Kathryn grunted as she swung herself back and fore across the wall using her right hand, her left extended trying in vain to reach the next gouge in the rock face that she could use to continue her mission, needing to get to the top. Sweat was dripping off the side of her face, the temperature having increased dramatically in the past fifteen minutes. Her breathing was shallower, her focus purely on the rock ahead, not willing to give up.
"Kat."
The call of her name was enough for her to lose her focus, her right hand slipping causing her to lose her footing, a squeak escaped her as she fell back, only to let out a breath as the harness and emergency break kicked in. She let out a huff as she swung back and fore through the air, frowning as she lifted her wrist.
"Yes John?" Her voice conveyed her annoyance, as she continued to swing in the harness. She knew her space bound brother had often tried to catch her unaware to get a reaction out of her when they'd been younger, and over the years he'd become unbelievably good at it.
"Still on the wall?" He questioned, a hint of a smile on his lips, indicating he had known fine well where she had been.
Their father, seeing Kathryn's intense interest in rock climbing had set up a small course just inside the hangars. The skill itself was a rather dying art, jet packs able to make what had been hazardous trips a lot easier, but Kathryn had always found the thrill in the danger, in the focus. Rock climbing had always helped settle her mind and stopped her overthinking or worrying especially with how simplistic it was compared to her technical, machine-based role in International Rescue. When she was rock climbing, it was just her, some rope, and the rocks.
"I was just about to beat my best time." Kathryn sighed, shaking her head as she reached out a hand to grab onto the rock face, stopping the light swinging motion, "What can I do for you?"
"Scott is reporting some weird feedback from Thunderbird 1." Kathryn frowned, a hum escaping her as she searched her mind for any possible reason as she slowly abseiled down the side of the rocky hangar wall.
"I've not updated anything recently, any more details?" She questioned, pausing her motion to flicker the hologram across to the last set of testing run on Thunderbird 1, "Everything passed the inspection…"
"I can run a remote diagnostic?" John offered, appearing back on her holowatch as she went back to descending towards the ground.
"Please." She nodded, starting to detach herself from her harness as soon as her feet touched the floor, "Let me know how it goes, he'll obviously have to cope with her being temperamental until she's home."
"FAB."
"Oh, and John." Kathryn called before he could hang up, her brother hummed, raising a questioning eyebrow at her, "You suck." She stuck her tongue out.
"Very mature." He responded quickly with an eye roll. The underlying amusement dancing over his face making his sister chuckle before he disappeared from view. She shook her head, still laughing lightly under her breath as she stretched out her limbs, making her way down the stairs back towards the main lounge.
She was pretty much alone on the island, which made a change. Scott, Virgil and Gordon had all been sent out on rescues, Kayo was testing out Thunderbird Shadow, Brains running the testing with her, and Alan had just been sent out on space garbage duty. She'd had the option to jump in with him but had turned it down, trying her best to avoid crowding her younger brother, wanting him to have the experience in making decisions, pursuing his ability to lead and… well, ok she'd also wanted to avoid space garbage duty. It was a mind-numbing task, and one she certainly did not envy Alan for. Kathryn was content to have free time, getting some time in on the climbing wall and to maybe play around with some new ideas. It was rare any of them got a break, so she wasn't going to overlook whatever chance she got.
Sliding the door open to the lounge, Kathryn walked in, swiping one of her many sketch pads that were left around the house from a unit. As soon as she was close enough to the lower-level couches, she twisted and fell backwards, landing on the orange-coloured couch with a light grunt. Resting the pad on her stomach, she lightly lifted a hand and swiped her wrist, pulling up a tracker for the locations of the thunderbirds, before throwing it across so it would display on the holotable. After a brief look, feeling happy everyone was still where they were supposed to be, she returned her attention to the pad, plucking up her pencil as she flicked through her book, smirking at her previous sketches, frowning at crossed through ideas, chucking at stupid cartoons added by an unknown brother. Continuing to flick through until she was on a blank page, Kathryn let out a hum, tapping her pencil against her mouth as she began working through her process for rescue equipment design.
It was a few moments later, Kathryn having only just touched her pencil to the pad, that her wrist began bleeping, her gaze narrowing when John appeared once more.
"Twice in one day, this is beginning to feel targeted." She joked, before frowning as she noted how serious her younger brother looked, "What's wrong?" There was a long pause, "John?"
"We… may have a situation." He eventually admitted, Kathryn instantly sliding him over to the holotable as she threw her sketch pad to the side and got to her feet.
"Bring him up." She sighed, crossing her arms as she waited for their youngest brother to appear before her, "Hey Alan."
"John!" Alan called, a hint of betrayal in his voice, before he focused on their older sister who had now raised an eyebrow, "Hey Kat."
"What's up squirt?"
"There's something up ahead." Alan explained, gesturing to the window Kathryn knew was ahead of him but she couldn't see. She frowned, tilting her head, and glanced at John who shrugged.
"Scanners aren't picking anything up." He offered in explanation for pulling her in, his gaze turning to the image of Alan, "Are you sure it isn't dirt on your portal, again?" Kathryn smirked and shook her head as the image of Alan leaned forward, his arms disappearing but she knew instantly he was checking for dirt.
"No. It's out there all right. And that means I get to go out for a wander?" Alan checked, glancing at his older sister with hopeful eyes. Kathryn smiled, and sat down, waving her hand.
