HAYLEY managed to access the main computer of the submarine. What she saw sent chills down her spine. The mini-computer built into her helmet translated the Bereznik language into the following.
From A-850 to all submarines.
B-926 is to seek, locate and destroy the cargo ship Andromeda and the cruise ship Queen Alexandra. Status 50% complete. Have currently lost contact with B-926. Still awaiting news.
B-925 and B-928 are to remain with A-850 in order to hunt down and destroy Aircraft Carrier Valiant and her escorts.
C-850 will deploy from A-850 and proceed to Bay of Gibraltar where it will target any vessels at anchor. Main target is supertanker Liparus.
"Oh, God!" Hayley said and got onto her radio. "Sierra One to Charlie One. Do you read? Over."
"Go ahead, Sierra One?" answered Captain Hart.
"Sir, can you get Admiral Hart on the line as well? He needs to hear what I've discovered."
"Stand-by, I'll get Langford to contact him," said Captain Hart.
Wright, Fitzgerald and Shrapnel were checking the accommodation, galley, engineering and weapon areas of the C-850. The lights were dim due to the lack of power being generated so they proceeded with extreme caution.
"Weapons bay clear," said Wright.
"Galley is clear," said Shrapnel. But he was wrong. Suddenly the cook lunged out from the store cupboard where he'd been hiding and knocked Shrapnel off his feet. He gave a bellowing yell as he grabbed a kitchen knife and attempted to stab Shrapnel with it. But to the cook's dismay the sharp knife broke on the very thick armour that Shrapnel was wearing. Before he even had a chance to react, Shrapnel fired his weapon in a panic. The cook cried out and fell onto the floor - dead.
Wright and Fitzgerald came running in.
"Are you okay?" asked Wright, helping the shaken Shrapnel to his feet.
"Y-Y-Yeah," stammered Shrapnel.
"I thought you said it was clear?" asked Fitzgerald.
"I-It was," said Shrapnel.
"Clearly not," said Wright, nodding towards the open door of the store room. "Did you not check there before you reported?"
Shrapnel stared at the door. "I didn't notice there was a door there," he said sheepishly.
Fitzgerald sighed. "George, we're supposed to be a tight well-oiled machine. That's what we have the equipment in our suits for. To scan walls and check for body heat. Like so." He indicated for them to follow him back up towards the control room where the living quarters were. "Turn on your scanner," he instructed.
Shrapnel did so and Wright did the same. Through the heads-up display in their helmets they could see the body heat of a man hiding inside the living quarters - the one section of the submarine that they hadn't searched yet. The man appeared to be holding a gun facing the door, shaking with terror and waiting for them to come in to get him.
Fitzgerald knocked on the door. "Hey, buddy? We know you're in there. Make this easy for us all and throw the gun away."
"G-G-GO AWAY!" shouted the crewmember from inside. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE ON OUR SHIP!"
"Oh, don't we?" asked Fitzgerald sarcastically. "So do you have the right to torpedo a defenceless oil tanker?"
The crewman didn't seem to have an answer for that. He just trembled and whimpered.
Fitzgerald nodded to Wright. "Get the door," he said quietly.
"On three?" said Wright. He turned to Shrapnel. "Watch and learn, young man."
Shrapnel moved back to observe whilst Wright and Fitzgerald readied themselves for the takedown. Wright put his hand on the door open button whilst Fitzgerald raised his machine-gun with it set to 'stun'. Using the display in his helmet he was able to see through the door and aim the perfect shot on the crewman inside.
"One, two, three," said Wright and he pushed the button. The door opened and Fitzgerald pulled the trigger at the same time. A small blast of yellow energy shot out from the gun and zapped the crewman. He yelled in pain as he dropped his own gun and fell to the floor. "Nice work," said Wright.
Fitzgerald nodded. "Thanks," he said. "You two cuff him and bring him out. I'm going to see the Sub in the control room.
"IRRESPONSIBLE! STUPID! RECKLESS!"
