February 20th 2060 - 14:00 NZDT
"Alan, we've known each other for years, I know when your lying," argues Kayo.
Alan thinks for a second before replying, "We'll it's just that..."
"Alan! It's time to suit up," Scott calls.
"I'll tell you later," Alan says to Kayo and starts to walk over to Thunderbird 3.
"No, I'm coming with you," Kayo says.
"What about taking Thunderbird S for a spin?" asks Alan.
"Too late," replies Kayo.
Alan and Kayo sit beside one another in Thunderbird 3, with Alan looking increasingly worried, "Pre-flight complete," Alan says.
"Roger, Thunderbird 3, the skies are clear. Good luck on your mission," says John.
"Starting countdown to launch," Alan replies closing the TB3 launch hatch.
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
Alan ups the throttle and exits the round house, "Thunderbird 3 is go!"
"Target identified, grappling arms deployed," Alan says as Thunderbird 3 arrives at one of the many debris fields, "Easy does it."
One of Thunderbird 3's grapples is released and grabs onto the trash and flies by collecting more, "It's going to be a shit day," Alan comments.
"Hey, someone has to clean up all that junk floating around out there," John replies.
"Oh, this is grunt work, John," says Alan.
"Least you got Kayo with you," John replies and winks causing Alan to blush.
"W-Whats t-t-that sup-posed to mean?" stutters Alan, and turns around to see Kayo re-entering the cockpit after configuring a pod in a case of an emergency call.
"Why are we in charge of clearing the garbage in space and not NASA?" asks Alan.
"To be honest Alan, you do complain about not taking Thunderbird 3 out," Kayo says.
"Like you fucking care," mumbles Alan.
Suddenly there is a large jerk causing Kayo to sit back down in her seat, "What was that?" she asks.
"Nothing," Alan replies innocently.
"No, not you, that jerk," says Kayo.
"Dunno," Alan says and turns Thunderbird 3 around, "Hey, there's something up ahead."
"Scanners aren't picking anything up. Are you sure it isn't dirt on your portal again?" asks John.
Alan leans forward and wipes his portal and looks over to Kayo, who's looking stern.
"No, it's out there alright," replies Alan.
"I'll go out to take a look as I'm 99.9% sure what it is," comments Kayo.
"Any excuse," replies Alan, with an eye role and puts on his helmet as Kayo exits Thunderbird 3.
"Are you getting this, Thunderbird 5?" Kayo asks as she flies around the machine checking all of the details.
"Affirmative Thunderbird 3, running a trace," replies John.
"Looks like some kind of weapon," comments Alan.
Kayo wipes the screen and sees a no connection symbol flashing before an explosion countdown starts, "Oh, shit."
"What's wrong Kayo?" asks Alan.
"We need to get the fuck out of here. Now!" cries Kayo and goes back to Thunderbird 3 as fast as she can.
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
Alan and Kayo sit inside Thunderbird 3 watching the nuke closely. John calls in Brains to to get answers, "So, what's the score with this thing?" asks Alan.
"If I'm not mistaken, we're looking at a stealth mine. Left over from the global conflict of 2040," Kayo explains.
"Y-You stand correct, Kayo," replies Brains.
"That's why it was invisible to our scanners," says John.
"Powerful enough to blast a mid-size ship out of orbit," Brains explains.
"And now it's been activated," Alan continues.
"It enters a self-destruct sequence if it loses contact with the command network. Which was mothballed in 2043," Brains says.
"We have 30 minutes before this thing goes off," John explains, "If we can locate the kill code, we can de-active the mine manually."
"Problem solved. Or do I detect a 'but?'" Alan asks.
"With the command network offline, it will perceive any nearby vessel as the enemy," replies Brains.
"I'm detecting a cluster of spacecraft heading towards the debris field. If one of them strays too close to the mine, it could target them and boom," explains John.
"So, we're going to have to keep it busy until you find the kill code," Kayo says.
"It looks that way. You'll have to get it locked onto Thunderbird 3 instead of something else," John says.
"How about we drag this baby into deep space and detonate it somewhere out there?" asks Alan.
"Good plan. Just be careful as you've also got Kayo with ya," says John, giving Alan another wink and receiving a glare.
"Right, I'll carefully fly towards the floating bomb," Alan says.
"Hey, just because I'm a girl you bitch," Kayo says to John.
"Firing main thrusters in 3... 2... 1..." and Thunderbird 3 flies towards the stealth mine.
"Let the chase begin, I guess," Alan says sarcastically.
"Someone's in a mood," comments John.
"Fuck off and get on that kill code," says Alan.
"Right..." says John and exits the call.
Thunderbird 3 flies close to the mine and this causes it to lock onto them, "It's locked onto you Thunderbird 3," says Brains.
"Moving out of orbit," Alan replies.
While this was going on Kayo was looking at the schematics of the stealth mine and comes across something that makes her worried, "Alan, stop! The mines equipped with a gravitational trigger," she quickly explains, "If it leaves the Earth's orbit, it explodes!"
"Oh, my," exclaims Brains, "How did I not see that?"