"Sure thing," She replied earning a cheer from Alan who quickly disappeared from view, "God John, I thought he'd done something."
"Not yet." John shrugged, "Just knew you'd likely want to know he was planning on going for a space walk." Kathryn nodded, shrugging her shoulders.
"The call was appreciated." She admitted, before pursing her lips as the news of Alan's discovery caught up with her, "Wonder what's he's found that even our scanners couldn't pick up."
"Who knows, I'll send through his camera visual." John replied before disappearing.
Kathryn rolled her eyes, leaning back on the couch and crossing her right leg over her left as she waited for the visual from Alan to come through. It wasn't long before the holograms flickered to life once more, the image panning around as Alan performed drifts and flips, earning an eye roll, eventually his movements settled showing the collection of space junk with the mystery object being front and centre. Kathryn's lips pursed as her eyes scanned over the device, head tilting with curiosity.
"Are you getting this Thunderbird 5?" Alan called in, sounding a bit more cautious now he was closer to the supposed junk.
"Affirmative. Running a trace, Thunderbird 3." John replied, his hologram appearing next to Alans suit came visual once more, "Any thoughts Kat?" The blonde hummed getting to her feet once more as she tried to get a closer look.
"Only that I picked a bad day to skive out of helping with space junk duty." She teased, glancing over at the two images of her brothers, "I have no idea what that is, looks interesting."
"Er Kat. This thing is on." Alan, Kathryn tilted her head, opening her mouth when she heard a beep only for John to cut in, wide eyed.
"Alan, you need to get out of there NOW!" Kathryn's eyes widened at the tone, her panic levels rising from zero to one hundred in a matter of seconds. She glanced at Alans hologram, thankfully seeing he'd also picked up on the panic and had begun moving back from the mystery item.
"OK." He agreed, before his camera quickly showed him doing a backflip and diving off straight back towards Thunderbird 3. Kathryn lifted up her wrist, using it to control the holotable as she quickly threw the visual from Alans camera to the side. The blonde got to work quickly, wasting no time in pulling up the results from Thunderbird 5 followed by whatever data she could find in a quick search from the GDF archives.
"So, what's the score with this thing, Kat?" Alan questioned, pulling up a hologram of his sister as he got seated back inside Thunderbird 3. She glanced at her youngest brother, trying to push back the screaming worry so she could do her best to explain. She never knew how John managed to remain so calm.
"It's a stealth mine." She began, letting out a breath and crossing her arms, purposefully moving her eyes to the data before her as she quickly read it over, "Left over from the global conflict of 2040." A huff escaped her, "So that would be why it was invisible to our scanners." She glanced up seeing John casting her a look and took another breath, trying to calm the panic as she scrolled through the information, "They were used to, blah blah blah, problems arose, blah blah, blah," Her eyes widened as she read the next line, "Powerful enough to blast a mid-size ship out of orbit."
"And now it's been activated." Alan breathed, his gaze moving from his sister to his portal, a hint of concern in his voice. The Tracy sister, pulled the document closer, scanning and scrolling as quickly as she was able.
"It enters a self-destruct sequence if it loses contact with the command network." She continued to read, "Ok, so where's that, blah blah blah… which was mothballed in 2043. Of course." She sighed.
"We have 30 minutes before that thing goes off." John surmised, having pulled up the same document as Kathryn, his sister nodding in agreement with his statement, "If we can locate the kill code, we can deactivate the mine manually."
"Problem solved." Alan half cheered, before looking over both his siblings faces, neither looking happy as they continued reading, "Or do I detect a 'but'?"
"Well…ok, let me read it out," Kathryn huffed really not wanting to say it but knowing Alan needed to know, "If the command network goes offline, the Stealth Mine XZ Range will perceive any nearby vessel as the enemy." John nodded, glancing to the side where Thunderbird 5's main display was.
"I'm detecting a cluster of spacecraft heading toward the debris field. If one of them strays too close to the mine It could target them and… BOOM." John added, throwing that data down to Kathryn, knowing he could technically be contacted at any moment for incidents and wanting to at least one sibling fully there to assist Alan as required.
"So, I'm gonna have to keep it busy until you find the kill code." Alan realised, his eyes on the stealth mine as it seemed to be trying to target a nearby piece of debris. Kathryn lifted a hand to rub the side of her face as John nodded his head.
"Looks that way." John agreed, "You'll have to get it locked on to Thunderbird 3, instead of something else."
"How about I drag this baby into deep space and detonate it somewhere out there?" Alan suggested, shrugging as he looked down at the display of Kathryn who was now crossing her arms and John who both shared a look at the suggestion, neither having found any data to argue that point yet.
"Good plan." John replied with a nod, their sister mimicking the actions before tilting her head.
"Just be careful." She added, Alan gave her a sarcastic look.
"Right: I'll CAREFULLY fly towards the floating bomb." Kathryn scoffed at the sass, throwing her arms up in the air in mock outrage as John chuckled and Alan smirked at her, "Firing main thrusters in three, two, one… Let the chase begin."
"I'm on the kill code." John called. Kathryn shook her head before pulling the Stealth Mine data closer.
"I'll see if there's any other options." She offered, already back to scrolling and pulling up other links that the data referenced as a small chorus of acknowledgement followed.
