February 20th, 2060 - 14:00 NZDT
Alan is cut off by Scott calling out across the hanger towards him. "Alan! It's time to suit up."
"I'll tell you later," Alan says to Kayo and starts to walk over to Thunderbird 3.
"No, I'm coming with you," Kayo says.
"What about taking Thunderbird S for a spin?" Alan asks.
"Too late," Kayo scoffs
5
Alan and Kayo descend and start to get suited up.
4
Alan and Kayo are lifted on a crane from the bottom of the hanger into Thunderbird 3.
3
Thunderbird 3's blast door closes.
2
Alan and Kayo's chairs roll up to the controls.
Alan and Kayo sit beside one another in Thunderbird 3, with Alan looking increasingly worried, "Pre-flight complete," Alan says.
"Roger, Thunderbird 3, the skies are clear. