FOUR days following the emergency meeting at the base in Singapore, the Indian Ocean was being covered by well over one-hundred warships from the various Navies from Australia to South Africa. Up to twenty Task Forces were deployed covering every part with an Aircraft Carrier at the centre of each one. Some had Super-Carries from both the Royal Navy and the United States Navy as well. Every kind of smaller ship from simple Patrol Craft to Destroyers and Cruisers made up the rest of the forces. Hundreds of aircraft combed the skies covering every surface area that the ships could not. And deep beneath the waves were packs of Hunter-Killer submarines searching for the Tigershark.

At the heart of the operation was the WNS Indiana. On board its main control bridge was Admiral Jellicoe. From here we coordinated the Task-Forces, sending each group to its designated patrol area and then he would re-assign if need be.

Captain Peterson of the Indiana approached the Admiral who was looking over a Tactical Display Map in the command room. "Admiral, we've had a message from the Warspite Task Force. They've searched the whole of their section and found nothing so far."

"Hmmm. same with the other five groups that have reported so far," replied Jellicoe. "Can't say I am surprised. I'm not expecting the Tigershark to make itself easily found."

"The Indian Ocean is small compared to the likes of the Atlantic and the Pacific, sir," said Peterson. "In your honest opinion, what are the chances of us finding it?"

"Probably a million to one, Captain," said Jellicoe. "But let's hope we find the one."

Peterson nodded and headed back out onto the bridge.

Jellicoe looked at the Tactical Display Map in front of him. It showed the positions of all the task forces that were covering the Indian Ocean. He tried to think where the submarine could possibly be, but it turned out to be impossible. He took note of the thirteen green dots that were moving around the holographic screen. These were a group of remote-controlled aircraft that had been launched with fake transponders on. It was hoped that one of these might become bait for the Tigershark.

The door between the bridge and command room was left open and a Junior Officer entered with a salute and a message. "Admiral, we've just detected there's a cruise ship in the area. The Arcadia, sir. What shall we do about it?"

"Detach one of the Destroyers to escort it until the operation is over," replied Jellicoe. "So far the sub has only targeted aircraft. Let's not give it the chance to attack ships as well."

"Aye-aye, sir!'

A warning had gone out to all civilian aircraft and ships to try and avoid the Indian Ocean whilst the operation was taking place, but even that proved to be impossible as not all of them received the warning. This was a great source of frustration for Jellicoe as he was now having to instruct some of the other ships to escort the vessels whilst some squadrons of aircraft were detailed to escort the planes to make sure none of them got targeted by the rogue submarine.

Jellicoe checked his watch. "Five hours, forty minutes," he told himself. "I sure hope these guys will make a move soon."


At a position two-hundred nautical miles to the North-Western tip of Australia, the calm blue waters were disturbed as the sinister shape of the Tigershark began to emerge from the depths. Captain Barker had made the decision to make one last attack before leaving the Indian Ocean for new hunting grounds. He was sitting in his command chair in the submarine's control room whilst Corbett was at his station.

"Status, Mr Corbett?" said Barker. "How do we look?"

"All systems are green, sir," acknowledged Corbett. "Target is coming into range…now!"

"Excellent," said Barker. "Commence attack."

Corbett pressed some buttons. The long hatch on the forward desk of the submarine opened and the missile platform emerged from within. The platform then aimed skywards and the missile was launched. Barker and Corbett waited in silence as the missile gained altitude towards the small aircraft it was closing in on. There came a mighty BOOM as the missile impacted the aircraft and exploded - ripping it to pieces. The pieces then dropped straight down into the water creating numerous splashes but no mighty explosion like the CV-9s has done.

A loud beep on the Tactical Display in the command room of the Indiana caught Jellicoe's attention. He looked over at the far right side of the map and noticed that the green light that had belonged to Target Aircraft 3 had disappeared. That could only mean one thing. He pressed a button on his control desk. "Admiral Jellicoe to all World Navy ships, submarines and aircraft. Code Black! I repeat - Code Black! Contact with Target Aircraft 3 lost two-hundred miles North-West of Australia. All assets in that area, close in and engage and will! Godspeed and good luck. To all other assets, head for that area as soon as possible. The hunt is on!"

Barker got out from his seat and looked out of the large viewing window that could be concealed by a cover when underwater. He raised his binoculars to his eyes and began scanning the open ocean in front of them.

"Something wrong, sir?" asked Corbett.

