Got it all done, more or less on time! =) Thanks, Bow Echo, Tikatu, Creative Girl and Whirl Girl. I always enjoy your comments and reviews... and I couldn't resist adding one of your puns, Whirl Girl. ;)

14

Aloft in the night and the gathering storm-

Unlike his brothers, John Tracy had no memory of being seized by the mind, dragged to Ross Island, and forced to perform Kayo's bidding. Just, he'd awakened there, his thoughts and personality more or less reconstructed by Eos… because the original John had been rooted out and shut off. But, all of this was hearsay. He had no personal recall of events between his dinner with Eos, and the fight on Ross Island.

There were things that John stuffed away into very secure boxes and then buried too deeply even for nightmares to find them. Stuff like Mom's death, or Granddad's, events up in Kansas, and Dad's disappearance, back when they'd thought he was dead.

Some folks believed in talking sh*t out. Not John. What would he say? And to who? 'That hurt like h*ll, and I don't understand. Why'd you do it?' Uh-uh. No f*cking way. Better the deepest box in the stack, buried forever.

Fortunately, he had a lot of work to do, in fairly ugly conditions. Not Venus, or anything, but still needing major attention. Sort of reminded him of the gas giant training sim; only less windy, and darker. The suit and Eos, between them, had adjusted his exopod. It could now hover steady, even in shifting, cyclonic winds. (Jupiter, though… that might be a stretch, but he found himself wanting to try.)

Whatever. John was no psion. He couldn't call out to his sister, but he could think about her, at all ages; from when Dad 'd first brought her home, to back in that gone-wild rogue simulation. The way she always borrowed (and never returned) his shirts, slept curled up like a stray kitten in his bed, and ate half of his food. He could think about that. How, whenever Dad wasn't around, she'd always wanted to sit up on his shoulders, to feel taller than everyone else.

Then… she was present. He could feel it. Just as clearly as if his sister was hovering there in the wild, swirling darkness beside him. Neither of them had words, at that moment. Didn't need them, actually. Instead, something of shared pain and forgiveness passed between them, to never be mentioned, again.

She was rising. He felt that. She, and a prickly other. Couldn't have said quite how he knew, but Kayo was staring up through dark water, trying to find him. So, John darted lower, at about the same time that Scott swooped over to join him. A little before, maybe.

That ocean was going to be trouble. The waves were eighty to ninety feet high by this point, driven to frenzy by harsh, screaming wind. Thunder rumbled continuously, and lightning split the sky, making a hash of his night vision.

"You got something, Little Brother?!" yelled Scott, barely audible over his helmet comm.

"Yeah," John replied, but didn't explain. His brother was having a harder time dealing with the storm, because he didn't have Eos running his jet-pack and thrusters. Kept getting blown off course.

Was going to be tricky, getting Kay and her passenger (?) out of that cockpit survival pod. Once opened, the life raft would flood and then sink. She needed to unstrap, right the h*ll now, and be ready to move.

John and Scott dropped lower, near enough to that vast, heaving surface to be swatted like flies, if the wrong sort of wave came along. From black, three times in a row, the world turned bright, violet-white. John's heart pounded, and his breath came fast, until Eos put something in his electrolyte mix to bring greater calm and alertness. Sometimes he saw his own face and wide blue-green eyes reflected by the helmet's faceplate. Sometimes, he saw a furious ocean and tormented sky, with his brother tossed around like a twig in a waterfall.

Then, the cockpit survival pod broke surface at last, looking like the back of a broaching whale. About halfway up a huge wave, it was; riding higher by the second. John would have called out, but Scott had seen it, too. They both dove down, in there away from the wind, between two towering mountains of thundering water.

Down and in, near enough to see the oval-shaped cockpit pod tumbling and spinning; to see Kayo's pale face and green eyes, staring upward. Somebody else was there, too, but John barely noticed. He got closer, as the tiny life-bubble surged up along a massive dark wave. Landed on the whirling pod, and felt his magnetic boot soles lock on. Eos gave him a tactile map of Scott's location, allowing him to reach up at just the right moment to snag his older brother, and haul him in, too. This job was going to take both of them, on full burn.

Their surroundings flared black and white, up and around, with the noise of an avalanche filling their heads. They would crest and drop over, in moments. Had to get both women out of there, now. Kayo must've sensed that thought, because all at once, the pod's canopy exploded loose, and she stretched upward. Wind tore the perma-glass bubble away as soon as it crested the roaring wavetop.

John seized their sister's upraised arms and dragged her out of the pod. Scott did the same for her passenger, who wrapped herself around the pilot like a d*mn strangler fig. Then, with Kayo held tight, time to leave. Fast. Now. Quick. Out.

He and Scott launched themselves upward, just in time to see twin space rockets arcing toward them, from a collapsing oil rig. Cutwater Destiny folded and crumpled away, swallowed by black, raging water.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A bit earlier, in Thunderbird 2.2-

Gordon Tracy's two major thoughts were: A) being "catch of the day" really sucked, and B) he had to get to his patient. The aquanaut tended to switch from rescue- to medic-mode in an eyeblink, and he had serious work to do… a life to save… now.

