HAYLEY observed as the supply aircraft taxied off the runway and stopped at the unloading point. She then gave instructions to the people offloading the supplies to be taken to the appropriate storage areas. She became irritated when she saw one soldier trying to carry four large white boxes on top of each other resulting in him not being able to see where he was going. "Maithwaite, what are you doing?" she asked. "If you drop those then the apples could bruise!"

"Sorry, Captain," replied Maithwaite. "Just trying to save time."

"At the cost of being sensible and safe?" Hayley said disapprovingly. "I'll allow three at a time, but not four. Understand?"

"Y-Yes, ma'am," said Maithwaite, scurrying off in embarrassment.

Hayley was well liked and respected amongst the GDF personnel due to her kind-hearted and polite ways of handling things whilst also keeping it professional. She never disciplined or shouted at anyone unless they needed it.

Colonel Jennings then appeared. "How's the unloading?" she asked.

"Getting there, Colonel," Hayley replied. She did her best to sound civil because deep down she was still a bit mad at the Colonel for all the grief she'd put her through. However, she did not want to jeopardise the change of attitude that Jennings had.

"Excellent," said Colonel Jennings. "Pass me the clipboard. I'll do the rest."

Hayley looked at her confusion. "I'm…sorry?"

"I'll finish this off, Madison," said Colonel Jennings. "You might want to go and get changed. Your plane will be here soon."

Hayley was even more confused. "I'm sorry, I don't understand, Colonel?"

Before Colonel Jennings could answer, the sound of another aircraft was heard from above. Both looked up to see a small private jet coming into land vertically. Hayley's eyes widened as she recognised the design of the plane. There was only one like this in the whole world. "Is that…?"

"Yes, Captain," said Colonel Jennings. "I'm giving you two weeks leave to make up for all the trouble I have given you. Go spend time with your parents. And your boyfriend."

Hayley couldn't believe what she'd just heard. All resentment she'd had left inside her seemed to leave in an instant. She found herself wanting to give Jennings a hug, but that would have been weird she quickly realised. "Th-Thank you!" she gasped.

Colonel Jennings smiled. "Hurry along, Captain," she said kindly. "Don't keep them waiting."

Hayley smiled back. She stood to attention and gave the Colonel a salute which Jennings returned. She then hurried off towards her quarters to pack her things as she felt a massive amount of excitement run through her body. "See you soon, my love," she said even though she knew Virgil couldn't hear her.


5!

4!

3!

2!

1!

"Thunderbirds Are Go!"


"DANGER AT OCEAN DEEP"

VIRGIL was fidgety. He paced all around the lido and the pool twitching his feet and unable to prevent himself from keeping still. This soon started to annoy the others.

"Virg, please, just sit down, please?" Scott said from the sun-lounger he was laying on in just his swimming trunks.

"I can't," Virgil replied. "I feel like my birthday's come early this year."

Gordon surfaced in the pool. He was more understanding to Virgil. "Give him a break, Scott. He hasn't seen Hayley in over two months so he's entitled to get more than a little excited."

Scott sighed in defeat and buried his face in a magazine, trying to block Virgil's pacing out.

Just then they heard the distant sound of an aircraft approaching. Virgil ran to the nearest point that looked out across the ocean. His eyes lit up as the private jet appeared and banked around so it could land remotely on Thunderbird 2's runway. "She's here. She's here! SHE'S HERE!" he said excitedly and bolted off towards the house.

Jeff and Grandma were waiting as the jet pulled into the hangar. The door opened and the steps lowered to allow Hayley to exit. She grinned at the sight of the patriarch and matriarch of the Tracy family. "Mr Tracy. Mrs Tracy."

"Hayley!" said Jeff, giving her a welcoming hug. "Boy, it's good to see you."

"Hello, dear," said Grandma, also giving Hayley a hug.

As the hug ended, they heard the sound of hurrying footsteps from outside the door.

"Incoming," said Jeff with a smirk.

Hayley looked on eagerly as Virgil burst in and jumped the flight of stairs before sprinting towards her. She then let out an excitable squeal and sprinted towards him. Both completely misjudged their speed for they both slammed right into each other with such force that they both knocked themselves over onto the floor. "OOF!" they both exclaimed before howling with laughter.