"Yes…" Barker answered slowly. "That aircraft got obliterated by the missile. Something the size of what we've targeting wouldn't have done that. Something's not right, Mr Corbett."

The words had barely left Barker's lips when the radar screen pinged loudly alerting Corbett who looked at it with great alarm. "Sir! Vessel on the surface! Bearing one-seven-nine. Speed thirty-five knots! Range ten miles - closing fast!"

The arc of the window just about covered that direction. Barker pointed his binoculars in the direction and soon saw what the contact was. "I knew it!" he cursed. "There's a Destroyer approaching us! Looks like a French Concorde-class."

"Shall we dive, sir?"

"No," Barker answered. "It would have the advantage over us and launch attacks before we could even get into position. Bring the guns online. And DON'T MISS THIS TIME!"

Corbett was still somewhat bitter over his failure to destroy Admiral Beatty's yacht. His ears had been ringing for hours due to the dressing-down Barker had given him after they'd escaped the area. He was determined not to let his commander down again as he activated the gun turret at the base of the conning tower.


Aboard the Concorde, the Captain was observing the Tigershark through his binoculars. One of his officers approached him. "Capitaine. Nous avons une solution sur la cible. Allons-nous ouvrir le feu?"

"Oui," answered the Captain. "Commencez à tirer !"

The officer then spoke via a radio link to the forward gun turret on the Destroyer's bow. "TIRER!"


A deafening boom broke the air as the four-inch gun opened fire with a single shot. The Captain gave an order to turn to the left so that the guns on the starboard side as well as the one on the stern could also join in the action. The shell fired flew right over the top of the Tigershark and landed in the water about fifty metres away on the opposite side.

The Tigershark now returned fire. The two guns sent shells back towards the Destroyer. It came as quite a shock to the crew when one of the shells struck the side of the ship amidships. The hull was breached and water began pouring into the engine room. The operators inside were caught completely off guard and panic broke out. Some got swept away by the rush of water before they realised fully what had happened.

The Tigershark then fired a second salvo. This one was even deadlier. One of the shells hit the deck right behind the forward gun. It penetrated the deck and exploded in the magazine room. Within seconds, a violent explosion ripped through the Concorde, lifting it clean out of the water. The bow section was blown clean off and forwards whilst the remaining two-thirds of the ship were thrown backwards. It also tipped over and capsized upon hitting the water again. Any fires that initially broke out in the explosion were quickly extinguished by the water as the ocean began to boil around the now rapidly sinking warship.

"Target destroyed, sir!" said Corbett.

"Good," replied Barker. "Now dive and get us the hell out of here before more turn up!"

"More, sir?"

"Yes!" Barker snapped. "Isn't it obvious, man? The people on that yacht wouldn't have kept quiet about their encounter. They'll have reported it, and now I suspect the whole of the goddamn Indian Ocean is full of ships and planes trying to find us! Now, DIVE THE DAMN SHIP!"

His ears ringing once again with Barker's angry words, Corbett set the ballast tanks to flood and the Tigershark submerged once again. He set a course to head East towards the Timor Sea. Barker knew that the best chance they had of slipping away and losing the World Navy was to cross through it, the Arafua and Coral Seas before disappearing into the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. It was going to be difficult as neither man had any idea where the main concentration of forces were, but they were pretty confident that to turn back West into the Indian Ocean would be potentially suicide.


Now that it was below the surface, the Tigershark dived down to around five-hundred feet before heading off on its course. Barker and Corbett were hoping that the Concorde had been the only vessel in the area. But then the sonar screen lit up again with not one, but two contacts.

"Now what?" demanded Barker.

Corbett checked the contacts and his heart almost burst through his body when he realised what they were. "Submerged contacts, sir! One closing in from the East. The other from the West."

Barker's blood-pressure was rising again. An underwater duel was not what he wanted. "Ready the torpedo tubes!" he ordered. "We've got to take them out before they can take us out!"

Closing in from the East was the Australian submarine HMAS Perth. It was currently on a near collision course with the Tigershark. Coming up behind it from the West was the American submarine USS Salt Lake City. Both had the Tigershark firmly in their sights and were ready to use lethal force to take it out of action.

The Perth was the first to make its attack. It fired a spread of three torpedoes from its tubes. But the Tigershark was able to evade them by deploying countermeasures. All three harmlessly collided with some of the underwater rocks as they were close to the seabed. Then the Tigershark responded with a single torpedo of its own. As it had been with the Concorde, the accuracy of its weapon was deadly. The torpedo struck the port-side of the Perth and destroyed it instantly - its shattered remains falling to the seabed with all hands lost.

