Lucia had not exactly planned this holiday out, but unfortunate events had seen her given time off work. She had been encouraged to go take a holiday to relax and that they would see her when she returned back to work. So here she was at Kingsford Smith International Airport, plane ticket in hand ready to fly off to some island paradise. Her dark brown hair swayed against the nape of her neck from where it had been pulled up into a ponytail as she walked through the airport towards her terminal, her green eyes surveying the area until she came to an empty seat by the boarding gate to occupy. Leaning back into her seat she pulled out a book to occupy her time with, trying to ignore the shaking in her hands. Perhaps doing this had not been such a good idea, she never was very good outside of work. Was too late now though, she told herself. After all it was her fault that outside of work she had never done any travelling, let alone left the country (except perhaps for that one stint in NZ, but that was for work too). More than anything the thought of flying on an unfamiliar aircraft and putting her life into the hands of a complete stranger was a rather daunting prospect. Ah there were her nerves trying to get to her again and she reminded herself that strangers put their lives into her hands every day when she was working. She just had to have some faith, if anything she wished she could have been as excited about this trip as the young woman sitting on a seat not that far from herself appeared to be.

Ellie had barely had any sleep she was so excited for this trip, it might have been winter but that was the off-season for her. She was due back at work come summer and the job that she had lined up for the off-season meant that she was finally able to book the holiday she had been desperately saving for. Would be nice to have some time to just relax and unwind, to not have anyone rely on you for once. This wasn't the first time she had gone overseas, certainly wouldn't be her last and she was just as excited as the first time. Adventure awaited and she really couldn't wait to get on the plane. Her light brown hair was streaked through with blonde from the sun and salt water and sat in a messy braid that bounced over one of her shoulders with her excitement. She could barely keep herself sitting still in her chair, let alone sit and read a book. Instead her grey blue eyes were riveted to the boarding gates, eagerly awaiting the call.

"Flight HA452 is now boarding at Gate 9"

Well that was it, Lucia thought. Time to board this sucker before she really did chicken out last minute. She couldn't help but notice how quickly the girl she had been distracted from her book by reached the gate. If only she could be this enthused about the whole trip. Finally peeling herself up from her seat, Lucia made her way to the boarding gate. It had been a last minute decision to bring along her violin for the holiday but she had been immensely thankful the airline had allowed her to bring it on as carry on instead of checking it in. She grasped the handle of the case a little tighter as she made her way down the boarding tunnel and stepped onto the spacious plane. Her feet felt heavier with every step she took until she finally arrived at her seat. With a final stroke to the case of her beloved violin she slipped it into the overhead storage compartment and took her seat, nervously beginning to twist her hands after she fastened her seat belt.

"First time flying?"

Lucia had not been expecting the owner of the voice to be the girl she had been watching at the boarding gate. In fact when Lucia had sat down, she had not even stopped to look at who her seat mate would be. Perhaps talking would keep her mind of her nerves, it couldn't hurt to try it and this girl seemed like she would make an active enough conversational partner.

"No, no it's not." Lucia replied shaking her head, "Ahh, just nerves then." came the quick reply from the girl beside her and Lucia nodded, "Maybe I can keep you mind of that, I'm Ellie." Lucia found herself with a hand proffered in her direction and she found herself taking it, "Lucia, and I'd really appreciate that Ellie." she replied feeling a little more at ease over the fact she was no longer solely responsible for keeping her nerves in check. "Wow you really are shaking, weren't kidding about those nerves were you." If there was one strength Ellie had it was that she was straightforward and to the point, Lucia found herself both appreciating and admiring the trait. She herself wasn't quite so straightforward outside of work.

"So what brings to travelling to the sunny island of Hawaii?" Ellie kept the questions coming and Lucia found herself an eager participant in the conversation. "Holiday from work, though I fear getting there may be more stressful than work itself." Lucia found herself musing dryly with a laugh. "Ha, I know what you mean. I'm off-season at the moment and the work I had lined up, didn't. So finally got to take this trip, almost didn't think I would get everything together in time before I left." Ellie chuckled as the announcement came overhead that the plane was now about to taxi to the runway for take off. There they were again, the nerves were back and Lucia swallowed hard. "Usually I'm the one flying or know who's flying." she confessed to Ellie who smiled and held out her hand, "Feel free to hold it as tightly as you want." she offered.

Lucia found herself releasing the breath she had been holding and took Ellie's hand and squeezed tightly, finding comfort when the girl squeezed back. "Yeah it's hard to hand over the reins to someone else, when you're used to it a certain way." Ellie sympathised, she knew in her line of work it wasn't easy to admit help and people often wouldn't do it until it was almost too late.. There was a roar of the engines and then they were off, it was a smooth take off and they reached cruising altitude and speed in the same orderly fashion. When the seat-belt sign flicked off, Lucia breathed a sigh of relief and released Ellie's hand. "Thanks, you really saved me back there." her voice was genuinely appreciative and Lucia was greeted with a bright smile from Ellie in return.

So engrossed in conversation with one another neither girl had realised something was amiss on the plane until it suddenly went quiet and then began to descend. This time Lucia found it was Ellie who gripped her hand tightly amid the screams that had begun to fill the cabin. A brief glance out the window confirmed to Lucia they were indeed going down over the ocean, not a speck of land in sight. One of the flight attendants called "Brace for impact" and the plane went silent again, never once did Lucia and Ellie let go of each other's hand.