The tracker on Thunderbird 3 continued to follow Alan, showing both the two older siblings that he had indeed taken off towards the mine. They shared one look before both diving back on their own individual missions, Kathryn digging up every statistic and setting she could find as John searched for control features. There was a tense silence until the sensors on Thunderbird 3 fed an alert to the system, picking up that something had locked on. Kathryn nodded her head, pulling up Thunderbird 3s controller as she glanced at Alan.
"It's locked on to you, Thunderbird 3." She confirmed, Alan giving a firm nod in response as he piloted. Kathryn slid the data away, pulling the user notes listed in relation to the mine, her eyes widening.
"Moving out of orbit." Alan called.
"Whoa! NO!" Kathryn yelled back; Alan immediately returned to within orbit in reaction to his sisters' severe response. The Tracy sister let out a sigh of relieve, rubbing a hand over her forehead as she spoke, "Alan, you can't leave orbit - some genius equipped the mine with a gravitational trigger. If it leaves the Earth's orbit, it explodes."
"Oh, that's just great!" Alan sighed, rolling his eyes.
"And I've run the figures." John added in, "If it detonates now, Thunderbird 3 will be in the blast radius." Kathryn pursed her lips, glancing to the side as she pulled up the statistics on the stealth mines explosive power, her eyes scanning the page before she sighed and went back over to the couch, plucking up her pad to run the numbers.
"Fine. No leaving orbit, I just have to keep it busy. Shouldn't be a problem." Kathryn glanced up as he sighed with agitation, her eyes flickering to the tracker which indicated oncoming traffic before she dived back into the numbers.
"Alan!" John called in warning.
"I know. I see it." Alan responded, adjusting his course as he tried to avoid the mine latching onto a different ship. After a moment, the female engineer let out a huff of agitation earning a look from both her brothers, "What's up Kat?"
"The numbers on Thunderbird 3 withstanding the blast are too close. The shielding was designed for meteors and debris, not an intentional explosion. Obviously, it's something we've never had to consider before but…" She glanced up at Alan, "I'll run some figures and see if I can find anyway to update the shielding capabilities from here just in case, but in the meantime focus on keeping it busy."
"FAB." Alan nodded, diving down to avoid another oncoming ship. Kathryn threw her notepad away and using her holowatch to pull up her current data on Thunderbird 3. There was a tense silence as the three siblings worked together to try and get this situation under control.
"OK. I'm into the digital archives. But I'm gonna need the mine's unique ID number to access the kill code." John hummed, glancing over at Alan. Kathryn pursed her lips.
"We can't scan the mine." She sighed, also looking up at her baby brother, "It's up to you, squirt. Its unique ID number should be on its tag which, according to the manual, should be on the fuselage."
"I'm on it." Alan replied, offering a slight comforting smile in response, seeing the growing unease of his sister, "Killing main thrusters." He quickly focused back on his piloting, throwing Thunderbird 3 around as quickly as he could, the momentum twisting the ship so that he had a quick flyby of the mine, the ID tag flashing by his portal, "The ID is X-Ray, Zulu 157. Fire main booster."
"Great job Alan." Kathryn cheered lightly as John typed the information in. Alan let out a cheer in response, his smile becoming a bit more confident, bouncing off the reaction from his sister.
"Alan, this isn't a game." John reminded him, Kathryn nodding in agreement, though the proud smile remained in place.
"Oh, relax, John. That thing's a stupid machine. I've got the brains and I've got the moves." Alan responded, waving the two off as his teenage cockiness took over. John and Kathryn shared a smirk, both more than happy to bring their space bound brother back down to earth.
"Alan, we've seen you dance." The offended look Alan through back was enough to make Kathryn chuckle. Shaking her head she returned her attention back to her statistics for Thunderbird 3, simulating in a few changes she could make remotely to see what effect it would have, as John got to work looking up the kill code, "I'm cross referencing the ID with the digital archives. The good news is I have located the kill code to shut down the mine." Kathryn hummed, waiting for the code only to share a look with Alan when John didn't continue.
"…And the bad news is?" The younger blonde sighed, sensing from the slow response from John that it was unlikely their problems were over.
"It's a scan of a paper copy. A bad scan. The last number is unreadable." John admitted to the two, making Kathryn mutter angrily under her breath. Alan frowned, not understanding the annoyance of the two siblings.
"Just try zero through nine till we get the right number." He offered with a shrug. Kathryn shook her head, sighing.
"You only get one try." She pulled up the document she'd read the information on, scrolling to the part about the codes, "A wrong number will be seen as a hacking attempt by an enemy. The Stealth mine will self-destruct." Kathryn rubbed a hand over her face.
"We need to find where the paper records are stored. If we can locate that, we can access the kill code and deactivate the mine." John responded, doing his best to stop what he was sure would be a rant from Kathryn as she got more and more close to panicking about Alan.
"OK. And how long is that gonna take?" The youngest Tracy questioned, his voice taking on a tinge of nervousness at the annoyance radiating from Kathryn.
"It shouldn't take too long. I'll get right back to you." John responded, casting Kathryn a stern look to calm down before he disappeared from the view of the two blondes, both knowing he'd still be listening. Kathryn sighed, shaking out her hands.