"I know it was stupid, Scott," Gordon said. "I think you've made your point."
"No, I'm NOT done!" Scott said furiously as the two brothers stood on the bow of Thunderbird 4 which had come to the surface. "You could have gotten yourself killed! Not to mention the damage that Brains is going to have to do to repair Thunderbird 4."
"Oh, Scott, for heaven's sake, I know it was a silly thing to do but we put ourselves in danger every single time we go on a mission!" Gordon said.
"Not like that we don't!" snapped Scott. "We don't go throwing ourselves or our ships in front of incoming missiles!"
"Torpedoes, Scott," Gordon said. "Underwater they're called-"
"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHAT THEY'RE CALLED!" bellowed Scott. "You just count yourself very lucky that I am your brother and not Dad, Gordon. Otherwise you would be in a whole lot more trouble."
"It's what he would have done," Gordon said simply.
Scott froze and gave his brother a very hard stare. "What did you say?" he asked, slowly advancing towards Gordon.
"I said, it's what he would have done," Gordon repeated, trying his best not to feel intimidated.
Scott grabbed Gordon by his uniform and pulled him close to his face. "HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH A THING?!" he thundered, his eyes burning dangerously. "HE WOULD NEVER-"
"SCOTT, BACK OFF OF HIM!" Virgil had appeared out of nowhere. Having seen things were about to turn ugly between his brothers he had decided to intervene. He grabbed Scott and forced him to release his grip on Gordon.
"GET OFF ME, VIRGIL!" roared Scott.
"SCOTT, YOU ARE OUT OF LINE!" shouted Virgil.
Scott stared at Virgil in disbelief. "You're DEFENDING HIM?!" he exclaimed. "WHAT HE DID WAS-"
"Correct," Virgil said, stunning Scott into silence. "I agree with you, Scott. It was reckless of Gordon for what he did. But what he's just said about Dad is also true. That's the kind of person he was." His angry face turned into a sad one. "He's already proved it, too."
Scott looked down at his boots as sadness flooded through his veins. Immediately his vision was filled with the harrowing video footage of Jeff inside the Zero-X as he attempted to get it out of the Earth's atmosphere only for them to see it explode in a massive fireball.
"That hurt, Virgil," said Scott, tears starting to fill his eyes.
"I know," said Virgil. "But you needed to hear it. I'm sorry."
Scott turned away to wipe his eyes.
Gordon sat himself back against Thunderbird 4's cockpit, also sad at the memories of seeing the Zero-X explosion. "Thanks, Virgil," he whispered. "Scott, I truly am sorry for what I did. I won't do it again. I promise."
Scott glanced back over his shoulder whilst keeping his back to both him and Virgil. "Glad to hear it," he said with a slight croak in his voice.
Hayley had been completely unaware of the drama going on further forward. She'd been too busy waiting for Admiral Hart to join her and Captain Hart in the conversation. Using the wrist communicator on her suit, she addressed the father and son via hologram on what she'd learned from the submarine's computer. "We thought there might be more than one of the Bereznik submarines here," she was saying. "According to this order issue they're all in the area! The B-926 was the one that sank the Andromeda and attempted to sink the Queen Alexandra."
"And what of the others?" asked Admiral Hart.
"Well this submarine came from within the A-850 to attack shipping in the bay, specifically the Liparus," Hayley said. "The rest of them are somewhere out in the Atlantic hunting the Valiant. They need to be warned, sir."
Admiral Hart grimaced. "I feared as much," he said. "I'll contact them straight away. Good work, Lieutenant Madison."
"Thank you, sir," said Hayley as the Admiral signed off.
"What news of the sub's crew?" asked Captain Hart.
"The gas worked to an extent, sir," Hayley replied. "Two crew unconscious. The others are checking the rest of the sub. None of them have reported yet."
"Roger," said Captain Hart. "Inform me when all are accounted for."
