Scott and Alan had taken One out for a spin. Initially, the idea had been to test her upgrades and give Alan a little more hands-on experience with her. The appearance of the Mechanic a while ago had emphasised how they all needed to be sure and comfortable flying each other's 'birds.

They hadn't been out for very long when Virgil and Gordon had been called out. With Kayo there as well, it had been unanimously decided that the testing was more important.

Alan was relishing the time at One's helm. He loved his ship, it was, after all, the best one, but if he had to choose a second – One would be it. Yeah, he loved Five too, but he was a speed junkie just like his eldest brother, and he never got enough.

Scott was standing behind him, huge grin on his face, enjoying Alan's expressions flying his 'bird. He shouldn't really be standing behind but strapped in, but he was enjoying this too much. Scott knew how to stand on his ship while she was flying ridiculously fast, Brains had made the cockpit secure enough, knowing that it could sometimes be necessary.

EOS' tones came over the comm. 'Scott, I am receiving a distress call from Squamish in Canada. Three climbers have not reported in at the scheduled time, and there is a weather front moving in.' Scott leaned over Alan's shoulder as EOS displayed the last known location of the climbers.

Squamish was a large area in Canada that had some of the best and most diverse climbing in the world. It had been on Scott's bucket list of climbing for years, but he had never made it there, either as a tourist or as a rescuer.

'Let me guess. They're missing on the Stawamus Chief?.' EOS' camera shook her head. 'No, Scott, they're on the Petgill Lake trail.' Scott nodded to himself. One of the harder trails. 'Explain where on the trail they have become lost, please.'

'They appear to have completed the first section of the trail and were heading though the forest towards the lake. The forest is quite dense and apparently there is an easy-to-miss trail. The hikers do not seem very knowledgeable of this particular trail.'

Scott moved to the passenger seat and buckled in. Alan hit the boosters and they shot off.

While they traversed the globe, EOS fine-tuned the sensors, hoping to get a better fix on the missing trio. By the time Thunderbird One was on approach to Murrin Provincial Park EOS had narrowed the likely location down to two places where there were groups of three signals moving around the woods in places off the trail.

They were going to have to split up, both groups in completely opposite directions. Murrin car park was exactly half-way between them. Just because the groups appeared off-trail did not mean that they were the lost ones, so Scott took the group furthest away, as Alan had known he would, and they both set off. Alan had one of Scott's spare jet packs – another piece of equipment to get used to.

Scott jetted off. He didn't need to wait for Alan to reach his own group, he trusted his brother completely, and he followed the holographic map to the location of his group. He found three men looking kind of sorry for themselves, soaked to the skin and tramping about muttering. They were so relieved to see Scott that he could have sworn one was crying.

They actually were not that far from the official trail, having simply turned aside too early to reach it, so Scott pointed them in the right direction while he brought up the rear, calling Alan to say he'd found them.

Alan did not answer. Frowning, Scott asked EOS if anything was wrong with Alan's communicator, but his so-called Scooter Sense was ringing off the chart by now. Passing the men by and saying he had another rescue to attend, Scott fired his pack up to maximum, shot upwards to clear the treeline and headed for Alan's co-ordinates.

Alan had not found three lost hikers where he was. No, he had found three very big, very angry men. He'd apologised for disturbing them, but they were not happy at all. And Alan had not been quick enough to move.

He found his arm grabbed by a large hand before he could trigger the jet pack and was dragged by the men through the forest to what appeared to be a small camp. This did not look good. Within minutes of arriving Alan found his hands and ankles bound, and the three men withdrew from him across the camp but still in sight. He took the opportunity to activate his comm.

Nothing.

Alan realised just what a problem he was in. They were looking at him and looking across the clearing to what looked like a cave in the cliff-face before them It wasn't a huge hill in front, but it looked like there had once been a mine in operation here. Alan knew there had once been an operational copper mine over 100 years ago a bit further south – Scott had begun explaining about the area while they were travelling – but this was not a main entrance.

Nothing.

No Alan, no three people and no comms. Something or someone was deliberately blocking Five's scans and that could mean only one thing. Alan was in terrible trouble. Alighting at the co-ordinates EOS had provided, Scott examined the ground and looked around. He needed to find his brother, and he needed to decide the best way to do this. Should he grab One or continue on foot? The forest was very dense here, and Scott was worried that he'd miss something if he flew. So he set off on foot.

It wasn't difficult to follow the trail. They obviously had not thought ahead that Alan was unlikely to be alone. He followed them as fast as he could while being as silent as possible, a task he'd mastered while serving but had proved to be invaluable for iR. He was just in time to see three very thick-set men – broader than Virgil even – hauling Alan into the entrance of a cave. Typical. Why was it that anything that looked like the safest option was always the one that put Alan in the most danger? He swore that if he had sent Gordon or Virgil they would have got the hikers and he would have got the danger. John was a whole different matter.