"Well, isn't that great," says Alan.
"And I've run the figures. If it detonates now, Thunderbird 3 will be in the blast radius," interrupts John.
"Fine, no leaving orbit," Alan says, "I just have to keep it busy. Shouldn't be a problem."
Kayo places her hand on Alan's left shoulder, "Stop stressing yourself out Alan."
"Yeah, yeah," replies Alan as a small blush appears in his cheeks "What's her problem with me?" he thought.
"Alan," say John.
"I know, I see it," replies Alan as he dodges the spacecraft and keeping distance so the mine continues to follow Thunderbird 3.
"Okay, I'm into the digital archives. But I'm gonna need the mine's unique ID number to access the kill code," explains John.
"But the mine can't be scanned. The only way to view it's ID number is to find it's tag on the fuselage," replies Brains.
"I'm on it," says Kayo.
"Killing main thrusters," Alan says and by doing this he was able to swing Thunderbird 3 around as they fly past the mine.
"The ID is X-Ray, Zulu, 157," says Kayo and Alan fires the thrusters up and accelerates away with the mine still following them.
"Firing main booster," says Alan.
"I'm surprised you haven't made this into a game yet Alan," John says, causing Alan to sigh.
"Just leave it John," replies Alan.
"But..." starts John but Alan cuts off the communication temporary to shut John up for pushing the subject.
"And I've got the brains to let you know to shut the fuck up," says Alan.
"But not the moves," replies Kayo, and got a glare from Alan.
John re-appears in hologram form "I'm cross-referencing the ID with the digital archives. The good news is I have located the kill code to shut down the mine," explains John.
"And the bad news is?" asks Kayo.
"It's a scan of a paper copy. A bad scan. The last number is unreadable," John says.
"Just try 0 through 9 till we get the right number," says Alan.
"You only get one try. A wrong number will be seen as a hacking attempt, the mine will self-destruct," explains Brains.
"We need to find where the original paper records are stored. If we locate that, we can access the kill code and deactivate the mine," says John.
"Okay, and how fucking long will that take?" Kayo asks.
"It shouldn't take too long. I'll get right back to you," replies John and hangs up. Silence invades Thunderbird 3 as Alan and Kayo sit there, with Alan focusing on the flying.
"Do you..." Kayo starts.
"No!" replies Alan. A beeping sound is then heard which could only mean one thing, "Woah, that's not good. Multiple vessels ahead," cries Alan as they enter a large area full of vessels and this leads to the mine to stop chasing Thunderbird 3, "Woah... Um... Hey, did it just die?" asks Alan.
"Well without any reliable data after it were destroyed in 2044 we essentially have no idea," replies Kayo. A ship then ends up distracting the mine.
"What the fuck?" asks Alan.
"That ship is c-closer to the mine than Thunderbird 3," panics Brains.
"And how am I meant to get it back onto my tail?" Alan asks.
"I dunno Alan," Kayo says, "You could always just get really close to the mine and it might re-target us."
"What do you mean might!" exclaims Alan.
"I'm British. All we have is sarcasm," comments Kayo, as Alan starts to direct Thunderbird 3 after the mine.
"Did that work?" asks Alan.
"Negative, Thunderbird 3. It's still targeting the other ship," says Brains.
"This is going to be close," Alan says.
"As always..." comments Kayo just as the mine turns to look at Thunderbird 3, "Wow, you actually did it. It's re-targeted us."
"Well at least the nuke is on our tail again," Alan says as flies away from the field of ships as the stealth mine chases after them.
"Now somebody get us that kill code," says Alan.
"Yeah, about that..." John starts, "We've got a situation. The original files are in a storage facility under London. Deep under London. This place is huge." John decides to call the facility but has problems with the person answering the call so he decides to call Penelope to help in getting the kill code for Alan.
February 20th 2060 - 14:25 NZDT
"Alan?" asks Kayo.
"What?" replies Alan.
"We need to talk about what happened before we left," continues Kayo.
"There's nothing to say though; You've got your Thunderbird, your head of security of International Rescue, your knowledge of things is through the roof and to be honest it's been 2 years. You don't need me anymore," Alan says and looks away.
"I... I don't know what to say," replies Kayo.
"Look I've never seen you so happy before and your following your dreams, at the end of the day it's up to you what you want to achieve in life. The talents you have are already amazing and Thunderbird S will only help to improve them so can do your very best at reaching your capabilities or goals," Alan states, "And more importantly your my best friend who I have known my whole life, and we've done everything together and supported each other but I guess we've got separate parts when it comes to International Rescue." Alan pauses again, unsure of what else to say, "I'm going to miss that, that's all. As well as your company on every mission we've had."
Like anyone would been Kayo was left in shock at what Alan had just confessed to her, which was one of the things she liked about him was that he was so truthful. She was about to reply to Alan when a call comes in.
"Thunderbird 3, this is Thunderbird 1. I hear things are rough up there for you guys," Scott says.
"Erm, yeah, Scott. Everything's fine here," Alan says failing to hold back a yawn.
"Are you sure? You sound tired," comments Scott as there is an explosion behind him and screaming, "Back to work. I'm keeping an eye on your situation. Stay safe you two."