The Salt Lake City took full advantage of the Tigershark's distraction. It also fired three torpedoes. These weren't detected until they were much closer than the Perth's had been. Corbett performed evasive manoeuvres and dropped some decoys in an attempt to throw the torpedoes off. It worked with two of them, but the third managed to slip through and strike the underbelly of the Tigershark. The submarine was rocked from side to side and then began to disappear behind some rocks, apparently sinking. This caused the Salt Lake City to lose sonar contact, so it moved it closer in order to confirm the kill. It was a grave mistake on the part of its commander. What he couldn't have known was that the Tigershark was not only undamaged due to its strong construction, but had slipped down behind the rocks deliberately in order to set-up an ambush. As the unsuspecting American submarine passed by, another torpedo shot out from the hiding place and hit it right in the stern. Another huge explosion obliterated it, sending the remains to the ocean floor as yet another victim of the Tigershark's rampage of destruction.


Admiral Jellicoe was looking anxiously at his Tactical Display Map. he was biting his nails. He had already received the shocking news about the Concorde being sunk. He was praying that it was going to be a one off bit of bad luck.

One of the Indiana's officers entered along with Captain Peterson. They both looked rather pale as they brought some more bad news for the Admiral. "Admiral…sir."

Jellicoe slowly turned around. "Yes? What is it?"

"We've lost contact with HMAS Perth and USS Salt Lake City, sir," said the officer. "Both in the same area as the Concorde."

Jellicoe didn't answer at first. He began to slowly turn away again, his body starting to shake slightly. "I see…Thank you, Collins." An awkward silence fell upon the control room.

"What do we do, sir?" asked Peterson.

Jellicoe again was silent for a few moments before he spoke. "Continue the pursuit," he said, still with his back turned. "We cannot let this submarine escape into the Pacific otherwise we may never find it again."

The two men began to leave.

"Captain?"

Peterson came back in. "Yes, sir?"

"Close the door on your way out, please."

Peterson completely understood the request. "Aye, sir." He stepped out of the control room and closed the door, leaving Jellicoe alone.

Jellicoe walked shakily over to the nearby control desk. Clenched his fists and then banged them hard on the surface. "DAMN!"


John floated in the main communications room aboard Thunderbird 5 listening with apprehension at what was going on down below on Earth. It had been almost forty-eight hours since the Tigershark had sunk the Concorde and the two submarines. Since then there'd been two more underwater battles between it and other submarines - and once again it had come out victorious. Now there was another battle going on at the point where the Arafua and Coral Seas met. The Tigershark was engaged with two British warships - HMS Neptune and HMS Jupiter. Both were Planet-class Frigates and were the Royal Navy's top-notch submarine hunting vessels. But even they were having a hard time dealing with the Tigershark.

John could do nothing but listen to the communications between the vessels and used his holographic display to observe the battle. The two Frigates launched several torpedoes and depth-charges at the submarine with at least one torpedo believed to have scored a direct hit. Several depth-charges also landed within a few feet of the Tigershark which should have caused quite significant damage. And yet somehow it was still managing to sail on.

The battle went on for well over an hour before finally things came to a deadly conclusion. John watched on and listened in horror as Jupiter was destroyed by a torpedo strike from the Tigershark. It broke into two pieces and sank rapidly, just like the Concorde had done. John felt his stomach churn as he heard the screams of the crew before the communications from the ship cut out. It lasted a mere few seconds but it was enough to sicken him. Then the Neptune was hit in the stern, completely destroying its propellers and rudders which resulted in it being dead in the water. The Tigershark did not stick around to finish the stricken Frigate off and instead hurried quickly away from the scene before John lost the contact with it as he'd patched the sonar from the two warships into Thunderbird 5's own scanners. Most of the power of Neptune was disabled meaning he could no longer track it.

"This is bad, isn't it, John?" EOS remarked, noticing John's uncomfortable expression.

"Bad? This is a disaster, EOS," John replied. "That sub is far deadlier than we imagined. Now there's nothing to stop it from reaching the Pacific."

"Does this mean what I think it means?" EOS asked.

John nodded grimly. "I believe it does, EOS. I believe it does." He brought up the International Rescue Communication Wheel and pushed the middle icon to call Tracy Island. "International Rescue…we have a situation."