As he approached the entrance, slightly to the right so as to stay as hidden as possible, he updated EOS on what was going on. EOS had promptly contacted the GDF and they were on their way (god knows how long that would take), and let John know. The dead spot had moved with the men, and as Scott moved closer he just made out EOS telling John that he and Alan were needing help and John's reply of: 'Guys, something's going on with Scott and Alan. Gotta go.' Scott didn't have time to consider if Virgil and Gordon were alright – a simple sea rescue, nothing to go wrong there – before his comms cut out completely.

Nothing compared to the dead sound of no comms. It was one of Scott's worse nightmares, one that rarely happened nowadays but had happened regularly in the early days. Still, he trusted that John and EOS would work their usual magic, and he was comforted to know the GDF was on their way – even if he knew they would probably be too late. What he wouldn't give for Kayo to appear now, rather than be with Virg. She could at least take care of the three men while Scott rescued Alan.

The three men in question chose that time to come high-tailing it out of the cave – minus Alan. The speed they ran out told Scott all he needed to know, and he flung himself into the cave. The mine entrance, as his brain corrected him, was quite wide and deep, a complete contrast to the actual entranceway, which had barely fitted the three men. Running to the back where he was sure Alan would be, Scott actually tripped over his brother, eliciting a groan from the prone form on the ground.

Scott knew that there was little time. He didn't need his double degree nor his time the military to know that one. Alan was bound hand and foot, gagged as well and it looked like he'd taken a blow to the head. His helmet was missing. Quickly nabbing one of Alan's 'can openers', he made short work of the bonds and, removing his own helmet and placing it over Alan's head, he assisted his baby brother to his feet and they set off.

It wasn't a long distance to the entranceway, but it was too long.

As the ceiling collapsed around them, Scott gave a mighty shove to Alan, pushing him clear. Unfortunately, that meant Scott was not clear as everything came down around him, and Alan looked back in horror at the now blocked entrance. His fuzzy brain wasn't yet firing on all cylinders again, and it took him several heartbeats to realise that John was shouting at him. No, he wasn't shouting at him, John was shouting at Scott. Why was John calling him Scott?

The realisation that he had Scott's helmet on hit him hard; and was enough to get his befuddled brain back into gear. Scott had removed his helmet and given it to Alan. Why the hell did he then push Alan forward? Sometimes Alan swore he would never understand this over-protective streak his brothers had. Alan had armour and he had a helmet, Scott had none of these. Yet his self-sacrificing idiot of a brother had pushed him out of the way rather than protect himself.

Alan was going to kill him after he had dug him out.

There was a sudden loud whistling from his comms, and Alan clutched his head. 'God, John, ok! Ok, I'm here!'

'Alan! Why have you got Scott's helmet?'

'It's a bit of a difficult story John. I got jumped by three guys and tied up. Pretty sure they knocked me out judging from the headache I have. Next thing I know, Scott's picking me up and rushing me out.'

'Are you ok?'

Here Alan rolled his eyes. All his older brothers had that over-protective streak. As he answered he counted out the seconds it would take John to realise Scott wasn't here.

'I'm fine, John! But Scott..'

'Thank god! Gordon's on his way…wait, where's Scott?'

Three seconds.

'Scott's still in there. The entrance is blocked.'

'S***! Why didn't you say anything?'

And then Alan heard something he thought he never would.

John said nothing. Alan could here EOS filling base and Gordon – he'd ask about Virgil in a minute – in on what was happening here, which normally would have ben John. At the very least, he should have been issuing commands and comfort to Alan.

But he wasn't.

EOS came over the comm. 'Alan, I have Scott's signal. It's still strong and his vitals are stable.' Alan breathed a sigh of relief. And proceeded to do something he never thought he would. He reassured John.

'Hey, John, did you hear that? Scotty's just fine. EOS will keep an eye on him while Gordon and I dig him out in a minute, OK?'

John shuddered. Alan could see it clear as day on the hologram. What the hell had happened to Virgil? It certainly wasn't the first time his eldest brother had found himself buried pushing one of them out of the way, so it must be the combination of the two rescues. He could hear Two approaching, and another sound which he hoped was a GDF flyer.

Scott would know the sound. But Scott wasn't here, and Alan had his helmet.

'John, man. Are you with me? John? Johnny!' That snapped John out of wherever he had just gone.

'Sorry, Alan. Two is on approach and Kayo has already prepped a mole pod. Gordon will be doing this; you need to go to the infirmary and get checked over.'

'Not a chance, John. I need to make sure he's alright. I'm not leaving until I see him.' John sighed deeply and rubbed his eyes. 'Ok, Alan. Ok'

With Gordon in the pod and EOS directing it did not take long to find Scott. He'd been extremely lucky. Yeah, he had a lot of rocks on and around his legs, but a large slab from the ceiling had managed to protect his head and upper body from far worse damage. He still had a nasty head wound and a broken arm to go with his broken legs.

But it could have been much worse.

Gordon pursed his lips. He echoed Alan's earlier sentiments. What was it about older brothers throwing themselves in the way? He would have had no trouble with that man and his knife – for goodness sakes he was military trained – something that Virgil was prone to forget in the heat of the moment. And Scott! Well, he was the ultimate self-sacrificing idiot.

Those two were as bad as each other, and he, John and Alan were going to enjoy telling them so as they recuperated.