"Right, in the meantimes let's get Thunderbird 3 prepped squirt." Alan nodded to his sister before frowning as the proximity sensors picked up signals from nearby ships.
"Whoa. That's not good. Er multiple vessels ahead."
"Do your thing Alan, I'll pull up the parts we may need to play with." Kathryn pulled up her data pad as Alan quickly got to work to avoid the oncoming crowd of vessels, wanting to get past them as quickly as possible so they could go back to trying to solve the problem at hand. Alan frowned as suddenly his warning light indicating he'd been tracked extinguished, using the cameras to see that the mine had dropped back and now seemed to just be drifting.
"Oh! Hey, did it just die?" Alan questioned, drawings Kats attention, her mind having been focused on the blown-up diagram of Thunderbird 3's shielding system, "Kat, any ideas?"
"Umm, can really say squirt. I don't have any reliable data." She admitted, swiping the image away to pull up the mine once more, "A lot of the info around these was scrubbed from the archives it looks like."
"Agh! Kat?!" Alan called with worry as the mine flew off in a completely different direction.
"Oh ok!" Kat yelped, pulling up a scan of the area from Thunderbird 3, "Um, that ship is closer to the mine than Thunderbird 3? It seems to be targeting it instead!"
"Oh, no, no!" Alan breathed, turning to look at his sister as he swung Thunderbird 3 around, "Kat, how do I get it back on my tail?" Kathryn dropped her hand that had been swiping back to the data, her eyes closing.
"Please don't make me say it."
"Kat!" Alan yelled, seeing the mine making a beeline for the civilian cruiser. Kathryn sighed, turning her whole body to stare at the image of Alan.
"You're going to have to CAREFULLY get very close to the mine and then it should retarget you."
"Oh, great!" Alan sighed sarcastically. He moved the picture of his sister to the side as he engaged the boosters, trying to catch up to the mine that had gained a head start. Alan grunted as he focused on his piloting, unable to glance at his instruments as he tried to ensure he kept a safe distance from the cruiser and get close enough to the mine without touching it. He chanced a quick glance when Thunderbird 3's nose just managed to pull along side, "Did that work?"
"Negative, Alan. It's still targeting the other ship." She watched the tracker as Thunderbird 3 closed in on the cruiser ahead, "Careful, Alan! You're coming up close!" Alan didn't respond, Kathryn continuing to watch the tracker and sensors for him, thankfully it was only a few more seconds before the beeping of a targeting alarm went off, "That's it retargeted on you! Good job squirt!"
"The nuke's on my tail again.
Lucky me…" Alan trailed off, manoeuvring Thunderbird 3 and the closely following stealth mine around the cruiser, "All right! Now somebody get me that kill code."
"Ye-ah, about that." John commented, appearing back before the two, "We've got a situation."
"Go ahead John." Kathryn huffed, tapping on her wrist as she quickly programmed in some settings for Thunderbird 3's CPU, pressing the order to send them, "Alan, you should see some new coding come through, if you could accept the changes and then override the firewall I can alter a few settings as you pilot."
"FAB Kat." Alan nodded before disappearing from her view.
"The original files are in a storage facility UNDER London. Deep under London. This place is huge!" John explained, pulling up a diagram on the holotable for Kathryn as she sat back down, typing in a few more commands to send up to Thunderbird 3. She lifted her head and frowned at the schematic of the building.
"Not exactly where I'd store thousands of important documents." She offered with a light sigh, before tilting her head at her brother, "You given them a call?"
"Just about to." John nodded, "I'll let you know how it goes." Kathryn nodded and waved him off, his image quickly disappearing.
The blonde rested her head in her hands as soon as both brothers were out of view, guilt flooding her at the idea her baby brother was up there all alone facing down a mine with enough power to knock out Thunderbird 3, wishing she'd just joined him on garbage duty. The guilt felt so much heavier with the knowledge that not only was Thunderbird 3 unequipped for this situation, but its shielding was also unable to compete with the power of the explosive device. It was a conversation her and Scott and Brains had discussed on numerous occasions after their fathers accident, she'd pushed for more shielding on 1 & 2 but had left 3,4 and 5, not seeing how they'd face anything more than they were equipped for, her oversight had put her family in danger once more. It would be all her fault if…
Her eyes squeezed shut, palms pushing into her eyes, as she tried to maintain focus. She couldn't worry about the 'what-ifs' she needed to help Alan now. He was counting on her. She was essentially his rescue. Miles away and unable to get to him but she was the senior authority, she was the more experienced person and she had to help. Put personal feelings aside, focus on the facts and follow procedures.
"Tracy Island to Thunderbird 1. We have a situation." Kathryn called, pulling up the image of Scott as she pushed herself to her feet, a frown of determination over her face.
"Kat, what's going on?" Scott called, his helmet covering most of his face but his sister still able to see the concern radiating from him.
"Thunderbird 3 has come into contact with a Stealth mine during usual space clearing operations, Thunderbird 5 and I are monitoring the situation and coming up with a plan to neutralise the mine but thought it best to keep you in the loop." Kathryn relayed, pulling up the data once more and a small smile of pride appearing at the signal from Thunderbird 3 indicating she could now push through changes, "I'm working on pushing some minor mods onto the CPU."
"Is Alan ok?" Scott questioned, glancing off to the side for a moment before focusing on his sister, a tad confused by the strict informative tone rather than her usual playful manner but not wanting to question it, understanding by the sounds Alan could be in some trouble.
