Disclaimer
Thunderbirds and all the characters etc. belong to Gerry Anderson and Working Title films, I'm just borrowing them.
A/N - sorry if this chapter is a bit boring compared to the others, but there will be some more action soon, I promise!
Accidents
Chapter 5 – Not Quite As It Seems…
"I want you to go through all the pre-flight checks that were done on that missile. Find out why this malfunction occurred, and to make sure that it can never happen again. Do you understand?" Colonel Roberts said very quickly to the technicians that were still in the command centre "Who was in charge of the missile assembly and checks?" he asked one of the men as an afterthought
"Sergeant Dannir, sir"
"Get him up here as soon as possible." He should know if there was anything odd or not working as it should have done, he added to himself
"I gave you that device to sabotage the NASA missile so that it would bring International Rescue onto the scene, but I never imagined that it would hit the Thunderbird in space itself. It worked even better than I had hoped." The man smiled, an evil-looking smile that made him look even worse "What of the other task I gave you" The evil man asked, switching subjects.
"It has also been taken care of" The smaller man said confidently.
"Did they suspect anything?"
"Nothing. They all thought that it was a wonderful idea."
"Good, you have done well" The 'Master' signalled that the other could leave by a wave of his hand.
The smaller man quickly left, eager to be away from the other man.
"Yes" the man said quietly once the other was out of earshot, looking at a frozen image on the screen of the computer consoles aboard Thunderbird 5 just before it had been hit and thinking about all the other plans he had set into motion "Very well indeed."
"You called me up here, sir." A young, dark-skinned man asked Colonel Roberts as he walked out of the lift and into the Command centre.
"Ah, yes, Sergeant Dannir. You were in charge of the checks on the T-42 missiles, were you not?" Colonel Roberts asked, leading the other man into his office
"Yes sir."
"Did you notice anything out of the ordinary during the checks, or the pre-flight tests?"
"Nothing sir. Everything appeared normal, but you would need to speak to the rest of the pre-flight team to be sure, sir." Sergeant Dannir added
"Then that's what we'll do. Please, lead the way Sergeant"
"Is this your whole team?"
"I think so…no, hang on, there is someone missing. Where is Technician Braddick?" he asked no one in particular
"He was here this morning, but to be honest sir, I don't think I have seen him since the launch checks" another man answered
"Who is this Braddick?"
"He has been working here for a couple of weeks now, and seemed very eager to work on the T-42 project, but now that you mention it, I don't really know much about him at all."
"What was he working on?"
"He was in charge of the checks for the missile's guidance system. He knew what he was doing, so he was the only technician assigned to that section." Dannir replied, realising how suspicious this sounded.
"Do you have an address for him?"
"Yes, I think so. I'll have a look through the files to see if I can find anything else on him at the same time." Sergeant Dannir said helpfully, before disappearing into an office.
"Sir" Dannir said as he came back. "It appears that we don't have an address for him, or anything else for that matter. It seems that the records have been erased"
"Erased? That is very suspicious. Are you sure that no information survived." Roberts asked, quickly realising that this Braddick had to be the saboteur they were looking for.
"Certain sir, the record is just gone."
"Is it possible that Braddick could have somehow sabotaged the missile, without anyone noticing?"
"I guess so, but we need to find someone who knows him a bit better to be sure."
"Do you know if he has any family? Someone that we could talk to." Roberts asked, this could finally be the break they had been looking for.
"I don't know, but I do vaguely remember a conversation the team and I had, including Braddick, at lunch about a week ago. Somehow we got talking about where we were from and I think he said his family were from Malaysia, or somewhere like that anyway."
"Well, if that's all we have to go on, it'll have to do. Thank you Sergeant" Colonel Roberts left and went back to his office. When he was alone, he said to himself "Now if I could just get hold of International Rescue. They deserve to know what really went on with that missile."