Jeff and Grandma looked at each other in amusement and decided to leave them to it.

"Oooooof…" said Virgil as he sat himself up. "You knocked…the gas…out of me…"

Hayley sat up too. "Likewise…" she panted. They looked at each other for a moment. Then threw themselves onto each other and began kissing more passionately than they'd ever done before.

Jeff took a peek before exiting. He smiled, pleased to see his son happily reunited.


The entire family sat down for lunch along with Hayley where they exchanged stories about adventures they had in the time since they'd last seen Hayley. Hayley told Alan how happy she was for him for conquering his fear of Sophie's spectre and said to Scott how relieved she was that he'd not drowned in the sinking of the Miranda.

John joined them from Thunderbird 5 where he openly apologised for getting Hayley into trouble with Colonel Jennings. "Oh, John, I don't blame you for that!" Hayley said comfortingly. "I asked for your help. It was me who dragged you, Virgil and Gordon into this. I just hope your Dad didn't give you a hard time?"

"Not at all," said Jeff from the kitchen.

Hayley gulped having forgotten Jeff was in earshot, but he wasn't mad.

"It's not something I'd normally get International Rescue involved with," said Jeff as he returned to the table with a large bowl of salad. "However, the potential catastrophe that might have taken place had that nuke not been recovered doesn't bear thinking about. You did the right thing, Hayley."

"Thanks," said Hayley. "Although I have to thank Kayo for settling the whole thing by rescuing Jennings."

"I did say I'd be there when she learned there was a need for us to work together," said Kayo as she took some salad. "Didn't quite expect it to be as high-tense as that rescue was. I regret having to take the lives of Crossbones' thugs in order to save her but I did what I had to do."

"As you say, regrettable," agreed Jeff. "But, as I've said many times before, we can't save everyone."

"But we can try," said Alan.

"Correct," said Jeff.

"Even the bad guys," said Scott. He remembered when he and the others had been forced to 'rescue' The Hood from the vengeful Mechanic's Project Sentinel as well as saving Fuse's life from being destroyed by his own device whilst stuck with a piece of uranium.

"What about The Cabal?" asked Virgil. "Surely they're beyond saving?"

"Oh, I'd make an exception with them now after everything they've done," agreed Gordon.

"Now cut that out, both of you!" scolded Grandma. "I understand your feelings. We all do. But they are still human beings at the end of the day…even if they're misguided ones."

"Think they're a bit more than that," Alan whispered to Kayo who silently nodded in agreement.

It was only then that Hayley realised that someone was missing. Alan and Kayo sat on her right. Virgil was on her left. Jeff was at the end of the table and Grandma, John, Gordon and Scott were sitting on the opposite side. That left one person unaccounted for. "Where's Brains?" she asked.

The others looked at the empty chair. Scott rolled his eyes. "Ugh, is he still working on that cryotube?" he asked.

"Cryotube?" repeated Hayley in interest.

An awkward silence followed this. Gordon had been about to explain but John elbowed him to stay quiet.

Hayley looked at everyone, confused. "Am I…missing something?" she asked.

Jeff looked at Virgil. "Go show her, son," he said.

Virgil nodded. "Hayley, come with me, please." He got up and left the table with a bewildered Hayley following behind him.

"Babe, what's going on?" Hayley asked as they took an elevator down to the lower levels of Tracy Island. "What's with this cryotube?"

"I think it'd be better if you see for yourself," Virgil replied.


The elevator reached the bottom and the doors opened. Hayley walked out in front of Virgil. They were in Brains' main lab. Hayley had never been in here before and was astonished by the amount of equipment that he had.

Braman walked up to them. "Hello, Mr Virgil. Captain Madison," he said in his robotic voice. "How may I assist you?"

"We need to see what Brains is working on," said Virgil. "Can you take us to him, Braman."

"Of course," said Braman. "Follow me, please." He turned and began to lead the way across the lab.