While Thunderbird 4 was still dangling nose-downward in that d*mn net, and the cargo-lifter's big doors hadn't yet shut out the storm, Gordon was already tearing himself free of his seat straps, and grabbing a med-kit. Half slid, half clambered and fell from the swinging and dripping rescue sub, med-kit strap in his mouth, clutching that wet nylon netting. Pilot survival pod was further down and off to the left, pinned beneath Caleb's dented and battered small Bird. Poor kid was still trapped in there, probably, but Gordon was too busy to help him break free.

Instead, as those huge belly doors ground (mostly) shut, and the net was swung off to a safer part of the hold, Gordon made his way down to the pod. And, hey… signs that your recovery plan is for sh*t? Two Birds and a rescue pod get dumped in a clanging heap when the net tears, denting the deck, and leaving somebody clinging above all the wreckage, swinging like Tarzan and cussing his Goddam lungs out. Dropped the med-kit, too, which slithered out through those wouldn't-quite-seal belly doors, and was lost to the storm. Yeah. Good times.

The young aquanaut got himself under control, after a moment, then resumed climbing down that torn rescue net, as the cargo hold spun all around him. Dropped and fell the last twelve feet. Landed in a crouch, slipped some on the wet deck. Then, he ran for the survival pod. Had to frickin' break in, because the piece-of-sh*t clamps wouldn't release. Caleb was out, by then, as the drop had jarred something loose in his cut-rate hatch system.

Working together, he and Gordon got the New Crew's commander unstrapped, and out of her seat. Pretty girl, oriental-looking. A little younger than John, maybe, with an impressive figure, but pale. Barely breathing.

Should've had a backboard or grav-stretcher, but had to settle for just being really d*mn careful. The kid had first aid and CPR training, and actually helped out a lot, as they got Janice away from the sodden, ripped netting and wreckage. (Yeah. Thunderbird 4. Plenty of time to be furious, later. Brains would be.)

Eased her out of his arms and onto the deck, very gently. Checked vital signs and pupil dilation, using the scan mode on his wrist comm to confirm what he'd feared. Massive blunt trauma; severe to probably fatal. She was in shock, and fading right there in front of him. Not a Goddam thing he could do about it.

Then, someone else came to join them, running flat out, his footfalls making the hold ring. Blond guy, taller than Gordon, but about the same age. Had weirdly pale, silver-grey wolf eyes.

"Let me see her," he demanded, in a low, urgent voice.

"You're a doctor?" Gordon asked him, turning back to the dying young woman, who had trickles of blood coming out of both ears and her nose.

"No, just… I need to see her. Give me a second, and please just shut up."

Too tired, worried and grieved to be angry, Gordon moved over and let the guy touch his fading commander. Couldn't do any more harm, right? Caleb gave the newcomer a bracing pat, and scooted right over, as well. A second passed. Two. Then, Gordon felt sick. Everything hurt for a moment or two, and one of the cargo doors fell off its hinges. Elsewhere, Cutwater Destiny lost her battle with a hungry sea…

But Janice Ming regained her color, moaned softly, and began to breathe. Gordon's jaw dropped. Then, doing the maths and not liking his sums, he looked up at that new guy… Cody Something-or-other… and snapped,

"What did you do?!"

"I…" Cody looked up at him, one hand still at Jan's forehead, utterly miserable. "I don't know. I could have just given you an aneurysm, or someone else a heart attack. Maybe there's been a plane crash, someplace. I don't know! But something happened, somewhere… because of me."

Gordon stared. Then, he said,

"You're serious."

Beside them, Caleb's dark eyes went wide in his pale, freckled face.

"Dude, Cody… that's a lot to take in, Man. Sure you're not just… y'know… overwrought? Been a really long day, Pal. Anyone 'd have a complex, by now. Wanna hear about my imaginary friends?"

For some reason, that stupid question broke the tension. That, and Jan beginning to stir and open her eyes. She saw Cody, first. Whispered his name, and reached for him.

Caleb's dark eyebrows shot upward, and he looked away, blushing.

"Wow," he said. "Did not see that one coming. Leader-Babe and Iceman? Mind… blown."

Gordon snorted. Then, getting smoothly to his feet, the aquanaut offered his young counterpart a hand up.

"C'mon, Kiddo," he said. "Let's give 'em some private time, and try sorting our Birds out. We can debrief, while we're at it."

Caleb grinned at him.

"Sure thing, Grandpa. Tell me all about how they did things back in the day. I know how you old folks like to talk."

He didn't quite duck Gordon's punch, but did learn a lot in the process.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Elsewhere-

Contingency plans were an important part of success. Everything from arranging unfortunate "accidents", to eliminating evidence, to having a pre-set exit plan and seed money. General Steele was not finished, nor was his plan truly balked, as a string of sudden deaths and critical failures would soon make alarmingly clear.