Hayley turned back to the computer and looked at the translated message again. Suddenly she was grabbed from behind. She cried out in alarm as two strong arms wrapped themselves around her body and dragged her back to the rear of the control room. It was the Captain of the submarine and he had grabbed hold of Hayley's weapon before snatching her. He now held it up against her helmet as Fitzgerald entered the control room.
"SUB!" Fitzgerald shouted, raising his own weapon at the Bereznik officer. "DROP THE WEAPON!"
"NYET!" shouted the Captain in a strong accent. "YOU DROP WEAPON, OR I KILL HER!"
"Lower her weapon, sir," ordered Fitzgerald more calmly, although he could feel his heart racing inside of him.
"YOU ARE BENEATH ME, BOY!" roared the Captain. "I AM COMMANDER OF SHIP! I GIVE ORDERS! DROP YOUR WEAPON!"
Hayley seized a chance. She stamped hard on the Captain's left foot. He yelped and let go of her. She then swung her head back slamming the rear of her helmet onto the Captain's chin causing him to swear in his native language. Hayley spun clear before grabbing the Captain and pulling him forwards before slamming his head against the periscope. He cried out a third time before falling to the floor, clutching his head and groaning in agony.
Fitzgerald lowered his weapon. "Are you okay, Sub?" he asked.
Hayley was panting to get her breath back, then nodded. "Yeah, I'm good," she said. "Where are the others?"
Wright and Shrapnel then appeared with the cuffed crewmember. "Duìzhǎng!" he cried when he saw the Captain on the floor. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" he tried to lunge at Hayley but Shrapnel and Wright held him back.
"That's four," said Hayley. "Any others?"
"One - deceased," said Fitzgerald. "He caught George off guard."
Shrapnel looked ashamed of himself. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I wasn't thorough enough."
Hayley wasn't bothered by that. "As long as you guys are alive, that's all I care about," she said. "Let's get these morons back to Dragonfly. Then we're going after the big one."
"The big one?" asked Wright.
Before Hayley could reply, a groan from the Captain made them all look down at him. He looked up at Hayley with a mixture of hatred and amusement. "You lose," he said and pressed a button on his wrist controller which activated a siren, made red lights start flashing and a series of strange symbols appeared on the main monitor screen.
"Er, what's that?" asked Shrapnel.
Hayley's eyes widened as she realised what this meant. "Oh, God! Self-destruct timer!" she said. She ran across past Fitzgerald and punched a button on the wall which opened up an emergency exit in the side of the control room. "EVERYONE, OUT! NOW!"
Fitzgerald, Wright, Shrapnel and their prisoner hastily dived out of the submarine into the water. Hayley went last and only just managed to jump out as the self-destruct reached zero. There was a bright white light and an ear-splitting boom as the submarine exploded in a fireball, the shockwave hitting Hayley and sending her flying further than the others had jumped and she hit the water hard. Despite the protective suit, the impact was strong enough to knock her unconscious.
Scott, Virgil and Gordon all jumped when the explosion happened. They turned to see the huge column of fire shoot high into the sky where the submarine had been.
"Good grief! The sub's exploded!" exclaimed Scott.
"Come on!" said Virgil. "We've gotta do something!"
Gordon scrambled back into Thunderbird 4. "Hang tight, Virg, I'll drive us there."
Scott fired up his jetpack. "I'll take Thunderbird 1 across," he said. "Alan, have you offloaded the crew of the tanker?"
"Last one's in care of paramedics now, Scott," Alan said. "What was that explosion?"
"The Bereznik sub," Scott replied. "There's a warship close by and I could have sworn they'd put some people aboard. We need to see if we can help."
Alan ran back into Thunderbird 2 which was parked on the tarmac at the Gibraltar Airport. "F-A-B! I'm on my way!" he said.
Thunderbird 2's mighty VTOL engines roared as it took to the air once more before making its way over towards where the Dragonfly was. Scott was now in Thunderbird 1 and also heading over to the new scene of devastation.
