"It's a trap."
Gordon was glaring at John's hologram hanging in the middle of the comms room. All four brothers were arrayed around the holographic diagram of a giant aircraft launch platform. The massive ship hovered in mid-air somewhere over the Atlantic offering a take-off and landing option along with facilities for an audience.
Unfortunately, at some point the landing option had become a crash option and the whole platform was canted at a horrible angle that needed no engineering skills to know was bad.
Very, very bad.
John's tone was more on edge than usual, but this was a rescue situation, so he was professional. "Gordon, there are a thousand people on that platform, including the entirety of the World Security Council."
Gordon froze. "Penelope's father is on that thing?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
Scott spoke up as Gordon's expression froze in shock. "What about escape pods."
"Not functional."
Virgil frowned. "What do you mean 'not functional'?"
"It appears they have been disabled."
Virgil stared at his space brother. "Why?"
John sighed. "The platform was set up for a series of rescue simulations for the launch of the new 'World Rescue' initiative. My guess is that they didn't want anyone panicking and jumping ship mid-display."
It was Virgil's turn to be gobsmacked. How could people be so stupid. "Can we re-enable them?"
John's fingers darted over unseen controls. "Eos is working on it, but the crash caused electrical havoc and several systems have been irreparably damaged."
"I agree with Gordon. It has to be a trap." Alan sat in his hover chair glaring at everything.
Scott sighed. "John, has our help been requested?"
"If you count individuals, I have received five hundred and forty-two calls for International Rescue from persons aboard the stricken craft in the last five minutes.
"Anything from official channels?"
"Not a blip."
It was strange. Had this been a rescue prior to the last week, they would already be airborne. As it was, they were all staring at Scott as he stood there frowning and assessing the risk.
It only took a moment before Scott's head came up. "Request permission."
"FAB." John didn't even blink.
The next few moments were some of the longest ever.
But John's expression told them all they needed to know before he opened his mouth. "Permission denied."
"What?!" Gordon glared up at his brother even more. "There are a thousand people in danger!"
"Their answer was 'World Rescue has the situation under control. Your assistance is not required'."
Virgil stared at the image of the launch platform. One of its massive hoverjets had been disabled when the aircraft had collided with the landing strip. The whole platform was teetering at an angle that was seriously degrading the effectiveness of the remaining three hoverjets. A few more degrees and the entire ship would fall out of the sky. Physics tolerated only so much abuse.
Virgil's mind supplied the strategy he would take to stabilise the craft, calculations of mass and thrust, how many airjacks he would need to support all that weight. It would be fairly simple to correct that tilt long enough and strong enough for evac craft to land and get everyone off.
But instead of launching and executing that plan, he was standing here watching a GDF flyer attempting to make a landing beside the crashed plane on the damaged airstrip.
"No!" It was out of his mouth without thinking, his hand held up as if he could grab the hologram and stop the idiots from doing the ultimately stupid.
But he couldn't. Instead he got to watch as the platform tilted even further, the three remaining hoverjets desperately trying to compensate causing a structural twist in the landing strip's frame it was not designed to take.
Virgil's engineering brain supplied the very moment it would snap and it did.
He sucked in a breath as the damaged strip broke and folded almost ninety degrees with the force of gravity, the platform's whole frame shuddering as it collided with the superstructure.
The GDF flyer flipped and a wing caught in the warped framework. Fortunately. It was the only thing preventing the craft from plummeting to the ground.
The crashed plane shifted, but appeared fused to the platform and didn't fall either.
A single flailing figure did.
"What the hell were they thinking?" It was a breath exhaled by Scott, his blue eyes staring at the hologram in horror.
"I say we launch." Virgil made the decision without hesitation.
Those blue eyes latched onto him. "Virgil? It has all the signs of a set up."
"There's a thousand people in danger." He flung a hand at the hologram. "They need our help."
"We'd be breaking a direct order."
"It was a stupid ass order." Gordon glared at Scott.
The commander looked up at his space brother. "Any change?"
"None official, however I have received another three hundred and thirty-two calls for help, and counting. This appears genuine."
"Why are we waiting?" Virgil was on edge. "We need to get out there."
"And I need to make sure I'm making the right decision for all of us."
"People are in danger. There is no question."
"Virgil..." But he could see his brother's dilemma. It was a thousand people versus his family. Because yes, by defying the GDF, this could end everything they had worked for. IR could be shut down. Hell, they could all go to prison.
"If we don't respond, we will be betraying ourselves." Virgil eyed the platform as it teetered. "We need to get out there. They need us. We can't stand by and let those people die."
Not again.
A fire flickered in his brother's eyes.
"Scott-"
The commander held up his hand. "Are we all in agreement? Are you aware of the risks?"
Five nods.
Blue eyes lit up with flame.
"Okay then...Thunderbirds are go."
-o-o-o-
Virgil's feet hit the deck plates of Two with a reassuring thud. He shoved the overhead hatch closed and revelled in the use of muscles deprived of real work over the last few days.
Slipping into his pilot's seat gave him such a rush of 'rightness' he almost sighed. Behind him, Gordon surfaced through the bottom hatch, no doubt fiddling with his uniform like he always did.
"Alan's angry."
Virgil ran through pre-flight with ease, his mental check list ticking of items automatically as his bird began her spin and the great door opened to let the sunlight in.
God, this just felt right! This is where he was supposed to be.
He engaged her warm up sequence as Gordon slipped into his co-pilot's seat and Virgil found himself obliged to answer. "I don't blame him. This is an important rescue." Two's engines hummed up to readiness and he began her taxi out.
"Do you think it is a trap?"
His bones sung with her thrum. A flick of his wrist and the palm trees on the runway gave way.
The sun was bright this morning.
"I don't know, Gordon. All I know is that people are in danger. That is where we step in."
"But what if we step into shit?"
Two slid onto her launch platform and he engaged the hydraulics that lifted her nose towards the sky. He sighed. "Then we go into hell knowing we are doing it for the right reasons."
Gordon turned away and looked up through the front windows into the blue.
Virgil engaged Two's rear thrusters and his 'bird roared into the sky.
-o-o-o-