Braman took them outside the main lab where it led into the vast cavern where Thunderbirds 1, 3 and Shadow were kept. They noticed Brains and MAX down below working next to a rusty black box. As they walked down the stairs, Hayley eyed the crate suspiciously. She couldn't help but feel she'd seen something like it before.

MAX warbled to tell Brains that they had company. Brains turned to see Braman, Virgil and Hayley approaching. "Ah, H-Hayley!" he said as he got to his feet. "Forgive me. I had c-completely forgotten that you were coming to visit. It's so g-good to see you again."

"You too, Brains," Hayley replied with a friendly smile. She then turned back to the crate. "I thought you said this was a cryotube?"

"Er, that is inside," said Brains, bringing them round to one side which was open. The tube was closed up with a small blue glow coming from its window on the door.

"Is this from a spaceship?" Hayley asked.

"We thought that at first," said Virgil. "Alan and I found it in the Sahara whilst we were looking for Dr Ballard's balloon. Brains thought he recognised the design and asked us to bring it back here after we did find him."

"And it's a g-good thing I did too," said Brains. "Take a look inside."

Hayley looked at him. Then she looked at Virgil who gave a nod.

Curious, Hayley walked up to the front of the cryotube and after having to stand on the stool that Brains had been using, peered in through the window. She let out a shriek of surprise and jumped backwards straight into Virgil's arms who had decided to stand behind her in case she needed catching. Her hand flew over her mouth and her eyes went as wide as saucers. "Oh…Oh…Oh, my God!" she exclaimed, utterly shocked. She then pulled herself from Virgil's arms and jumped back up onto the stool to look in again. She could hardly believe it as she gazed in shock at the frozen face of The Mechanic sitting motionless with closed eyes inside the tube. Slowly, she turned back and gazed at Brains and Virgil, trying to find words. "H-H-H…How?!" she asked.

"I w-wish I could answer that," said Brains. "I remember when The Mechanic shared with me the plans for the S-Sidewinder, I studied it in every detail and I remembered that the escape units featured cryotubes."

"But, I don't understand," Hayley said. "I didn't see any escape units before the explosion."

"To be fair, we weren't looking at the hole when the Sidewinder blew up," said Virgil. "It's quite likely that none of us saw it and possibly he escaped at the last second?"

"I guess so," said Hayley, looking back at the motionless Mechanic. "Is he alive?"

"That…we d-don't know," said Brains. "The tube d-doesn't appear to be active, but it's like he's been c-cryogenically comatose. The inside l-liquid gas has somehow solidified and created an ice c-cocoon around him."

"So he could well still be alive…" Hayley said hopefully, trying to hold back a tear.


The entire family gathered in the lounge around mid-afternoon. Brains had finally completed his tests and was ready to reveal the truth of what he'd learned about The Mechanic's condition. "It would seem that the cryotube suffered s-some kind of malfunction after the ejection," he was saying. "Whilst it appears to have kept him alive, he is completely encased in a blanket of ice so to speak."

"Can't we just thaw him out?" asked Gordon.

"Not without knowing what injuries or other life-threatening conditions he may have suffered, Gordon," said Brains. "I daren't break the ice either. It's extremely thick. Breaking could…could destroy him as well."

This sent chills down everyone's spines.

"Well, we can't leave him like that, Brains," said Scott. "We have a duty to help him if we can."

"I am w-well aware of that, Scott," said Brains. "There is o-one way that we could remove it, and that is to dissolve the ice into nothingness without it affecting The Mechanic's b-body."

"Dissolve it?" repeated Kayo. "Is that even possible?"

"With only one k-kind of metal, Kayo," said Brains. "It's called P-Plyton. It is extremely rare."

"So rare that we've never heard of it," remarked Alan.

"I've heard of it," said Virgil. "Although don't ask me where from?"

"I have too," said Jeff. "Apparently it can be created from water or something, but it requires very specific equipment in order to manufacture it."

"And I'm guessing that's extremely rare?" said Gordon.

"V-Very rare," said Brains. "The early experiments with plyton showed that it had a chemical reaction to ice and dissolved it into n-nothing. But it is also h-harmless to the human body."

"Well, that seems like the obvious course of action, Brains," said Jeff. "You want me to start doing some enquiries to obtain some?"

