took another two full years almost for President Younger to get the leaders of the world to finally realise just how fruitless the fighting was. One by one the leaders on both sides agreed that it really was a waste of time, materials, and above all else, innocent lives and soon peace agreements began to be made. The biggest rule, which the President decided should apply to everyone, was that all nuclear weapons were to be disarmed and disposed of. This became the deciding factor and on January 5th 2043, a massive peace treaty was signed by all nations with a mutual agreement that Younger would step down as President of the United States, and would instead become the World President, leading the world under one united guideline. The world's military would also be given the jurisdiction to be called upon to work as one unit should the case ever arise. That would soon prove very useful, when it soon became apparent that where 99% of the world's leaders had agreed to peace and nuclear abolishment, one country did not.

The country in question was Bereznik - a small, newly-created country that took territory from both Russia and China. A Russian-born Chinese man by the name of Valentive Heyon-Ban started his own government and after gathering numerous followers and creating his own military, he soon started a civil war which brought about the creation of his own country - Bereznik. It was in fact President Heyon-Ban who started the Global Conflict by gathering as many of the Eastern countries as possible and convincing them to band together. But when Australia refused, the fighting really began.

When President Younger announced the global peace and disarmament, President Heyon-Ban was the only person not to answer the call to make peace. He vocally opposed it and vowed to continue the war. This made the other world leader's angry and under President Younger's orders, everyone including the other Eastern countries, turned on Bereznik. The now newly-created World Army, World Navy and World Air Force turned on Bereznik, not with the intention to fight, but to scare them into surrendering. It worked in a way. Several of the Berezniki people surrendered and laid down their arms and a coup took place in the Bereznik government that forced Heyon-Ban out of office. He refused to surrender though and with what followers he had left, escaped the country in the A-850, a large, Russian-built stealth submarine and three B-class Chinese-built submarines attack submarines: B-925, B-926 and B-928. The captains and crews of the four subs were the only ones who remained loyal to Heyon-Ban and together they managed to slip the net of World Navy warships and disappeared into the oceans.

Even though the new Bereznik government had made peace with the World Government, President Younger was convinced that so long as Heyon-Ban remained on the loose, the world could still be in danger and whilst the major battles were finally over, and the world could start rebuilding, the Global Conflict would not be officially over until the four missing submarines were located and forced to surrender.

With the conflict over as far as the world was concerned, Earth healed from its war wounds and things became so much better. The Global Defence Force was located and in the mid-2050s billionaire and former astronaut Jeff Tracy set up International Rescue to assist those in dire peril for despite mass advancements, disasters could still happen. Among these were callouts from cargo ships in all corners of the globe which would report that they were being attacked and then disappearing with no survivors. Many couldn't understand what was going on, but there were several who were convinced that it was the work of the missing Bereznik submarines.

For eighteen years the submarines remained hidden in the vast oceans, preying on unsuspecting ships or carrying out commando-like attacks on ports for the pure purpose of replenishing their supplies, as well as to keep the World Military guessing as to where they were.

This sneaky war that President Heyon-Ban was conducting continued to plague the World Government and the military, but eventually everyone, even Heyon-Ban himself felt sure that it would eventually come to an end. And the day that it did would take place on Easter Sunday of 2061, at an event that became globally known as The Gibraltar Incident!

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"Thunderbirds Are Go!"

"THE GIBRALTAR INCIDENT"

EVER since he'd returned to Earth from the Oort Cloud, there was nothing Jeff Tracy enjoyed more in his free time than to read through the many rescue reports that had been made by International Rescue during the time he'd been missing. There were so many that even well beyond the two years he'd now been back there were still several. There were so many interesting ones. The Ring of Fire incident, Alan's near-miss with a space mine, the missions to the Moon, Mars, Mercury and Europa, to Bay City, Azethril's theme park, dealings with The Hood, The Mechanic and The Chaos Crew, there really was no shortage of different reports. Some unnerved him, some amused him, but mostly they made him feel proud of his sons and what they'd achieved in the time he had been stranded. Very rarely did he ever ask the boys, Brains, Kayo, Penelope or even Grandma to elaborate on any of the missions. But soon he found one that intrigued him more than any of them.

"Reading more reports, Jeff?" Grandma asked as she brought him some coffee.

"Yes, Mother," Jeff replied. "And this one is very intriguing."

Grandma leaned over at the report. "Oh, my!" she exclaimed. "I remember that one well. Very tense it was, and not just from our point of view either."

Jeff read through the report. It was a long one, filled in by all five of the brothers and Kayo. But it was the title that intrigued him the most - The Gibraltar Incident. "I must ask the boys more about this later," he said. "Where are they?"

Grandma glanced out of the window. "Looks like they're returning now,!" she said. "They've been on their annual Easter Egg hunt. I wonder how many they've managed to find."