"He's… coping." Kathryn struggled to remain impartial, her smile dropping to a worried frown at the question, "Thunderbird 3 has the mine locked into it and he's doing a good job of keeping it from targeting other spacecraft in the area."
"I'll check in with him." Scott nodded, frowning as Kathryn nodded back once before she seemed to get distracted once more, he glanced to the side, seeing Virgil and Gordon preoccupied, "It's not your fault." Kathryn bit back the scoff she wanted to let out.
"He's got no scanners, minimal shielding and about 20 minutes left before the mine goes off." Kathryn reported, taking her eyes off her work to stare at her older brother as she dropped her voice to a regretful whisper, "I should have gone with him." Scott glanced down, understanding the exact feeling that was flowing through his sister, having had it every single time his siblings got into some trouble.
"He'll be fine. He's a Tracy." Was the only supportive comment he could offer, the remark making Kathryn chuckle.
"You sound like dad." Scott chuckled, as Kathryn shook her head feeling a bit more secure with her older brother's reassurance, "You're right though, Alan's a bright kid. He can do this."
"And he's got the best person on the ground looking out for him." Scott added, eyeing Kathryn intently who quickly scoffed and made a shooing motion towards Scott.
"Get back to it field commander, I have statistics to run!" She ordered, her playful tone back front and centre once more making Scott smile.
"FAB. I'll check in with Thunderbird 3 in the meantime."
"FAB." Kathryn returned before her elder brother disappeared before her eyes.
Taking a breath, Kathryn renewed her focus, pulling up a timer and throwing it to the side of the room, feeling the addition of the countdown would drive her to move quicker. Seeing that she pulled up her model of Thunderbird 3, zooming on into the shielding panels and isolating them from the model so she could view it in 3D. Her gaze darted from component to component as she rattled of ideas in her head, twisting the model around to try and create any sort of way to update the shielding more than she had already. Rubbing a hand over her mouth, she hummed, eyeing a specific limiter as she tried to process how to bypass it.
"You called Scott?"
"Hey Alan." Kathryn murmured in response to her youngest brother as he popped up, his tone sounding a hint betrayed but Kathryn couldn't find it in her at the moment to give her usual eye roll.
"Why'd you call him?" Alan continued, huffing lightly around a yawn.
"Cause he's field commander and needs to know." She answered, zooming in on the panel, "If I hadn't John would have."
"But," Alan began only to be interrupted by his sister who let out a cheer of success as she turned her whole body towards him
"Panel 24B!" She yelped making Alan jump.
"Yeah, what about it?" He questioned, glancing back over his shoulder.
"Do you have enough of a gap to stick Thunderbird 3 on autopilot?" Kathryn checked, suddenly remembering it wasn't like a usual repair, that Alan was currently being tracked down by a bomb.
"Um, should be able to for 2 minutes." Alan nodded, flicking some switches to begin the process. Kathryn pulled up the schematics, pointing at parts as she spoke.
"Right, FS1 here." She pointed, "There should be a spare higher rated version located in the usual repair kit, if you change that out then, turn this overload up to its max setting," She moved her hand to point at the overload, "then I should be able to up the shielding capabilities."
"Take out FS1, replace, then increase overload." Alan nodded, "Got it."
"I'll isolate the panel remotely, so you don't shock yourself, so you'll have minimal shielding until it's changed. Should be a quick job though!" Kathryn added, pulling up her controller, "You tell me when you're ready and we'll do it."
"FAB." Alan agreed, running through his usual process to enter autopilot before nodding to his sister, "Let's go."
"Isolating in 3,2,1." She pressed the command key, "Shielding is off." Her gaze remained fixed on the signals, waiting patiently for them to change.
Alan quickly pushed himself out his chair, floating through the cockpit towards the repair kit stored upon Thunderbird 3 for quick fixes and small repairs. Once he'd pulled out the kit and components he needed, he pushed off the wall, heading over to Panel 24B as specified by Kathryn. It didn't take long for him to remove the panel and FS1, Kathryn having had him run repair scenarios in the past in an effort to help him understand Thunderbird 3. He quickly swapped out the part before twisting the overload up to its higher setting, and replacing the lid.
"Done!" He called, as he pushed off the wall while grabbing the remaining part of the kit that had been floating beside his head, returning it to its storage.
"Great job Alan, that's it back online!" Kathryn cheered in support, "I'm feeding up a new round of code, just accept that and hopefully that should keep you in the clear should it come to it."
"FAB Kat!" Alan nodded, disappearing to do just that as John reappeared, looking a bit more stressed than Kathryn would have liked. She folded her arms, rubbing her left hand on the upper part of the right as she stared at John.
"What's the update John?" She questioned, frowning as John sighed.
"I've got Lady P on the case, the system was automated and wouldn't put me through to anyone." John explained, glancing at Kathryn who looked over to the side at the entrance to Thunderbird 1, a longing sigh escaping her, "You wouldn't have made it in time." John argued.
"I don't know about that." Kathryn hummed, before refocusing, "Do we know how long they'll be?"
"Hopefully not too long!" Alan chimed in from Thunderbird 3, glancing at his older siblings as he appeared before them, "Thunderbird 5, any updates on the kill code?"