There was an almighty thud and a slap of water before the plane finally coasted to a stop atop the ocean. It was floating for now but who knew how much longer they had until they were under. Cautiously Lucia and Ellie sat back up again, the flight attendants had left their seats and were checking everyone. Lucia could see one trying to call the flight deck but was getting no response and neither did trying to open the door to them. That's when they heard the whispers, none of the doors were working. By all rights the front and rear passenger doors should be able to be manually opened to but they weren't budging. Lucia looked at Ellie and knew they had to do something to fight the rising panic. "It's alright, International Rescue should be on their way to help us." Ellie piped up as cheerfully as she could manage, undoing her seat-belt only to notice water beginning to cover the floor.

Lucia did the same standing she asked the flight attendants if anyone needed medical assistance. There wasn't much she could do for getting them out but she could do that at least, in work mode she was safe, in work mode she was focused and calm. There were a few passengers who had broken bones or head wounds from impact or an incorrect brace position but for the most part everyone was in no life threatening condition. Aside from the fact they were stuck in a sinking tin can so to say and no one had a can opener. "Say Lucia, I never did ask what you did as a job." It was Ellie's call from beside her that made her look up at her new found friend from bandaging the bleeding head wound of a young boy. "Rescue Paramedic, did a stint of nursing for a while too. What about you, you mentioned being off-season?" Lucia shot back as she gave the young boy a smile finishing up his bandage, "there you go, still handsome as ever." she grinned, waving off the thanks of the mother. "Beach Lifeguard, I usually only work the summer, only a few of us stay on during the winter." came Ellie's reply as she moved on to providing first aid to the next person.

"Ah, I take it you're a good swimmer then." Lucia remarked as they calmed people into not prematurely deploying their life jackets, it had been a small flight for such a big plane. "Not world class but I manage. I fancy you would be yourself, Miss fancy rescue medic." came Ellie's reply. "Ha not as great as you think, I only barely passed the swimming requirements."

Further conversation was halted at the thudding sounds of magnets hitting the exterior of the plane, the flow of water began to halt and there was a hissing noise at the rear ceiling of the plane where it had been lifted up mostly out of the water. It was Lucia who found herself the only one brave enough to approach the noise as there wasn't much to be seen out the windows. A hole in the ceiling appeared when part of the plane was removed, she was stunned silent for a moment when a face came over the hole.

"This is International Rescue, is everyone okay?"

It had been a relatively peaceful day at Tracy Island, Scott had done his morning run before settling into a game of chess with Gordon. Alan had gone up in 3 to deliver some needed supplies to John and help with some maintenance on 5 while he was up there. Virgil had taken to playing the piano while Jeff sat at his desk going through some needed paperwork. Kyrano and Tin-Tin had been preparing lunch when John popped up.

"Father, there's a bit of a situation in the Pacific Ocean, I received a distress call from Flight HA452 bound for Honolulu. It appears both engines cut out and they won't make it anywhere near land. I've projected the location of where they'll ditch in the water but I haven't been able to regain contact with them."

"Thank you John." Came Jeff Tracy's reply as he looked towards his son's who had gathered at the call. "Scott I'll need you and 1 out to survey the scene and report, Virgil I need you in 2 to get the passengers out, we'll need Thunderbird 4 to help stabilise the craft until Virgil has everyone out if they plane hasn't yet gone under water."

"FAB Father." Came Scott's reply as they all darted to their respective places to get down to their craft. It didn't take long for them to be airborne and on route to John's projected crash location. Scott arrived first to find the plane still afloat, "International rescue calling flight HA452, do you respond?" he tried their comms, he received nothing in response so he tried again before contacting his father. "Father, I've arrived, the plane is still afloat but they aren't responding to my calls and there are no rafts deployed."

"Thank you Scott, How long until Virgil arrives?"

"Should be there any minute now, Father" came Virgil's reply as he came into view for Scott.

"Good, drop 4 and get 1 to help you stabilise the plane so you can check for survivors."

"FAB" came the standard response as Scott affixed a line to the nose of the craft while after dropping the pod a safe distance away to deploy moved, 2 into place to fire the four magnets to help lift the plane further out of the water.

"Thunderbird 4 is in position, Virgil I can see movement in the plane." Gordon radioed in as he position 4 in the middle of the plane and clamped on to keep it stable between the pulling forces of 2 and 1.

"FAB Gordon, switching 2 to auto pilot. I'm going down." Virgil responded as he flicked a few switches and adjusted the throttle before he left his seat to take the rescue seats down to the plane. "Whoa." He teetered a bit as he stepped onto the top of the plane. "Careful there Virgil, if you go over with that suit on you'll sink like a stone." Came Scott's warning as he adjusted 1's angle.

"Just getting my sea legs big brother." came Virgil's smart retort. "Now, how's about we crack open this tin can and see what we have inside." he murmured to himself as he began to use his laser to cut a large hole in the roof. Pulling the fuselage back he peered into the hole to find a woman with dark brown hair and green eyes staring up at him.

"This is International Rescue, is everyone okay?" he called down into the hole.