It was a yearly tradition that on Easter Saturday, the Tracy brothers would go exploring the island in search of a number of specially made Easter Eggs. they weren't actually real eggs, just small concrete ones that were easy to handle. Each batch would get painted into a different colour. Blue for Scott, Green for Virgil, Red for Alan, Yellow for Gordon and Orange for John. The night before, Grandma would normally recruit Kayo and normally MAX to go around the island when the brothers weren't looking and hide the eggs. Then the brothers would be given as long as they needed to search every inch of the island to try and find them all.

Scott was the first to arrive back from the hunt, carrying a basket full of fake blue eggs. "Mission complete!" he said cheerfully. "Can't remember the last time I finished first."

"Neither can I," agreed Grandma. She chuckled. "Gordon and Alan won't be pleased at that."

Alan and Gordon would get very competitive when it came to this hunt and quite often would rush to get back first. Grandma had barely finished counting the eggs in the basket before they heard the commotion of two competitive brothers scurrying through the kitchen below.

"You're gonna lose again, Alan!"

"Gordon, get out of the way! I'M going to win!"

Kayo, who'd been lounging on one of the sofas, rolled her eyes. "Here we go," she said.

Gordon and Alan appeared seconds later, racing to get to the metal floor strip that separated the lounge from the staircase which was the finish line. They were busy trying to push each other out of the way in order to get there first.

Gordon's leg just crossed the strip ahead of Alan. "YES!" he said triumphantly. "I WIN AGAIN!"

Alan threw his basket on the floor and began to have a tantrum. "That's not fair!" he complained. "You won last year! Grandma!"

"Alan, quit whining!" Grandma said sternly. "You're in your late teens now! Not a child anymore!"

Alan folded his arms and pouted. "Not fair," he muttered.

Gordon however was doing a victory dance. He put his right hand in front of his forehead and positioned his thumb and forefinger into an L-shaped position. "Hey, Alan," he said. "Loooooooooser!"

"Cut that out, Gordon," barked Jeff. "And take note of your surroundings."

Gordon was puzzled. "What do you mean?" he asked.

A small cough brought both Gordon's and Alan's attention to the middle of the lounge, to which their respective expressions were wiped clean off by the sight of a rather smug-looking Scott sitting on another sofa. "SCOTT?!" they both exclaimed together.

"That's me," said Scott. "Commiserations, boys. Second and third this year. You're slipping."

"What?! But…but…" Gordon tried to come up with a protest, but instead collapsed to his knees with a loud "Awwwwwwwwwwh MAN!"

Alan began to laugh. "You know, to see Gordon have the tantrum, that was worth coming in third," he said.

John then arrived with his basket. "Oh, dear," he said, amused at the sight of the grumpy Gordon. "Looks like I've missed something."

"Fourth place, John," said Grandma. "One better than last year."

John sighed with a smile. "It's the gravity, Grandma," he said. "It slows me down."

Kayo glanced at her watch. "Just Virgil to go," she said. "Although I've never known him to take this long before."

"Or come last for that matter," agreed Scott.

Just then there came a beeping from the table. All turned to look as Hayley's hologram appeared from the projector in the middle. "Err, guys?" she said nervously. "Could you all come to the beach please? We have ourselves a situation."

The four brothers, Kayo, Grandma and Jeff made their way down to the beach and headed along to where Hayley said she and Virgil were. Brains and MAX came along too. Hayley hadn't said what was wrong so they were all curious and a little concerned at the same time.

Hayley soon appeared. "Oh, thank heavens!" she said. "Quickly, over here!"

"What's wrong, Hayley?" asked Scott as he, Kayo and John reached her first. "Where's Virgil?"

"Just round here," Hayley said and lead them round behind a large rock. "He's right there," she said, pointing.

John, Scott and Kayo stopped dead when they saw what the problem was. Kayo clapped her hand over her mouth, trying to contain the laughter that was trying to escape. Virgil was lying on his front, arms propping him up. He looked very embarrassed, for only the top half of his body was actually visible. His waist and legs were inside the cave behind the entrance he was stuck in.

"V-Virg?" Scott said once he'd found his voice.

"Scott…" Virgil said slowly. "Please don't laugh." He could see that all three of them were trying to contain it.

But then Alan and Gordon arrived and the second they saw Virgil's predicament they absolutely lost it. Gordon fell on the floor, howling with laughter whilst Alan had to hold onto a nearby palm tree for support. This then caused Kayo, John and Scott to start laughing as well, which caused Virgil's face to fall in the sand.

"Oh, m-my!" exclaimed Brains when he arrived and he did his best to try not to laugh, which he did a better job of than the others.

Finally Jeff and Grandma arrived, and even they seemed slightly amused by what had happened.

"Are you all done?" Virgil asked grumpily as the laughing began to subside.