"Everything is under control." John offered. Alan huffed.
"Yeah, well it better be. We've only got 15 minutes left."
"Don't worry Alan, we'll sort it out." Kathryn promised, casting a look to John who nodded his agreement. Humming in thought she went to the archive, pulling up its schematics and absently scanning through.
"We'll get that code." John nodded before glancing to the side, "Lady Penelope's calling, I'll be back."
"FAB." Kathryn and Alan mumbled together, Kathryn engrossed by the schematics while Alan pouted resting his head in his hand. Kathryn pulled her gaze away from the documents when Alan let out a sigh. She pushed the documents away, though took a mental note of the owner, as she turned to face her younger brother.
"Whats up squirt?" Alan seemed to debate for a moment before opening his mouth.
"Just wish I could get away from… this." Alan admitted, glancing at the channel to check for anyone else listening before continuing, "I'm exhausted." Kathryn offered a smile of understanding as she sat down on the couch.
"That's not an uncommon feeling, I think everyone of us at one stage has just wanted to stop. We are human." She offered reading between the lines and understanding what her baby brother was actually maybe more tired of.
"Even Scott?" Alan questioned, his tone full of doubt making Kathryn chuckle at his accidental insinuation.
"Believe it or not, Scott is human." Alan scoffed, knowing his sister knew that wasn't what he meant, "But yeah, even he's had those missions. Mostly I think when one of us is in trouble elsewhere, but I know he's wanted to stop a few times, I have too, especially after," She took a breath, debating if she should go further but seeing Alan's gaze, forced herself to continue, "after dads accident. I was worried about you all."
"You didn't leave the hangars for weeks." Alan remembered, frowning as Kathryn winced at the reminder, "Virgil had to carry you to bed every time cause you kept falling asleep on your desk."
"Yeah, I," She sighed, glancing away, "Point is, we've all wanted to stop, but we don't." She smiled, "We're Tracy's. It's why we do what we do."
"You sound like Scott." Alan moaned making Kathryn laugh.
"Shut it Squirt!" She teased, pushing herself to her feet, "You're just jealous of my inspirational speech."
"Mhmm." Alan retorted, layered in sarcasm, "You're the most inspirational sister I've got."
"I'll take that." Kathryn joked back, "You're the most annoying brother I've got."
"Hey!"
"Sorry to cut in." John joked, appearing beside the two blondes, casting a look to Kathryn who smirked.
"I take it back Alan, John can take that award. You can take the most adorable instead." Her teasing baby tone earning an annoyed 'hey' from her youngest brother as John just rolled his eyes at the two.
"And you're going for most mature sibling I see?" He joked back, earning a smirk from Alan and a huff of laughter from Kathryn.
"I'll take it." She shrugged, before sobering, "What news you got for us?"
"Not a lot." John admitted, glancing over to Alan, "How you holding up, Thunderbird 3?"
"Everything's just peachy here, John." Kathryn rolled her eyes at the teenage sarcasm, "Yep. I'm getting chased by a nuclear bomb. How are you?"
"Don't worry, Alan. Penelope and Parker are on the case." John reassured, "We'll have that code any second now."
"FAB." Alan nodded, glancing at Kathryn who offered an understanding smile once more. He paused, taking a breath, trying to calm himself down. His sister was right, he was a Tracy, he was the astronaut, it was his job to look out for those in space and if keeping a bomb occupied meant stopping it from hurting anyone else, he'd gladly take on the job.
Seeing Alan reasonably calm, Kathryn pulled up the information John had sent her on the vault that the information they required had been kept in. Her lips pursed as she scanned the pages, pulling up recent news articles. The two blondes worked in silence, though both leaving the radio channel open for company.
It wasn't much longer before a beeping sound forced Kathryn to glance to the side, seeing the time now hitting the 5 minute mark. She cast a look up to Alan, who pulled a face, clearly unhappy that the timer had gotten so low without any news from John. She huffed, her gaze floating around the room, as she searched for any distraction she could offer. Her eyes landing on her sketch pad.
"Hey squirt, you been borrowing my notepads again?" She questioned, pulling the pad over and holding up the rather badly drawn cartoon of a squid on top of what she assumed to be Thunderbird 4. Alan's face twisted from a frown of worry into a thinly veiled smile.
"That was probably Virgil." Alan waved off, trying to not show his amusement with the sketch. Kathryn raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, was it now, last I checked, Virgil knew how to draw." She hummed, twisting the pad and holding it up to her face, "And that squids have 10 legs."
"10?" Alan frowned in confusion, "I swear it said 8." Kathryn chuckled at the accidental admission, continuing to admire the drawing as Alan looked back wide eyed.
"I'm impressed with the representation of Thunderbird 4, didn't even forget the window placement." She paused, her display beeping with an incoming call, "Hold that thought."
"Not like I'm going anywhere." She rolled her eyes at the little huff from Alan, pulling up the image of Scott.
"Any updates Kat?" Scott questioned, pulling the blonde right back down to earth.
"Still waiting on word from Lady P, hopefully shouldn't be much longer?" Kathryn replied, a hint uneasy as she cast a glance to the side where the timer sat, almost taunting her with so little time remaining to save her baby brother, "Doing everything I can."
"I know you are Kat." Scott reassured, casting another glance over his shoulder and looking a tad worried before he returned his gaze to her, "I need to get on top of things here. You've got this."
