A/N Hey Everyone! I came up with this idea the night before music camp. The ages of the boys are from Thunderbirds Online, and this is sort of based on the episode, The Imposters, except the girls aren't evil! Oh, and this is also probably gonna be a fluff romance fiction, on a base of good, solid Thunderbirds fun! So be nice, read and review – constructive criticism welcome – flames are not. For reasoning, see the first chapter of Kryptonite!
And I don't own these characters, The wonderfully talented Gerry and Sylvia Anderson do!
Chapter 1 – A Tale of Two Rescuers
"Calling International Rescue," A voice blared out around the space station, and John untangled himself from the string set Alan had left him for "In-between rescue" moments.
He jogged over to the radio systems, and hit a button, answering the hail.
"This is International Rescue... what seems to be the problem?"
"Help!" The voice screeched over the radio waves, "Our oil tanker's run aboard some rocks... It's blown up!"
John grimaced.
"What is your exact location..."
"We're off the coast of Australia! Near Botany Bay! Help us International Rescue!"
"Alright... keep this channel open, and I'll contact our base..." John switched frequencies.
"International Rescue base... this is Thunderbird 5..."
"Go ahead John..." The wonderfully calm voice of his father flooded through the speakers.
"We've got another rescue father, Off the coast of Australia... near Botany Bay... an oil tanker's blown up..."
"Alright... we haven't got time to loose... I'll send Scott on his way... and you brief him as he goes..."
"F.A.B. Father..."
A brown haired girl keyed in a few buttons, and hailed her mother on her island base below.
"Go ahead Christiana..."
"Mother! International Rescue's been called to the scene of the Australia oil tanker explosion..."
"Australia?"
"Yes mother..."
"That's only 5 minutes away with Lightning-bolt One..."
"Exactly mother! We can make it before them!"
Amelia surveyed her other daughters over her glasses.
"Aurora... Ashley... can you two get on the scene?"
"Yes Mother..." Aurora leapt from her chair, and walked over to a portrait of herself, where a lift was revealed. She stepped inside, and flashed a smile at Ashley, before being dropped into her ship's silo.
Aurora, being the eldest Castra daughter, at 26, chose to drive the streamlined jet, Lightning-bolt one, which was a pale blue – designed to blend in, if necessary, with the sky... all except the silver wings, and nose-cone.
"Your turn Ashley..." Ashley bit her lip as her mother spoke.
"Something wrong?" Amelia leaned back in her chair.
"Well... Yes mother... I just..." Ashley stopped, and took a breath, "I guess I'm a little uneasy... International Rescue has already been called to the scene... Why should we intervene?"
"Because Ashley," Amelia sighed, "There are people's lives at risk... and we're closer to the scene with our new jets... So If we can rescue them, and bring them liberation, then why not?"
Ashley nodded.
"Alright..."
"Now, You'd better get going, Ash... Your sister's nearly ready..."
Ashley walked over to her own respective portrait, and slipped into the lift, going down to the Lightning-Bolt 2 silo.
Ashley was forced into the freighter jet, after letting her older sisters choose their respective vessels. She didn't mind Lightning-bolt 2 – it responded to the gentlest touch, and was a smooth ship to fly... she just disliked the size...
A blast in the distance announced Aurora had taken off, and Ashley sighed, realising it was her turn to go...
Ashley keyed in a few buttons, and pushed a lever, the ship cruising into a gentle taxi. The silver jet pushed Ashley a little faster, as she keyed in a few more commands until eventually, she was flying into the sky blue expanse that was the sky above Castra Island.
Sinking back into her chair, Ashley silently prayed that International Rescue wouldn't be too ticked off with Universal Salvage.... They just couldn't be... right?
Scott was about to pull into a landing, when a sky blue jet caught his eye.
"What the…"
"Oil camp... this is Thunderbird one..."