"Are you hurt, son?" asked Jeff, getting down on his hands and knees.

"Only my pride, Dad," replied Virgil. "Could you get me out now please?"

"Aw, come on, Virg," said Gordon. "At least tell us how you got into this mess before we get you out."

"It was my fault," said Hayley. "I should have let Virgil guide me through the caves instead of the other way round. Seems I still haven't learned the geography of the island yet. I thought this was the way we went in."

"But it was that one, wasn't it?" asked John, pointing at another entrance a few yards away.

Hayley nodded sheepishly. "Y-Yes," she said, embarrassed.

"Okay, everyone, calm down," Jeff said. "Let's get Virgil out of there."

John and Alan went inside the cave via the other entrance in order to examine Virgil and see if they could free him from inside.

"How does it look, John?" Jeff asked over his watch radio.

"Not good, Dad," John replied. "He's pulled himself right in. maybe if we wiggle him a little, he might work himself free."

"Back into the cave or forwards?" asked Jeff.

"Could try both ways," said John. "If one doesn't work, perhaps the other will."

"Do you have a preference, Virgil?" asked Jeff.

"So long as I get out, no," replied Virgil.

"Okay, we'll try backwards first," said Jeff. "Gordon and Scott, push his shoulders gently. John and Alan, move him by his legs. Virgil, try wiggling yourself as they did so."

"F-A-B," the brothers said together.

"Okay," said Jeff. "One, two, three, go!"

"Heave!" the brothers said as they tried to move Virgil back into the exit of the cave. Virgil tried to wiggle himself, but all he felt was the rocks rubbing against his sides.

"OwowowowOW! STOP! STOP!" Virgil shouted.

They did. Kayo had to stop Hayley from rushing forwards to intervene.

"You hurt, Virgil?" Jeff asked anxiously.

"No, no, I'm fine, Dad," Virgil said. "Sorry, that was just rubbing against me. Nothing major."

Jeff spoke into his watch again. "John, Alan, have you managed to move him?"

"Negative, Dad," replied Alan from within the cave. "He's still stuck fast."

"Then trying to get him out forwards won't be any different," said Grandma. "We need a Plan B."

"I m-may have a Plan B," said Brains. "But I need to c-collect a few things. Be right back. C-Come on, MAX!" He hurried away with his robot assistant whirring and beeping behind him.

Hayley was feeling miserable. "This is all my fault," she whispered to Kayo. "Why did I lead him into this?"

"Shhh, it's okay, Hayley," Kayo soothed. "At least it's happened here and nowhere remote."

Hayley had to admit that Kayo was right.

It was at that moment everyone realised Scott had began to laugh again,

"What's so funny, Scott?" asked Virgil, irritated.

"Sorry, Virg," Scott replied, swallowing the majority of the laughter. "But seeing you like this has reminded me of something from our childhood."

"What would that be that?" asked Gordon.

"Winnie…Winnie the Pooh!" said Scott and he started laughing again, which caused Gordon to laugh as well.

Virgil stared at his older brother. "Winnie the Pooh?!" he asked.

"Yes, don't you remember the books Mom used to read to us?" asked Scott once he'd recovered. "In one of them he ate too much honey and got stuck in a hole. Then he had to wait before he got a bit thinner so that he could then free himself."

Virgil wasn't impressed. "Very funny, Scott," he said. "And for your information, I am NOT fat!"

"I didn't say you were, Virgil," replied Scott. "Just seeing you like this reminded me of the cartoon, that's all."

"Well you might be onto something, Scott," said Gordon. "All we need to do is wait for Virgil to get a bit thinner then he can get himself out. How long did it take Winnie the Pooh before he got out?"

"A week I think," said Scott.

"A WEEK?!" Virgil almost shrieked. "If you think I'm going to stay here for a whole week you are very much mistaken!"

"Virgil, VIRGIL!" Jeff thundered, finally deciding to intervene. "Calm down. You'll be out within the next half hour, I promise you." He then turned on Gordon and Scott. "Knock it off, you two. Let's wait and see what Brains has in mind."

Brains and MAX returned about ten minutes later. Not only had they brought a medical kit so that Grandma could examine Virgil, but he'd also brought what he felt was their best chance at freeing him quickly and safely.

"Four h-hammers and four chisels," Brains said. "If Scott and Gordon c-carefully chip away at the rock from this side. J-John and Alan can do the same from the inside."

"Brilliant, Brains!" said Jeff. He turned to John and Alan who'd come back out of the cave for some fresh air. "Can you do that, boys?"

"Sure, piece of cake," said Alan as he took one of the hammers and one of the chisels.

"It can be done," said John. "But we'll need some light in there. It's pretty dark and the light from our phones isn't enough. We need someone to hold a big torch for us."

"I can do that," said Kayo.

"Anything I can do?" asked Hayley.

