Tragedy near paradise!

All of the Tracey family had gathered together on Tracey Island, to celebrate the third birthday of International Rescue! Lady Penelope, Parker, Brains, Fermat, Tin -Tin and her parents were all assembled with them. A buffet had been laid out, they all agreed a buffet was a good idea, just in case they were called away on another mission during the festivities. A cake, Alan insisted on a cake in the shape of Tracey Island and was pleased with what he saw at the end of the table.

Jeff stepped forward and started to speak: -

"Well, another year together and another set of rescue's together. We have had our ups and downs, and the people around us, the people here have helped to make the downs more easy to handle and the ups more enjoyable while they have lasted. International Rescue is getting stronger and stronger and can only do that if we continue to do what we do, work as a team, a unit, a family. If we continue to do this, then no one can stop us, as we cannot survive without each other, with out family we lose our support system and our bond, which keeps us together and strong! You never know what is round the corner or what disaster's will require our immediate assistance, so enjoy this party and each others company before we get called away again. I am proud of you all and could wish for no other support system or family in the world!"

You could see the tears welling up in Parker's eyes as he stood amongst the others, who looked proud or embarrassed at the long emotional speech they had just listened to.

Alan the youngest of the brothers at a troublesome age of 15, was a little red in the face, but was very proud of what his father had said. He unlike his older brothers had only just recently been counted as one of the team along with his friends Fermat and Tin-Tin. It had not really sunk in until, the speech his dad just gave, which made him feel like he was apart of the family.

Gordon was standing next to him, only 4 years older than Alan, he was not red in the face but had a proud grin instead, he stood there with his hands behind his back, standing tall like a proud young man would.

Virgil was standing next, he stood in the middle of the line and was the middle son being 21 years of age. He stood with a proud but almost cheeky grin on his face, he nudged John who stood next to him and kept pointing over to Parker who was wiping his eyes with a handkerchief. He like most at the age of twenty did not show their emotions easily and hid them greatly by attending to others.

John and Scott are both around 25 years of age, John usually mans Thunderbird 5 monitoring situations around the world relaying details back to the others, he stood proud of his fathers words and he also strong by not acknowledging the nudges coming from his younger brother.

Scott manned Thunderbird 1; he was usually cheeky with his dad, as they joked with each other on who was a better pilot especially when they were on a mission. Jeff would throw some comment over about watching what he was doing or being careful, Scott would do the same and they would escalate it on further from that. But today Jeff could see the look of pride in his son's eyes and a look of embarrassment from him as well, which would not stay on for long.

Brains was looking at a hand held monitor and then started to push some buttons on it as if he were looking for something.

"Put the monitor down brains and have some food, enjoy yourself!" said Jeff from amongst the clan.

"There appears to be a small v' v' v', Boat closing in on the island Mr Tracey!" he replied.

"How big brains?" Asked Scott

"Small enough to get this cl' cl' cl', near and Big enough to hold 4 pe' pe' pe', occupants!" he answered.

"I'll go and see what they want on a Jet Ski, tell them they are nearing private property!" he announced as he headed toward the Jet-ski bay.

"Take John with you, I don't want you to go alone just in case they mean trouble son!" insisted Jeff.

"Why John, dad? He'll only slow me down!" he said looking at John with a huge grin on his face.

"Slow you down, I was always better than you on a jet-ski Scott, you'll be tasting the spray from my jet-ski before you can say F.A.B!" he said as he went catch up his brother!

"F.A.B.! Look you still haven't caught me up, you'll be eating your words my dear brother!" said Scott realising John was catching him up as he ran for the Jet-ski hold.

As the two headed over to the approaching boat, they were neck and neck, speeding through the water at a tremendous pace, each looking over at the other as they sped to the boat, as the came upon it they both turned to the side and stopped with style.

"Afternoon, can we be of any assistance?" said Scott to the tall, bloke at the wheel of the pleasure boat that stood before him.

"We are just out on small family holiday, we thought we would see what was on the island, it was on our map with no label or name and we thought it could be fun!" Replied the man at the wheel, he was around 45 years of age and looked like he needed this holiday. He had on Bermuda shorts, bare feet and a bright shirt; he had a gold wedding band on his finger with three different coloured diamonds on it.

"Well the island is private property and there is nothing interesting to see, if you would like to tell us where you are heading to, we will point you in the right direction!" Instructed John as he sat on the Jet Ski dangling his ankles in the cool seawater.

"We are gonna head out east and see where it takes us, thank you and sorry to have bothered you!" As he said this a blonde mature lady came out from the cabin; she like the man had a gold wedding ring on with three different coloured diamonds.