"That would be m-most helpful, Mr Tracy," said Brains. "Although given how r-rare plyton is, I fear it could take us a very long time before we get any if we can at all."

"Time that The Mechanic might not have," Virgil pointed out.

"There has to be some way of getting some sooner?" said John. "Maybe I could use Thunderbird 5's long-range metal scanners to try and locate some?"

"Or we could make our own."

Everyone fell silent and looked towards Hayley in surprise. Hayley had been very quiet throughout the whole conversation and they noticed now how much of a deep thought she was in.

"What do you mean?" Virgil asked.

Hayley turned to face everyone. "I know how we can get some plyton," she said. "Straight from the sea itself!" She then stood up and took out her phone and hurried towards the stairs leading to the kitchen before any of the others could say a word. "Please talk amongst yourselves," she said. "I'll be right back."

Everyone watched her disappear down the stairs and then looked at each other in confusion. "What was that all about?" asked Scott.

"She sounds like she's had some dealings with this metal in the past to me," remarked Grandma.

"If it can get us what we n-need to save The Mechanic then I'm all for it," said Brains.

"I wonder what it is?" wondered Kayo out loud.

"Let's not start speculating," said Jeff. "Let us wait and see what she has to say when she comes back."


Hayley was gone for a good while. Almost thirty minutes had passed before she finally returned. She had a smile on her face. "Good news," she said. "The equipment that was used in the experimentation of producing the plyton still exists and it's going to be leant to us so Brains can make some plyton."

Everyone's faces lit up. "Excellent news!" said Jeff. "Tell us where to go and Virgil can bring it here in Thunderbird 2."

"Errr, not exactly," Hayley said. "I'm afraid there's more to the whole plyton thing than even you know, Brains. May I?"

"P-Please," said Brains, stepping aside so Hayley could take control of the hologram projector in the table.

"As you guys are well aware, I used to be a member of W.A.S.P.," she began.

"W.A.S.P.?" asked Alan.

"World Aquanaut Security Patrol," Scott said.

"Thank you," said Hayley. "My last assignment there was co-leader of Project Plyton. I worked alongside Professor Damian Darren."

"The m-man who gave plyton its name!" Brains realised.

"Correct," said Hayley. "He discovered that seawater is one of two ingredients needed to create plyton. The other is a rare mineral found only in one place." She highlighted a place on the hologram map showing the Pacific. "Here," she said. "The Kendrick Trench, located five-hundred miles North of Hawaii."

"A job for me then?" asked Gordon. "I can take Thunderbird 4 down and collect some of the mineral, then we put it into a machine with some already collected seawater and hey-presto! We have plyton!"

"If only it were that simple, Gordon," said Hayley. "The machine that Professor Darren invented was built into this." She then brought up a hologram image of a yellow submersible that Gordon had forgotten about.

"The B-1 Bathyscaphe?" Gordon asked in amazement. "I thought that had been scrapped?"

"Nope, it's still around, Gordon," said Hayley. "We added a special drill underneath to burrow into the seabed within the trench and pulled the mineral aboard into the special machine invented by the Professor. We then used the tubes on the sides of the B-1 to draw seawater into the machine which then mixed with the mineral and somehow made plyton. The excess was then pumped out of the other side. Don't ask me about the details of how it worked. It was all very technical."

"The kind of language that only Brains understands," remarked John.

"Y-Yes, thank you, John," remarked Brains with a slightly annoyed roll of his eyes.

"So where is this bathyscaphe, Hayley?" asked Jeff.

"Marineville, headquarters of the W.A.S.P.," said Hayley. "I kept in touch with Atlanta Shore, the daughter of Commander Shore. I spoke to them both as well as Zoe Darren. She's the daughter of the Professor. They have agreed to get the B-1 out of storage so we can use it. Poor Zoe's been waiting years for a chance to use her father's machine again."

"Excellent," said Jeff. "I know Commander Shore. I'll give him a call and we'll discuss things. It's been a long time since we last spoke. Probably not since before the Zero-X incident."

Virgil turned to Hayley. "You said his daughter wanted to use the machine again?" he said. "How come it wasn't continued if it was successful?"