"Go ahead, John?" Jeff said.

John's hologram appeared once again in the Tracy Island lounge where his brothers, Grandma and Brains were also waiting. "Dad, it's not going well for the World Navy."

"How bad is it?" asked Virgil.

"Extremely," replied John. "The Tigershark has sunk two surface ships and damaged another as well as taking out four subs that tried to intercept it."

Everyone exchanged shocked looks with each other.

"Holy cra…ud," Alan corrected himself as Grandma had given him a look. "I didn't think that could happen."

"How many people on those vessels, John?" asked Gordon.

"I don't think you wanna know the answer to that, Gordon," said John.

"Actually we do," said Scott.

John gave a sigh. "The four subs had crews of twenty. The Destroyer Concorde had around sixty. The two Frigates that have just engaged it have fifty each. One is still afloat, just disabled. The other sank instantly following a major explosion. No idea on those two but there were no survivors from the other vessels." His voice seemed to get quieter towards the end as the pain of telling them was quite evident.

"Jesus…" said Jeff softly.

"There's gotta be at least a-hundred and fifty dead if not more if you include those on that latest ship," said Gordon.

Scott stood up from his seat and turned to face Jeff. He'd still been fairly quiet following his shock of finding Captain Carter, but now he looked like he was full of anger and determination. "Dad…" he began. "We need to get out there and stop this. I know you're not happy with International Rescue getting involved with military matters and all that, but this HAS TO STOP! THERE IS NO WAR GOING ON AND INNOCENT PEOPLE ARE GETTING KILLED! WE'RE NOT GONNA JUST SIT HERE ON OUR ASSES AND-"

"LANGUAGE!" Grandma said loudly.

But Scott completely ignored her. "THOSE PEOPLE ON THOSE SHIPS AND SUBS, THEY'RE STILL HUMAN BEINGS, DAD! I'M NOT GONNA SIT AROUND HERE AND LISTEN TO ANYMORE OF THEM DYING BECAUSE OF ONE LONE SUB THAT'S FAR MORE DEADLIER THAN ANYONE CAN IMAGINE!" He paused for a second, then lowered his voice a little. "And I don't think I'm alone in this?" He turned to his brothers in the hope they'd support him.

Gordon immediately got to his feet. "I agree with Scott," he said.

"Me too," added Alan, standing up as well.

Virgil hesitated, but then he too stood up. "Whilst I'm less inclined to get directly involved with the Navy's work, I can't disagree that too many lives have been lost unnecessarily," he said. "We do have to do something, Dad."

"Yeah, I have to be honest, I don't want to hear of anyone else dying today," finished John.

All eyes then turned to Jeff who was sitting back in his chair with his hands under his chin and thinking hard. Silence fell across the lounge as they all waited for him to say something. Eventually, he exhaled and slowly stood up. Everyone was kind of expecting him to deny them the mission. But his answer came as quite the surprise, especially to Grandma. "You're right, boys. I too am appalled by this disgraceful loss of life that the World Navy has suffered the past couple of days. John, where is the sub now?"

"The last contact was on the edge of the Coral Sea," said John. "Somewhere to the South of Papua New Guinea."

"Man, that's practically on our doorstep," said Alan.

"How do we handle it?" asked Virgil.

Jeff turned to Brains. "Brains, could you make a holographic blueprint of the Tigershark using the images from the film captured of it?"

"Hmmm," said Brains thoughtfully. "That m-might be a bit beyond my capabilities, Mr Tracy."

"Could The Mechanic do it?" asked Gordon.

"Hmmm," said Brains again. "That's a p-possibility. I will go and w-wake him and see what we can do."

"Good," said Jeff. "Maybe then we might be able to find a weakness on this sub that Gordon use against it."

"I can?" Gordon asked.

"Yes," Jeff replied. "The way I see it, boys. The only way we can stop the Tigershark is to disable it whilst its underwater and force it to the surface if we can. Then the Navy can come in and do the rest."

"I can do that," said Gordon, ignoring the concerned look on Brains's face.

"What about the rest of us?" asked Scott.

"Scott, if you can take Thunderbird 1 out to roughly where the Tigershark should be, I can use your sonar scanners to make a much wider search using Thunderbird 5," said John. "Then we can guide Thunderbirds 2 and 4 to the position."

"F-A-B," said Scott.

"Awh, do I not get to do anything?" moaned Alan.