Arriving on the scene, the Tracy brothers found a scene of total carnage. Large chunks of the destroyed sub had been scattered in all directions. Some had even landed on the Dragonfly. It looked like a small fire had broken out behind the funnel and the crew were battling to contain it, at least those who weren't seeming to be disoriented by what had happened.
"Thunderbird 5, can you detect anybody in the water?" asked Virgil. "With all this debris it's hard to make out what is what."
"I can, Virgil," John answered from the space-station. "Guys, use your heads-up displays. I'll mark all the bodies in orange so you can identify where to go."
Virgil didn't have his helmet on so he wasn't able to do much. However, Scott, Alan and Gordon could use the ones built into the consoles of Thunderbirds 1, 2 and 4 to see the orange signatures.
"You're in the better position, Thunderbird 4," said Scott. "Virgil, pick them up and transfer them to the evac-chairs."
"F-A-B," said Virgil as he positioned himself right at the very front of Thunderbird 4's front-end. "You will have to guide me, Gordon."
"F-A-B," said Gordon. "Approaching the first one now. They're underneath that piece of debris."
Virgil reached out, moved the chunk of debris and a body popped to the surface. It was Wright, and he was alive. "Hang on, sir. I've got you," said Virgil as he pulled Wright up onto Thunderbird 4. "Take us to the next one, Gordon."
Gordon moved Thunderbird 4 over to the right towards the next target, which turned out to be Shrapnel and the Bereznik prisoner. Shrapnel appeared to be unconscious whilst the Bereznik crewman was dead, having been hit on the head by a piece of falling wreckage. Alan lowered the evac-chairs and Virgil and Wright, despite Wright having suffered injury to his left shoulder, helped the unconscious Shrapnel and the body of the deceased crewman into the chairs. They then found Fitzgerald. They found the visor in his helmet had shattered and any attempt to get him to respond ended in failure as a scan from Virgil revealed that he had drowned.
Even though they weren't in communication with International Rescue, the crew of the Dragonfly who weren't dealing with the damage watched anxiously as their comrades were fished out of the water. A hand signal from Wright told them that Fitzgerald was deceased which sent shockwaves of sadness flooding through their veins.
Finally, Thunderbird 4 approached the last orange contact in the water. Virgil could see the body of a person laying face down in the water and he prepared himself for another potential fatality. Taking a hold of the body, he pulled it aboard Thunderbird 4 and laid it down on the deck. As he scanned the body, he was relieved to see a heartbeat and then he looked inside the helmet. He found himself freezing for a moment as he gazed at the face of the woman inside. A strange feeling came over him. Although he could not see her fully, he couldn't help but feel a kind of attraction towards her. He felt his hands seem to move by themselves towards the helmet with a strong curiosity to remove it so he could see her face properly.
"Virgil?"
Virgil snapped back to reality. "Scott?"
"Are you okay?" Scott asked.
Virgil shook himself as he pulled himself together. "Yes, of course," he said. "Alan, we have one more and then you can take them off of here."
"Okay, Virgil," said Alan. "Am I taking them back to shore like the others?"
"No, Alan, I've just spoken with the Captain of the ship," said Scott. "He's requested that we drop them on the stern and let his medical team take care of them."
"F-A-B."
Wright had gotten himself into one of the other evac-chairs. He and Shrapnel were on one side whilst the bodies of Fitzgerald and the Bereznik crewmember were on the other.
Virgil lifted Hayley up off the front of Thunderbird 4 and placed her gently in one of the evac-chairs. As he pulled the safety-bar down over her, he noticed she was beginning to come around.
Hayley's eyes opened a little bit. Everything was blurry, but through the visor of her helmet, she could just make out the figure of a man standing directly in front of her. She couldn't see his eyes properly of any of his facial features but she could just about tell that he had black hair and was wearing a blue outfit with some kind of green sash over his left shoulder. Then she thought she heard a voice accompanying the movement of the man's lips. "It's okay, miss. You're safe now."