Hayley's face fell and she let out a sad sigh. She walked over to her seat and sat beside him. Everyone else braced themselves as they could feel that Hayley wasn't going to be telling them a happy story. "I helped to command the B-1 on its trial run," she said. "I also helped with the modifications and installation of the equipment. I became close with the Professor and grew an attachment to Chuck."

"Chuck?" asked Gordon.

"His assistant," said Hayley. "Once Commander Shore cleared the B-1 for full plyton production, it was taken out to a part of the Kendrick Trench and then left to get on with the job. It was as it was left there that I was informed I was getting my rank of Captain. There was a big dinner to celebrate where I was the guest of honour." She paused and looked at her lap. "That was when we were informed that an underwater earthquake had been detected right at the location of the B-1. All contact was lost. When the Barracuda got there, they found the bathyscaphe lying upside-down inside a large crack that had formed in the seabed. Upon inspection, they found it had been damaged and the hull had been breached. Professor Darren and Chuck…drowned." She fell silent for a moment.

The others exchanged looks of sorrow.

"So sorry to hear that, Hayley," said Jeff. "You must have been devastated."

"That's an understatement, Mr Tracy," said Hayley. "Two and a half years were spent on that project. I had grown close to Chuck. My Captain's promotion meant nothing to me for a while. When I saw the recovered B-1, it just broke my heart. I handed in my resignation a short time later. I even handed back my role of Captain. I remained a lieutenant until the day of the Gibraltar Incident. I think you know the rest."

"We certainly do," said Virgil as he put a comforting arm around his girlfriend.

Jeff turned to Brains. "Well, Brains?" he said. "Should we go ahead with this?"

"Y-Yes," said Brains. "I would like to s-study the details of the Plyton Processor to get an idea of how it works before we start."

"Leave that to me," said Jeff.

"Actually, Mr Tracy, I know all the people who we'd need to get involved with," said Hayley. "This is a big task and I think it'd be better if I handle it myself. If that's okay with you?"

"Of course," smiled Jeff. "Looks like Operation Plyton is a go!


Arrangements took some time. Longer than Hayley would have liked. All the while The Mechanic was kept sealed inside the cryotube as Brains knew that was the best way to keep him in the condition that he was in.

Hayley's arrangements were extensive. She took some time to visit her family in London before also getting permission from Colonel Jennings to lead the mission, claiming that she had one final mission with the W.A.S.P. that was never completed. To her surprise, the Colonel had no objection. She saw it as a fellow military operation and therefore was fine with Hayley being absent from her regular duties. Although Rigby had not been too happy about it as it meant he had to stop being Captain Liberty so he could lead the troops with Captain Thompson in his old uniform. The arrangements took almost a fortnight to complete, but at long last, things began to look up.

The rear doors of the Minibus opened to allow Commander Sam Shore to exit in his green hoverchair down a ramp. As he came around the side, Hayley stepped out along with the Commander's daughter Atlanta. Together they made their way along the dockyard towards a very unusual ship. It was a twin-hulled floating dock with the name FD-7. Its large gantry cranes crossed over between the two hulls. And suspended from the cranes was the bright yellow B-1 bathyscaphe that had been brought out of storage and given all the necessary modifications it would need for the upcoming mission.

"Well…there you go, Hayley," said Commander Shore. "She's as good as new."

Hayley beamed at seeing the B-1 again in the flesh. It had been a very long time. "You know, sir. I never thought I'd get to see her again," she said. "And I never thought I'd get the chance to actually operate her again."

"Well, I hope you remember how to pilot her?" joked Shore. "She's a bit different from the GDF craft that you're more familiar with now."

"From what I remember she was very simple," said Hayley.

"Think you'll be the first people to return to the Kendrick Trench since that fateful day," said Atlanta.

"None of your people have been?" asked Hayley.

"We've had no need to send anyone there," said Commander Shore. "But we've never detected any unusual activity out there so we've never sent anyone to investigate the area."

"More tried to forget about it due to what happened with the B-1 last time," added Atlanta.

"Have there been any earthquakes recorded in that area since?" Hayley asked.

