As an aquanaut, trained in the World Naval submarine service and the World Aquanaut Security Patrol, and had travelled on tourist subs, he knew full well how dangerous submarines could be. But it never ceased to amaze him that some people were so naive and very stupid when it came to submarines.

The Titan sub disaster back in 2023 had been a nightmare, as it highlighted so many factors which were revealed when it was made clear the tourist sub had imploded on a fairly routine dive down to the wreck of the Titanic. You would have thought the leisure and tourism industry would have taken some lessons, and they had. The implosion of the Titan had been caused by poor engineering, insufficient safety precautions and a shoddy job of assembling the hull.

While lessons had been learnt, occasionally mistakes were made.

Gordon Tracey was relieved his dad had sent them out despite nobody calling for them; one of the issues International Rescue faced since they had started operating, was some people stubbornly believed that they could handle a rescue operation but they wasted so much time and energy talking and speculating and not doing.

Right now he was waiting in Thunderbird 4's pod in the small submersible itself, waiting for Virgil to get them to the rescue zone, going over everything they knew about this particular disaster.

Gordon had heard of the Poseidon, a tourist submarine that was built to act like a hotel underwater, which travelled below the surface and explored the various wonders of the underwater world. A moment ago he had been reflecting on how many mistakes were made by marine engineers, but this time the submarine had somehow flooded in the forward section, so more weight was added and the crew weren't able to pump the extra ballast out and the sub had dropped like a stone.

Fortunately, the builders of the sub had thoughtfully fitted in escape pods that allowed the crew and passengers to survive and escape, but a headcount revealed some survivors were still trapped down there. One of the pods hadn't escaped. There were several possibilities about what happened, but Gordon wasn't in the mood for guesswork. He had to get down there fast.

Thunderbird 2's pods were fitted with hydraulic dampeners to take the impact, but Gordon could feel the tell-tale vibration through the deck plates. As he inputted the launch sequence into the computer, Gordon sat back while the pod bay door opened and Thunderbird 4 was lifted up and moved down the ramp to trigger launch mode. As he triggered the rocket jets, and set the controls to go to surface mode Gordon opened the forward ballast tanks, making sure to check the manual and automatic systems; he had made sure Brains had provided him with a system to make sure the ballast tanks could be opened and closed without any mistakes; he had been on board enough submarines during training programs where rescue subs were deployed to evacuate the crew during controlled sinking to ignore the dangers, but it was lucky Brains was such a worry wort when it came to safety.

Besides, this type of rescue was hitting too close to home.

"Thunderbird 4 to Thunderbirds 1 and 2, seaborne," Gordon called over the radio, already switching the engines to marine mode. "What's the latest?"

"The surface ships are happy to see us, Gordon; they've relayed information about the possible locations for the sub," Scott replied. "They started from the locations where the escape pods were found."

"Possible locations? I don't like the sound of that, but the locations of the pods give me a good head start," Gordon already opened up the uplink, and he groaned when he saw the size of the radius. "This is going to take a while, but I'll start with the nearest site and go on from there," he said as he activated the sonar assembly. "Scott, Virgil, can you give me a hand with scanning the seafloor to pinpoint the location? The radius is quite large."

"Sure."

"No problem."

Almost instantly, Thunderbird 4's sensors picked up the extra sonar pulses. A quick check of the computer revealed his brothers were using different sonar frequencies, but the added sound waves were helping him map out the seafloor, and as he studied the holographic map he quickly found the wreck of the submarine.

The submarine was lying on the seafloor, with its bow lodged between two mountains. But as he studied the wreck as he drew closer, Gordon checked the rest of the hull closely, to see if there was any sign of sabotage; during his time with the WASPs, Gordon had been on the frontlines, fighting against the underwater aliens that lived down here. He was relieved there was no sign of obvious damage, but he was only doing a cursory scan.

Along the hull were open panels with

"I've found it, Scott, Virgil, and thanks. It looks like it's lodged between two mountains," Gordon commented as he studied the wreck.

"Do you see the pod that didn't blow?"

"Yes," Gordon replied as he manoeuvred Thunderbird 4 closer to the pod. "I can't see any reason why it didn't get out…wait, I see movement," Gordon added as he spotted people waving frantically at him. "I can't see any damage….but the best way to get them out is to break the pod free. Brains, I'm going to launch a drone, can you make anything of this to give me an idea of what went wrong?"

"W-Will do, Gordon."

Gordon quickly ran a scan of the submarine and he found that there were no other life signs except in the pod. Gordon launched the drone and very quickly he found the problem at the same time Brains did. "I knew it, it's one of the explosive bolts. It didn't go off."

"I c-concur, but you can release it with T-Thunderbird 4's laser," Brains said.

"If I do that, it might explode," Gordon pointed out.

"Can't be h-helped, those b-bolts are low yield."

"I know," Gordon said before he activated the laser cutter.

"Gordon, will the pod be okay if you cut it loose?"

"It should be, Scott, the pods are designed to home in on the surface," Gordon replied as his laser was powering up. But while it was, Gordon gently moved the submarine around the pod. "It looks okay to me from the outside, but I'll follow it up when it's time."

Cutting the submarine loose with the laser was easy and Gordon followed the pod up. As he rose to the surface, keeping a long check on the pod, Gordon released a marker buoy.

"I've released a marker for the authorities to find the submarine," he reported.

"Okay, Gordon," Scott replied. "How's the pod?"

"It's rising speedily, Scott," he said. "I think this rescue's routine."

Once the rescue was over and Thunderbird 4 was back inside, and Thunderbird 2 was heading back for Tracey Island, Gordon reflected on the lives lost on submarines in the past and how they could have been avoided.