"Copy that, Scott. Copy that," replies Alan as Scott hangs up.
"Ugh, John. What are you doing? How hard is it to find one number?" Alan asks himself as Thunderbird 3 passes Thunderbird 5.
"Alan, I'm going to take over flying," says Kayo.
"But..." starts Alan.
"No buts," says Kayo as the pair switch seats.
"Yes, mom," replies Alan.
"And about earlier. I never knew you felt that way," Kayo says.
"It doesn't matter," says Alan.
"But it does," Kayo continues, "You've probably helped me in more ways that you think. Look, I've never told anyone this but when my dad was away I got real low," Kayo says carefully considering her words.
Alan's eyebrows raises in curiosity and concern but doesn't say anything as he knew that Kayo wasn't done yet.
"It was also around this time I got diagnosed with depression, which nobody knew about except my dad and now you. I was in a dark place and even to this day I'm facing the consequences of that. One of the few thing that kept me going though was the talks I had with you over the communicator. Just talking to you made my day feel better you know and I'll always be grateful for that. Though I now have Thunderbird Shadow to help with my security operations, I'll always take a mission with you on Thunderbird 3."
Alan smiles, "Well you came to the right person to help you out then," he says.
"You don't think differently of me?" asks Kayo.
"Of course not," Alan replies and smiles causing Kayo to do so.
February 20th 2060 - 14:41 NZDT
The explosion timer was now on only 4 minutes, leaving Alan and Kayo very worried. Kayo was more on focusing on flying Thunderbird 3 while Alan was trying to relax a bit but couldn't because he was so nervous.
"You holding up, Thunderbird 3?" asks John
"Yep. Everything's going fine John, except for the fact that we're being chased by a space hydrogen bomb. How are you?" asks Kayo.
"Don't worry. Penelope and Parker are on the case. We'll have the code any second now," explains John.
February 20th 2060 - 14:43 NZDT
The explosion timer was now on only 2 minutes, Kayo is now quite scared and Alan is getting ready to exit Thunderbird 3 to type the code in. The only problem was that they still didn't have the last number.
"John, what's going on? Is that number coming or not?" asks Alan.
"I don't know. I've lost contact with Penny and Parker," explains John.
"We've only have 90 seconds until this thing explodes. We're just gonna have to pick a number," Alan says.
"Alan! It's too risky. You've only got a 1-in-10-chance. Let's just give 'em a little more time," says John.
"It's too late for that," replies Alan and leaves Thunderbird 3 with a very worried Kayo.
"Alan!" cries Kayo.
"I'm going to have to gamble on the last number before we reach any more vessels. Kayo leave the blast radius," orders Alan as he dodges the debris connected to the mine so he can reach it. He gets to the keypad located on the front of the mine, "Okay, I'm here. What's the code?" Alan asks.
"The kill code is 3-0-0-5-2-0-1..." John says.
"I got it... Just that last one," says Alan.
"Time to pick our lucky number," John says.
"7's lucky, right?" Alan asks.
"Here's hoping. 10 seconds," says John.
"Okay. Here goes nothing," Alan replies.
"Alan!" calls Kayo, as Alan presses the button and moves away from the mine. Everything goes quite.
February 20th 2060 - 14:45:00 NZDT
BANG!
"ALAN!" cries Kayo
"John the number is 3," says Penny.
"Too late..." John replies.
February 20th 2060 - 14:45:10 NZDT
"Alan!" shouts Kayo as she gets out of Thunderbird 3 and quickly gets over to were Alan's body is floating, "Please, answer me," Kayo cries, and takes Alan back to Thunderbird 3. She also checks his pulse and received a very weak one.
She manages to fly Thunderbird 3 back down to Earth to land at Sydney Hospital. Alan had to be put into an induced coma while he recovered from his injuries. He wasn't discharged until March 12th, which was his 16th birthday, and had to stay in bed for another 2 weeks. Kayo rarely left his side, mainly feeling responsible for the injuries that Alan suffered as a result of the explosion.
March 12th 2060 - 21:05 NZDT
"Kayo seriously I'm fine," Alan says while in bed across from Kayo who was getting into her bed.
"Sure?" Kayo asks.
"Sure," Alan replies smiling.
"I really did think you would die," Kayo says as she wipes a small tear that appeared in the corner of her eye.
"But I couldn't as I had a best friend who also needs babysitting," Alan jokes.
"Ugh, Alan you never think about yourself always other people," Kayo says, "Sometimes you need to treat yourself."
"Well I can't see the bad side in looking after others."
"True," Kayo replies, she pauses before asking, "Do you ever think you won't return from a mission?"
Alan quickly shakes his head and looks sternly at Kayo, "You should never think of the worst outcome on a mission, always be hopeful and you can trust me because I'm the 6th one behind my brothers and father who organized the preparation for being a part of International Rescue."
"I guess you're right," replies Kayo, "But just so we're clear, don't ever do something like that again am I clear."
This causes Alan to chuckle slightly as Kayo playfully slaps his cheek, "FAB."