Virgil stepped back as Alan retracted the winch hoisting the evac-chairs up towards Thunderbird 2. As it did, he saw the woman's hand begin to reach out towards him, but it was already out of reach before he had the time to react to it.
Gordon, seeing Virgil's strange behaviour, emerged from the top of Thunderbird 4's cockpit. "You sure you're okay, Virg?" he asked.
"Y-Yes, Gordon," said Virgil, although he didn't sound entirely sure. "I'm…fine."
Hayley couldn't be sure how long she'd been out for, but by the time she'd come to her senses she found herself lying on a mattress on the aft deck of the Dragonfly. She could feel the thumping of the ship's engines through the deck and as she sat up, she realised that they were travelling at quite a high speed. Looking around, she saw Wright being tended to by Fallowfield whilst Shrapnel was wrapped in a blanket looking miserable.
"Hey," said a voice. Hayley looked and saw it was Taylor. "You're awake."
"Robyn?" said Hayley sitting up. "What happened?"
"The Bereznik sub exploded. You were thrown into the water," Taylor said.
Hayley tried hard to remember. Then the memories began to flood back. "Self-destruct…explosion…a man…"
"A man?" Taylor asked.
"Yes, a man in blue," Hayley said. "He said something to me. I couldn't quite make it out."
"That would have been the guy from International Rescue who fished you all out of the water then," said Taylor.
Hayley's eyes went wide. "International Rescue saved me?!" She began to look around for any sign of the Thunderbird machines. But they were nowhere in sight. She also noticed that the crystal blue sky had turned dull and was becoming grey and overcast.
"They've gone, I'm afraid," said Taylor. "They finished with the tanker and ended up assisting us after the explosion. Lucky they were able to get to you in time."
Hayley's heart sank like a stone. She'd wanted to meet International Rescue just as much as she had wanted to catch a glimpse of a Thunderbird. To hear that she'd been close to death and had been rescued by one of their members made her feel very upset. She tried to get up.
"Easy, Lieutenant," said Assistant Medic Haydon Hebb. "Try to stay still. You got thrown quite a distance by that blast. We need to run some scans on you."
"Never mind about me!" Hayley said abruptly. "Where are the others? I've seen Neil and George over there."
Hebb and Taylor looked solemnly at each other and didn't reply.
Hayley looked between the two. "Why have you both gone silent?" she asked suspiciously. "Where are Andrew, James and Dr Banner?"
Hebb moved to one side and let out a deep sorrow-filled sigh. "They're over there," he said sadly.
Hayley turned her head and she froze, her eyes widening with horror at the sight of four body-bags laying side-by-side along the side of the deck. Three were covered in white ensigns whilst the other had no flag at all. "NO!" Hayley cried, trying to sit up but was kept down by Hebb and Taylor.
"I'm sorry, Hayley," said Taylor. "The RHIB was right next to the submarine when it blew. Andrew had his visor blown out when he hit the water most likely."
Hayley was shaking. She couldn't believe what she was hearing and seeing. As she looked over at the body-bags again, she could feel her eyes filling up with tears. "They didn't make it," she said in a shaky voice. "Damn it!"
Taylor squeezed Hayley's hand and handed her a clean tissue for her to use. Hebb went off to see how Wright and Shrapnel were.
Pulling herself together as best she could, Hayley looked up at Taylor. "Where are we going?" she asked, re-remembering that the Dragonfly seemed to be moving at quite a speed.
"To rendezvous with the Valiant's task group," said Taylor. "We're going to join its protection team as part of a hunter-killer group."
Hayley sat herself up. "We're going to hunt down the other subs?"
"If we can," said Taylor. "But you know how difficult they are to track. They're terribly stealthy." She stood up. "I have to get back to the bridge," she said. "You take it easy."
Hayley looked out across the water. No longer was it the tranquil calm warmth of the Mediterranean. It was now the cold, grey, unforgiving vastness that was the North Atlantic. "You're out there somewhere," she said quietly with a touch of bitterness in her voice. "And we WILL find you!"