"No, you can go as well, Alan," said Jeff. "We don't know what this mission could throw at us so we'd best have all hands available."

"Should we call Kayo back?" asked Virgil.

"No, there's not a lot that Thunderbird Shadow could do in this," said Jeff. "And besides, Kayo is currently somewhere over Siberia looking for The Cabal. We need to act now if we're to stop this sub from causing any more havoc. Okay, boys. Off you go."

"F-A-B!" Scott, Virgil, Alan and Gordon all said in unison as they headed for their respective suit-up areas.

"John, contact the World Navy flagship and tell them we're on our way," Jeff continued. "If Admiral Jellicoe wants to contact me, he is free to do so."

"F-A-B, Dad," said John before signing off.

Brains was still looking uneasy. He looked like he wanted to say something, but was waiting for the right opportunity. He watched as Scott swivelled round on the wall panel, Virgil disappeared after the rocket painting tilted back, Alan had sunk down into the floor on the chairs and Gordon went down in his express elevator by the fish tank.

"Is something wrong, Brains?" asked Jeff.

Brains was rubbing his hands like he did when he was nervous. "F-Forgive me, Mr Tracy, but I am n-not comfortable with the idea of Th-Thunderbird 4 going up against the Tigershark. It is s-so much bigger and a lot more powerful. I am scared."

"For Gordon, or Thunderbird 4?" Grandma asked.

"G-Gordon, of course," Brains said hastily. "But…"

"Brains, I understand," said Jeff. "You don't like it when the ships get damaged and I appreciate how you feel. But I am going to instruct Gordon to perform a sneak attack and disable the sub. I'd rather he didn't engage in an underwater battle with it either. However…" he added, coming over to the engineer. "We can't make a plan of attack unless you can find a weakness. So, how about you go and wake The Mechanic up and see what you can come up with for us?"

That made Brains feel a little better. "Of course," he said. "My apologies, Mr T-Tracy." He turned and walked out of the lounge.

"He's got a point, you know?" said Grandma. "Despite Thunderbird 4's manoeuvrability and speed, the odds are still not in Gordon's favor."

"I am well aware of that, Mother," answered Jeff. "I just hope we can pull this off. That sub has just got to be stopped!"


The four brothers had by now completed their suit-up procedures and were in the final stages of launching. Scott was back in Thunderbird 1 entering the launch bay as the swimming pool was moving back. At the same time, Alan and Gordon had joined Virgil in Thunderbird 2 and were taxiing out of the hangar with Module 4 in its body. Soon it reached the ramp which lifted it into launch position.

5! 4! 3! 2! 1!

The engines of both Thunderbirds roared into life with Thunderbird 1 rising out from its launch bay and Thunderbird 2 soaring off the ramp into the sky.

"Thunderbirds are GO!" announced Scott as the two ships turned West to head towards the Coral Sea.


Brains had woken The Mechanic from one of his sleeps. Due to his body being the way it was, The Mechanic tended to sleep a lot more than the others did as a way of storing the energy and power within his body.

"This is q-quite a challenge, even for us," Brains was saying as they walked across his lab. "Have you ever made a h-holographic blueprint from a photo?"

"No, I haven't," The Mechanic replied. "But I can certainly have a go."

Brains brought up the image of the submarine John had provided them. "Here," he said. "This is what we n-need a blueprint of."

The Mechanic looked at the image closely. "That's an impressive-looking sub," he remarked. "Never seen one like that before."

"N-None of us have," said Brains.

The Mechanic hummed to himself. Then he focused his eyes and began moving his hands around the image. Brains waited anxiously to see what would happen next. The Mechanic seemed to be working for ages before eventually he turned around and moved his arm in like a throwing motion towards the middle holographic table.

Brains let out a gasp of surprise as a holographic blueprint of the Tigershark began to appear from it, showing every detail including what was hidden under the water. "Oh…m-my…Goodness!" he said. "You did it!"

The Mechanic grinned. "Looks like I have," he said.

Both immediately began to work on the image with Brains excitedly informing Jeff of the success. "M-Mr Tracy! It worked! The M-Mechanic has managed to create a perfect 3D blueprint image of the submarine!"

"Great job!" said Jeff approvingly. "Do you think you can find us a weak spot, Brains?"

"We'll see what we can d-do, Mr Tracy," promised Brains. As Jeff signed off, Brains turned back to The Mechanic. "We d-don't have a lot of time."

"Then let's get started," The Mechanic answered with determination.