Virgil answered. "You can be my distraction," he said, holding out his hands.

"Might help him take his mind off the thought of the chisels being so close," Grandma said.

Hayley dropped down to the ground, lay on her front and took hold of Virgil's hands, squeezing them tightly. "I'm sorry I got you into this," she whispered.

Virgil smiled. "It's okay, beautiful," he whispered back. "I should have realised we were going the wrong way."

"Ready, boys?" Jeff asked.

"Ready," said Scott and Gordon.

"Ready," said John, Kayo and Alan from inside the cave.

"Good," said Jeff. "Be careful and try not to hit Virgil as you do it. Begin!"

For the next ten minutes the brothers worked carefully, chipping away at the rock rubbing up against Virgil's hips. None of them made any jokes or laughed as they worked. They knew now the time for mocking Virgil was over and it was a serious task to free him. With the last of the offending rock removed, Virgil shifted himself forwards with Hayley guiding him until he was completely free of the cave. Everyone cheered and Hayley threw herself on top of Virgil before they began to embrace.

John, Alan and Kayo exited the cave from the bigger entrance. "Is Virgil okay?" asked Kayo.

"Yeah, I'd say he is," remarked Gordon watching as Virgil and Hayley continued to embrace.

Jeff cleared his throat. "Let us, erm, leave them to it, shall we?" he said, ushering the others to let the two lovers have some privacy.

Alan picked up Virgil's basket of green eggs. "Hey, Virg, do you want me to take your eggs back to the house?" he asked.

Virgil's response was somewhat muffled due to his lips being linked with Hayley's but Alan could just about manage to hear the words "Yes" and "please" so he picked up the basket before being ushered out by Jeff. Grandma had clearly wanted to examine Virgil, but Virgil seemed to be fine, and he was preoccupied so that would have to wait.

"Enjoy, son," Jeff said with a smirk as he was the last to leave the scene, leaving the two lovers to carry on with what they were doing.

Virgil emerged from the showers feeling refreshed. "Ahh, much better," he said. He then noticed Hayley sat on the bed. She didn't look happy. "Something up?" he asked.

"I'll say," said Hayley grumpily. "I held myself together because your father was there."

Virgil frowned. "Go on?"

Hayley stood up. "How dare your brothers laugh at you for your predicament?" Hayley said furiously. "They should have supported you, not mocked you!"

To Hayley's surprise, Virgil simply shrugged. "We're brothers, Hayley. It's what we do," he said.

"But-"

"To be fair, if that was Gordon, I probably would have laughed too," Virgil said as he did up the buttons on his shirt. "Wouldn't you have laughed if that was Gordon?"

Hayley thought for a moment. "I, er, guess so?" she said, unsure. "I'm not sure even Gordon deserves that though."

"Yeah, well I'm not hurt and no harm's been done," said Virgil, taking hold of Hayley's arms. "Grandma told me Scott won the hunt this year which apparently caused Gordon great upset. That's enough to make my day."

Hayley broke into a smile. "That would have been worth seeing," she agreed.

"Come on," said Virgil, taking her in his arm. "Let's go have dinner."

Dinner turned out to be pretty normal and a rare occasion that the whole family was together at the table. Hayley was pleased to see that nobody, not even Gordon or Alan even mentioned Virgil's mishap. Afterwards they all went to relax in the lounge for some tales and to discuss recent rescues.

"Have to say, it's been strangely quiet lately," remarked John.

"Famous last words that," chortled Alan.

Scott leant back in his seat. "For once, there really isn't a lot to talk about," he remarked.

Jeff spoke up. "Actually, boys, there's something I'd quite like to hear about if any of you feel up to telling the story?"

The brothers were intrigued. "And what's that, Dad?" asked Gordon.

Jeff went to his desk and picked up the report he'd shown Grandma. "As you know, since I've returned, I have enjoyed reading about the adventures you've been up to since my time away. But here's one that I have not even heard of before - The Gibraltar Incident."

An awkward silence fell across the room.

"Oh, wow!" remarked Virgil. "That was a hell of a day, wasn't it?"

"That was this day as well!" added Alan.

"That was five years ago!" said Scott. "And yet I remember it as though it was yesterday."

"Wasn't long after The Hood tried to take the island if I recall?" said Kayo.

"I've only had a brief look, but it seems like you were all involved somehow?" said Jeff.

"Well except for Hayley, yes," said Gordon.

"Wrong."

Everyone looked at Hayley, who they suddenly saw was looking rather downcast.

"Something wrong?" Virgil asked.

Hayley looked up. "I remember that day too," she said. "I lost a lot of friends that day."

"What happened?" asked Kayo.

"It's a long story," Hayley said. "It's the day I got my first ever glimpse of International Rescue. It's also the day I became a captain."

"Please tell us," said Gordon.

Hayley took a deep breath, and the story began.

Flashback Begins