"Would either of you two boys like some fresh orange juice, since it is a lovely sunny and hot day?" Asked the lady as she stepped up into the sunlight.

The brothers looked at each other; Scott smiled as John licked his lips. "Thank you very much that's very kind of you!" answered both of them in unison.

"Jenny, John, bring up the pitcher of orange juice and a tray with six glasses!" yelled the blonde woman, She was wearing a long summer yellow dress with flowers on it and bare feet.

"Why? Is dad really thirsty again!" Said a voice from within the boat.

"Just do what your mother say's you two!" yelled by the bloke down into the cabin. He turned and looked at the Brothers "Where are my manners? I am William Harris and this is my wife Amanda!" he said as he pointed to himself and his wife.

"I'm Scott and this is my brother John!"

A boy who looked around Alan's age, with bright blonde hair and Bermuda shorts like his dad's, came up with a large heavy looking pitcher of orange juice and passed it over to his mum! "There you go! Don't say I never do anything for you!" He said and sat down on a chair by the front of the boat!

"Thank you John!" Said Amanda "This is our son John!"

"Hello John!" Chimed Scott and John

Shortly after a girl of around 20 years of age with brown hair tied back from her face, she had a black swimming costume on and a pink sarong round her waist. "You're so lucky! John tried to take the glasses and I knew they wouldn't make it up here in one piece especially if he had his way!"

"Thank you Jenny!" Said Amanda as she started to pour juice into the glasses.

The girl stood and held the tray steady and glanced over at John and Scott, as she saw them she smiled widely. They smiled back, John a little more widely than Scott did!

"You two were gone a while!" Said Jeff as his two eldest arrived back into the office.

"John boy here was being chatted up by a young girl!" Said Scott and then side stepped away from his brother while grinning at him.

"Ha ha, very funny Scott, the owners of the boat offered us some orange juice as it was really hot out there! We thought it would be rude to refuse!" Said John as he finished he glared at his brother.

"John can you link us up to Thunderbird five, so we can keep an eye on the conditions?" Said Jeff, smiling at the banter being thrown across by his two eldest sons.

"F.A.B. Dad!" He said as he sat in front of a computer screen and did as asked!

'BEEP' 'BEEP' 'BEEP' 'BEEP' 'BEEP' 'BEEP' 'BEEP' 'BEEP' 'BEEP'

John opened his eye's looked at the clock by his bed and saw it nearly 3 in the morning, the beeping noise he heard was not his alarm clock, which meant that it must have been the Thunderbird warning system!

As he got to the office, Scott and his dad had beaten him to the console and the three younger brothers were rushing in behind him, all of them stood in the office and were still in their nightwear and not all of them were awake!

"Looks like that boat you two met earlier has been caught in a rough thunderstorm!" Announced Jeff.

"They are sending a distress call out, they have taken heavy damage and are beginning to sink, I have instructed them to keep the communications equipment switched on, as that should help give us an exact location on the boat itself!" Scott said while looking at a console.

"I suggest we take Thunderbird 2 with Thunderbird 4 and the rescue platform to rescue them and then we will need Thunderbird 1, to check on, as well as shine a light on the search area" Instructed Jeff.

Thunderbird 1 was the first on the scene; Scott shone a bright light on the search area. Thunderbird 4 was dropped just before the main area for safety reasons and then Thunderbird 2 positioned it self above what seemed to be the boat, which was now heavily damaged and almost sunk!

Alan was in Thunderbird 4 and dove underneath the wreckage, the grappling irons came out and lifted the boat up, once the boat was above the surface, Virgil and Gordon could get on board from the rescue platform which would be lowered down next to the boat.

Jeff was piloting Thunderbird 2 and as he could not see below Thunderbird 2 he had instructions from Scott in Thunderbird 1 and also from John who was monitoring from the rescue platform.

Alan steadied the boat as much as he could, he could see through the hole in the hull and see that Virgil and Gordon were now inside and helping the survivors from the inside to get out.

He knew that he had his work cut out for him, not only did he have to try and stay in the one place due to the currents, as his brothers could come out of the boat and find they were not near the rescue platform. He also knew he could not lose his grip or concentration, as the consequences would be worse! They could be stuck in the sinking boat as it fell to the depths of the sea!

Gordon grabbed Young John the 14-year-old of the family and then passed him on up to Virgil. Virgil was on deck and would take young John and then pass him up to the rescue platform. On the platform was John who would take him and secure him to the platform ready for the next one!