"Yeah. Yeah, I do." Kat nodded, "I'll get Alan home."
"FAB. Good luck." Scott nodded back before disappearing from her view. Taking a calming breath and shaking out her hands, the Tracy sister pulled back up her communication with Alan and pulling back in John, her eyes focusing on the elder of the two.
"Any updates?"
"Yeah, John, what's going on? Is that number coming or not?" Alan chimed in, realising his sister had added John in on the call. Neither felt reassured by the worry written across his face.
"I don't know." He admitted, "I've lost contact with Lady Penelope and Parker."
"Oh, great." Kathryn breathed, shaking her head as she threw away everything from her screen, pulling up the communication network as she tried to get to the bottom of the problem.
"I've only got two minutes before this thing explodes." Alan reminded the pair, "We're just gonna have to pick a number."
"Nope!" Kathryn called quickly as she scanned, doing her best to get them back in contact. John nodded his head in agreement with their sister.
"Alan, it's too risky. You've only got a one-in-ten chance." He explained, trying to cool their teenage brother off and get him to calm down, "Let's give 'em a little more time." Kathryn and Alan both sighed as a new warning light popped up from Thunderbird 3.
"Oh, great! More vessels ahead." Alan mock cheered, continuing to fly and monitor the tracking light indicating the bomb was still on his tail, he winced when the targeting warning light went out, glancing around as he tried to get a visual, "Oh, no! It's retargeted again."
"Try and get it back on you squirt!" Kathryn ordered absently as she tried to type, scan and field command, "John try Lady P again, I have no idea what's blocking our calls, it's not our systems." She glanced up at the verbal confirmation from John, her eyes flickering to the image of Alan that was most certainly not of him inside the safety of Thunderbird 3, "Alan, what are you doing? Have you lost your mind!?"
"It's too late, Kat." Alan replied as he flew through space, not looking at his siblings as he focused on the bomb, "We're gonna have to take a gamble on that last number."
"This is risky Alan." Kathryn breathed, clearing her screen once more and making the image of her youngest brother fill the holotable, "I don't like this." She winced and glanced away as she watched him perform loops around space debris.
"Whoa. That was close. Almost there." Alan acknowledged before breathing a sigh of relief, "OK. I'm here." Kathryn sat down, placing a hand to her mouth as she was forced to just sit back and watch, "What's the code?"
"The kill code is 3-0-0-5-2-0-1" John relayed, casting a look to Kathryn who was now feeling a touch queasy.
"I got it. Just that last one." Alan breathed, glancing at his sister and brother who were both now sitting uneasy.
"Time to pick our lucky number." John nodded, glancing at Kathryn for an inkling of what they could do. She shook her head, glancing away. She couldn't be a part of this, not again.
"Seven's lucky, right?" Alan tried to tease, offering a smile to Kathryn who was barely able to quirk her lips back. Appreciating the effort but unable to find the joke their dad had regularly made about her birthday funny this time around.
"Here's hoping." John muttered, taking a breath as he steeled himself, "10 seconds."
"OK. Here goes nothing." Alan huffed, lifting his hand to hover over the last digit. Kathryn closed her eyes, only able to hope her brother was right as she waited to hear what would happen. Her eyes flew open at the sound of the communication link.
"Alan freeze!" She yelled, "John!"
"I'm on it!" He called back, jumping onto the other line as Kathryn and Alan watched them tick down, Kathryn got to her feet, hand moving back to her mouth when John returned, "The number is three."
Alan clicked the number as Kathryn's eyes squeezed closed.
….
"Ha-ha-ha! All right! Yes! We did it." John yelled, his voice filled with relief. Tears sprung to Kathryn's eyes as she tried to fight back her emotions, her body swirling with guilt, relief, elation, it was far too much for her to process. She collapsed on the couch once more, shaking her head. That was far to close for her comfort. The comm channel eventually calmed of John and Alan's celebration, Kat allowing herself to share a bit in their happiness.
"Great job Alan." She breathed, smiling at her baby brother who was now safely tucked back inside Thunderbird 3.
"Thanks Kat." He smiled back, looking proud of himself before he snapped back into rescue mode, "So what happens to my little friend now?"
"If you could catch him once more it would be appreciated." She requested, switching herself back to international rescue mode, "Get him loaded up to take home so Brains and I can run a complete analysis. Our detectors can be updated to locate any more mines out there so we can put them out of action. This time permanently."
"That'll be a big job for someone." John hummed, glancing at Alan who was now looking eager.
"You can count me in." The youngest Tracy cheered as he worked on capturing the bomb.
"I thought collecting space junk was grunt work?" John teased, Kathryn rolling her eyes in the background as she cleared the holograms and data she'd pulled up.
"I've got a slightly different perspective now." Alan admitted, casting a glance over the junk he'd collected, seeing the good he'd managed to do and the pain he may have prevented someone else from experiencing by just helping out.
"Good to hear. Now let's get you back home." John offered, glancing at his sister who was now looking at the door to the hangars, "Kat, you ok?"
"Yeah, fine." She half smiled, "I'll see you when you land Alan."
"FAB."
"Kat?"