"Thunderbird one, this is oil camp... we're sorry to have called you out here... but we don't require your assistance anymore, Thunderbirds... the Lightning-bolts got here about 20 minutes ago... Look! Here comes their jet now!" Scott looked up, and sure enough, there was the magnificent silver jet, with the words Lightning-Bolt 2 emblazoned on the nose.
It touched into a gentle landing, rising up, only to drop the pod of tanker workers that had been trapped on board.
Scott was confused.
"Thunderbird One... this is Thunderbird Two... Come in Scott..." Virgil's voice crackled over the intercom, and Scott jumped.
"Here Virgil... I just don't get it..."
"Don't get what Scott?"
"There's another rescue organisation here... The Lightning-Bolts... they just completed the rescue..."
"What?"
"I know... I'll go down for a closer look..."
"F.A.B. Scott..."
Scott pulled into a gentle landing, when he spied the auburn haired, silver suited girl packing up equipment by the sky blue jet.
"Oy!" She turned around, and raised an eyebrow.
"Nice suit..." She smirked, indicating Scott's blue uniform, and he frowned.
"I take it you're the lightning-bolts?"
"I take it you're the Thunderbirds?" Scott's frown deepened.
"How come you've never shown up before?"
"We're new on the scene..." She turned back to her crates, and loaded the last piece of machinery into it, clipping the latch.
"So you decided to take one of our rescues..." Scott ran a hand through his hair, sighing.
"Well... we were first on the scene... and our technology is far surpassing yours..." The girl shrugged.
"Lightning-bolt one... this is Lightning-Bolt two... come in Rory..." A voice resonated from inside the cabin, and the girl raced up the loading ramp inside.
"Yeah Asha?"
"I've finished unloading the materials... I'm going home... OK?"
"Fab Asha... I'll be done in 10 minutes..."
"I don't think we did too badly for our first rescue, Rory... I mean... I don't think International Rescue..." Scott's ears perked up, as he strained to hear the conversation, "Got too angry with us..."
"I don't know Asha... There's one Thunderbird outside right now... I think he's a little angry..." Scott heard an audible sigh.
"Tell him we didn't mean any harm by it... we just want to do the same thing they do... rescue lives..."
Scott ran his hand through his hair - again, and nodded.
'I guess we both have the same mission... so I suppose we can all live in peace...' He stalked back to his ship, and pulled her off the ground, 'It doesn't mean I have to like it...'
Aurora returned down the ramp, expecting to see the man in his blue uniform, and weird hat – but he'd left.
Shrugging, Aurora packed up the rest of the equipment, and headed home.
"Another what?" Jeff rubbed his temples.
"There's another rescue organisation, father..." The rest of the Tracy sons, Tin-tin and Kyrano, each one eager to hear of this new competition, surrounded Scott.
"And they arrived at the scene before us?"
"Yes Father..."
Every member of the organisation tried to soak in this new information.
"Did they rescue the barge people?"
"Yes Father..."
"Then I guess we have nothing to worry about..." Jeff tried to sound re-assuring to his sons, but he knew they weren't going to be fooled.
"What should we do about this father?" Alan piped up, and Jeff looked at his youngest son.
"Nothing for now, Alan... They saved lives... I don't see why we can't just work together..."
Scott frowned, his brow becoming creased.
"What are you thinking of, Scott?" Virgil leaned over to his brother, and asked.
"I'm just wondering... that's all... When I confronted one of them... she said that their technology was far surpassing ours... does that mean that International Rescue will be out of business?"
Virgil look sceptical.
"As long as there are people in need, there'll be International Rescue... It's the way we are..."
Scott nodded.
"Thanks Virg..."
"No problems, Scottie..." Scott looked up, and glared at his brother.
"What?" Virgil stood, stepping backwards.
"What?" Scott launched himself at Virgil, who ducked out of the way, and bolted for dear life.
The brothers laughed, and pushed Universal Salvage to the back of their minds... at least for now...
A/N And There you have it! Any questions? Comments? You all know what to do!
Flames NOT welcome... just reinforcing the fact.
F1r3