Gordon looked down and could only see one other survivor in the boat Jenny! He helped her up to Virgil and decided to scout the boat just in case. Virgil helped her up out of the boat and then passed her over to John who secured her to the platform.

Gordon came out of the boat and gave a look to Virgil and John and relayed a message to Alan.

Alan received the message that all survivors and his brothers were off the vessel and so dropped the boat. He also received a message that the platform was going back up and out of the weather and he needed to keep looking for more survivors for a while!

He thought to himself about, if and how to find anyone left here, it was very poor visibility and strong currents he had thought against to keep the boat steady. If anyone were not on the boat they would not be able to stay close or survive very long! He looked any way because he remembered what his dad had said earlier on, in his speech that "you never know what may be around the corner" and he hoped he would have good news around the corner!

When the platform was safely on board Virgil took Young John and strapped him into one of the seats up front and put a blanket around him to help dry him off and warm him up.

Gordon got a blanket and put it around Jenny who sat looking at John.

"Where are your parents?" John asked whilst using the blanket to try and warm her up!

"They were on deck!" she stopped and took a huge breath. "They gave out the distress call and then we" another huge breath "We hit some rocks!" She sat there and was breathing erratically.

"How long before we got here was it when you hit the rocks?" asked John as he tried to calm the worried Jenny.

She shrugged her shoulders and took another deep breath. "We hit the rocks, just after they started the distress call!" She continued to breathe erratically and started to wheeze when she did so!

John knew it had been 25 minutes now since they had received the distress call! He was not able to hide the fear in his face! He looked at Jenny who now started to go pale in the face from her erratic breathing! "DAD!" he yelled with panic in his voice.

"Gordon Take the Controls!" Yelled Jeff from the pilot's seat.

"Yes dad!" he replied.

They quickly changed position and Jeff grabbed the medical bag from the side locker! He sat down behind Jenny and pulled out a brown paper bag! He placed it in her hands and aided her as she put it to her mouth!

"Breath in with me and out with me OK?" He said this, as he looked her straight in the eyes making sure she understood what he had said. She nodded. "IN........OUT........IN........OUT...." He continued doing this along with hand gestures, until he knew she had stopped hyperventilating and both he and John guided her to a seat and strapped her in.

"Alan! Anything down their bro?" This came from Scott over the radio.

"No, not even fish! The current is very strong down here I've even lost track of the wreckage!" He replied as he looked out at the swirls of muddy water at the windshield of Thunderbird 4.

Jeff looked at John and knew in this weather they would not have survived and that they would not be found. All that was left to do was collect Thunderbird 4 and get these kids to a hospital where professionals could look after them. There was nothing else they could do! Nothing he could possibly think of or say could help bring back the parents of these children. All he could do was stand there and stare at the rescue platform and the water surrounding the place where Jenny was just sitting.

John realised how much passion his father gave to this job or what ever you would call they do. John saw how in each rescue and mission they took, that they were good at what they do, but he did not realise how hard his father took failure. They had been so lucky in most of their missions that they forgot the pain of losing a person and John could see the pain in his fathers eye's the same pain he saw in his fathers eye's when they lost Mum. John and his brothers knew how families are important through their dad and his love for them and that was what got them through that hard time.

John thought back to the speech his dad gave at the celebrations they had this afternoon: - "we cannot survive without each other, with out family we lose our support system and our bond that keeps us together and strong!" Those words were going round in his head and he realised these two children had lost their family and their support system. He started to imagine the pain they were going through and what he would have gone through if he didn't have his dad and his 4 brothers or come to think of it Brains, Fermat, Parker, Lady Penelope, Tin-Tin and her folks.

He then realised he had been standing still for a while, Thunderbird 4 was back on board and that they were nearly at the hospital. He looked up and his dad was looking at him with a worried but knowing fatherly look on his face.

"This job has its ups and downs son! We rarely celebrate our ups and we are hard on ourselves when we hit the downside. We can't be there for everyone! All we can do is try our best and be there for one another! Just think of the countless lives we have saved and the two children sitting there that would be gone with out us! We can only do so much, as we are only human. I love you son!" And with that Jeff hugged his son tightly, as he would with any of his boy's, like any father would do to their child as they try and take away the pain.

The authorities were notified of the situation and were waiting at the hospital, statements were given and the medical staff tended to the two children. The Thunderbirds then headed back to Tracey island, like they had done on all previous missions, they had a home to go back to and lives to live, although they might not be in the same frame of mind for a while! They would have to go on more missions and deal with victories as well as more defeats in their own way and in their own time like always!

As Jeff has said before: - "We may not like this job or some of its consequences, or even the things you have to do but, IT'S WHAT WE DO!"