Kathryn glanced to the side, her tired eyes narrowing in on Scott who was standing below her at the base of Thunderbird 3. She offered a half wave, but quickly returned to the panel she had opened, replacing the parts she'd pulled out and updated and welding the panel closed. She moved to lower herself to the next panel when she let out a yelp, feeling herself plummeting towards the floor. Unable to stop, she closed her eyes, waiting for the impact only for her eyes to flash open when she felt a jolt through the harness. She blinked, glancing around and frowning when she realised, she was now three feet from the ground. Her gaze met Scott's who stood with his hand on his hips, now beside the control panel for the grappling system.
"You're supposed to be in bed." Scott huffed lightly, moving over to his sister. Kathryn sighed as she unhooked herself, allowing herself to stand on the ground for the first time in a while, her legs shaking.
"I'm fine." She mumbled, taking the opportunity to go gather more components, wrapping a wire over her shoulder, "Not tired."
"Kathryn you're acting like a zombie." Scott argued, coming over and planting a hand on her shoulder, using his free one to return the equipment she'd picked up, his touch gentle but still making her wince, "At least come upstairs?"
"Can't." She breathed; her eyes fixed on Thunderbird 3 as she ran through her mental list, "Scanner upgrades, heat shield upgrades, space board upgrades." Scott sighed, shaking his head at her as he searched his mind for a reason that his sister would be back to this, why she'd ignored everyone's calls and hidden in the hangar all night, why she wasn't sleeping. Glancing up at the giant red ship, his mind clicked.
"Alan."
"He ok?" The response was instant, Kathryn's head snapping around with wide eyes as if suddenly looking at him for the first time since he'd arrived. "I checked when he landed, he was fine, is he ok now? Did I miss something else?" Her voice was no louder than a whisper at the final question, her eyes diverting to the ground, it now very clear to Scott what exactly was eating at her.
"He's fine." He promised, squeezing her shoulder gently, "He's worried about you, like we all are, but he's ok." Kathryn frowned.
"I'm fine, just couldn't sleep." She mumbled, lifting a hand to rub her eyes.
"Kat." Scott cut in, waiting for his younger sister to look at him before continuing, "It wasn't your fault. None of it was your fault."
"But, the sensors," She tried, tears coming to her eyes once more as Scott shook his head, repeating how it wasn't her fault, "Scott, he nearly died." Her voice cracked, tears pouring over.
"He's fine, Kat. Because of you and John. He's ok." Scott tried to console, pulling Kathryn in for a hug which she gratefully accepted, crying lightly.
"He had five seconds. I just, he nearly, and I couldn't. I couldn't do anything." Kathryn mumbled between breaths as she cried into her older brother's shoulder, "It was like with dad all over again."
"We're all ok Kat." Scott promised, his eyes closing as he realised how much guilt his sister had been carrying, "None of us blame you."
The two eldest Tracy siblings continued to stand in the hangar for a while, until Kathryn's tears subsided. Once Scott was certain she'd calmed down, he led them to her desk, the pair huddling underneath it as they had done with their dad's desk as kids, it being the only place the two eldest had ever managed to hide from their younger brothers. Kathryn rested her head on Scott's shoulder, staring down at her hands.
"I'm sorry for all that, I didn't mean to dump it all on you like that." She admitted, playing with her fingers as she spoke, "It's fine normally, I just, today was cutting it too close."
"You should have said something." Scott hummed, "Let us know."
"I didn't want to burden everyone." Kathryn chuckled a touch bitterly, "Didn't realise I'd become the burden."
"Hey, that's not true." Scott disagreed, shaking his head, "You're scared, and that's fine, you're allowed to be scared. I'm just sorry none of us noticed." He shook his head, annoyed with himself, "I don't think any of us really put together the connection between dad's accident and you. All of us know you put your heart and soul into these machines, we'd never think that a failure would be anything to do with you." Kathryn hummed as she thought over her only elder brother's words, feeling a level of understanding she hadn't felt in a while.
"I am scared." She realised, "Scared of losing you all in machines I helped build and upgrade. And I know none of you would ever think I'd hurt anyone on purpose but, I still worry that I might cause an accident by missing something. I know the Hood was involved with Dad's accident, but I can't help but wonder if I'd maybe missed something." She paused, shaking her head as she sighed, "I'd never had it flung quite so hard in my face than watching Alan taking on a bomb I hadn't even heard of so hadn't developed defences for."
"You managed to get him home."
"John did." She argued, burying her head in her arms, "I was a mess." Scott hummed, drawing her attention.
"Alan begs to differ, was going on for ages when we got home about how much help you were." He revealed smiling when he saw a small smile break out on Kathryn's face, "Maybe you're not as bad of a field commander as you think."
"He tends to exaggerate."
"I dunno, John said a few nice things too." Scott offered earning a chuckle from his sister. He glanced away as he turned a touch more serious, "I don't want to tell you what to do, but if you want, you could go off the island for a while, take some time. You've worked overtime a lot lately." Kathryn shook her head, smiling at her brother for the offer.
"Thanks Scott but my place is here." She answered, "I couldn't leave you all even if I wanted to and I really don't." Scott seemed to have expected that answer, lifting his arm to wrap around his sister's shoulders.
"Well, if you need to talk…" Kathryn nodded, leaning into the half hug.
"I know where to find you big brother." She hummed, only to lift her hand to cover her mouth as a yawn escaped, "I think it's time for bed."
"FAB"