"Mr Tracy, I think I have…" Brains started
"Ah, Brains. Please tell me you have good news about Thunderbird 5" Jeff almost begged
"Well, not really. I have managed to create a partial link, through the specific-frequency antenna linking Thunderbird 5 to here, to what is left of the computer systems on board, but it is very unstable. I don't know how long it will last" Brains explained
"Can you get us a damage report?" Gordon asked, having heard Brains talking with his father while he was on the balcony
"I already have, but it doesn't look good. Maybe I should tell everyone at once" he suggested. Jeff quickly sent Gordon to fetch his brothers, while Brains went to find Kyrano and Tin Tin.
"Alright Brains, tell us" Jeff said, when everyone had got to the lounge
"Yes. Well, life support and artificial gravity appear to be unaffected, and it seems that John must have closed all the internal airlocks before it hit…" everyone breathed a sigh of relief "But the main control room is open to space, as well as several of the rooms below it."
"Where was John when it hit?" Scott asked hesitantly
"We have no way of knowing"
"Right, Brains, I want you to try to get us a view into Thunderbird 5 through one of the monitors, I don't care how you do it." Jeff ordered "But as soon as those parts come in, I want Thunderbird 3 ready to launch as soon as possible"
"F.A.B Mr Tracy" Brains said, and then left the room to go back to his lab.
"What shall we do father?" Alan asked. Jeff didn't know what to say, so was glad when Kyrano answered for him
"Don't lose hope. John will be alright, as will all of you" Everyone looked to Kyrano, surprised, but knew that he was right. They couldn't give up hope.
The next day:
"Mr Tracy, I think I can get you that visual link you wanted" Brains said as he walked into the lounge, where the family were still sitting. "I can put it through to here if you want."
"Please, we need some good news" Jeff muttered. After a few minutes of him tinkering away at the console behind Jeff's desk, John's screen turned into a fuzzy picture. The interference disappeared for about a second before the screen went blank once more.
"What happened? Did we get a picture?" Virgil demanded
"Yes, but the connection to Thunderbird 5 is lost. I can't get it back" Brains said "I'll see if the screen managed to record the image." Moments later, the screen was filled with a still image of a damaged computer console in the secondary control room of Thunderbird 5. But it wasn't the bank of computers in the background that held everyone's attention, but rather the figure lying on the floor in front of them.
"John" Jeff gasped quietly. John was lying on his back, partially hidden under pieces of debris, and resting his side against the panel behind him. His left arm was stretched awkwardly out to his side and a large piece of metal was lying across his right leg. His blue uniform and lilac-coloured sash was stained with dirt and blood, and it wasn't clear from the picture if he was even still alive.
"I'm sorry Mr Tracy, but that's the best I can do. Thunderbird 5 is just too damaged." Brains said softly as the image left the screen and was replaced by John's portrait. Yet everyone knew that that picture would haunt their dreams for some time.
2 days later:
"Hi Virgil, Gordon. You couldn't sleep either, huh?" Scott asked groggily as he walked into the lounge carrying a cup of coffee and seeing two of his brothers sitting on the sofa, also with coffee. He sat down beside them
"Hi Scott. I think the only reason Alan isn't here too is because he's exhausted himself trying to get Thunderbird 3 ready for the new parts. Come to think of it, weren't you helping them?" Gordon asked
"I was, until Brains snapped at me for getting in the way all the time. He's been rather on edge the last few days."
"Who hasn't" Virgil muttered "I don't think I've seen dad this worked up since mum died. I don't know what he'd do if…"
"Don't even think about it Virgil. We'll get him back, somehow."
"Yeah, but will we be in time. You saw the photo, we don't even know if he's alive. We may have to accept that he might not be coming back." Gordon was cut off by a glare from Scott
"No Gordon, I won't accept it. We'll get him back, we just have to!"
TBC…
A/N 2 - There, that should give you something to think about. And if anyone has any ideas as to what the 'other task' the bad guy set it is, I would be happy to hear them. Let's see if anyone can get it right!