The father and daughter duo looked at each other. "No," they said together.

Hayley raised an eyebrow. "You make that sound suspicious," she remarked.

"Well earthquakes are unpredictable, Hayley," said Shore. "It could very well have been a one-off event."

"It better have been," said Hayley. "There's a lot at stake with this assignment and we cannot afford to fail."

"What exactly do you need the plyton for?" asked Atlanta. "Just asking out of curiosity."

"It's not me who needs it, it's Brains," said Hayley. "We need to try and save a mutual friend of ours who is trapped in an ice-coma. He reckons plyton is the only way to get rid of the ice without it endangering him."

"I see," said Commander Shore. "So this isn't for the GDF's needs then?"

"No," said Hayley. "I don't think I'd want this to be a mass-produced thing either. Plyton is very strong and I'd hate for it to be used to create weapons. Even if they are in the right hands."

"Understandable," said Shore. "Well, you'd better get aboard. They'll be departing in fifteen minutes. Dr Darren is already aboard."

Atlanta and Hayley shared a hug. "Good luck," Atlanta said. "And be careful."

"We will," Hayley promised as she headed up the gangway to board the FD-7.

Atlanta and Commander Shore watched her head aboard before heading back to the minibus. They were both rather worried. "Father…you know there are no fault lines in the Kendrick Trench," Atlanta said in a hushed voice.

"I am well aware, Atlanta," replied Shore. "But we have no proof that any foul play had anything to do with that incident."

"But the distance between there and you-know-where is less than a-hundred kilometres," Atlanta said. "What's to say something might-"

"We have to hope that it doesn't," said Commander Shore. "And besides, if anything was to go wrong. We have the back-up of International Rescue this time who will be able to rescue them a lot quicker than we ever could."

That was true, Atlanta thought, but all the same, she was still very worried for the people who would be aboard the B-1.


Hayley boarded the FD-7 and gazed up at the B-1 suspended from the crane via the strong grabs. "Hello, beautiful," she said even though she knew full well that the bathyscaphe couldn't hear her.

"Why, thank you!"

Hayley jumped and turned to see a tall woman in her late forties with short blondish hair and a warm smile. Her own face broke into a smile. "Zoe Darren!"

"Hayley Madison!"

The two hugged. "Gosh, it's been so long!" Hayley said.

"Oh, hasn't it just?" answered Zoe. "You look stunning in that uniform."

Hayley glanced down at her uniform. Instead of donning her GDF Scarlet uniform, she'd instead opted for her World Aquanaut Security Patrol Captain's uniform which somehow made her feel proud. She'd not had the chance to wear this outfit with the W.A.S.P. as she'd left almost right after the promotion as she'd felt too saddened by the death of Zoe's father to remain.

"I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch," Hayley apologised. "And I'm sorry it's taken this long for us to get B-1 back out to sea."

"Oh, it's fine, love," said Zoe understandingly. "I would not have wanted to see Daddy's project get revised by anyone but you."

This really warmed Hayley's heart. She let out a sad sigh and thought of the late Professor.

Zoe then looked at her watch. "We're due off any minute," she said. "Where's this other professor who is meant to be joining us?"

"Er, he's not a professor," said Hayley as they headed along the deck. "He's an engineer. And he'll be joining us when we get out there. It would have been a waste of time flying him out here and then sailing back to the trench. I sent him the details of the Plyton-Producer for him to study."

"Fair enough," said Zoe. "I hope he'll have a good idea of how to operate it then."

"Oh, he will," said Hayley. "He's a fast learner." Although not a great sailor apparently, she added in her head.


The time to depart soon arrived. Men and women worked on the deck of the FD-7 and the quayside as the mooring ropes were slipped and brought aboard. The engines were started and the giant floating dock began to make its way out of the harbour to begin the long five-day journey out to the Kendrick Trench. As the West Coast of the United States gradually disappeared into the distance, Hayley found herself out on deck loving the feel of the wind blowing across her face. She had to adjust her cap as it almost got blown off but luckily she caught it. "Phew. Almost!" she chuckled to herself. "Wouldn't do to lose that."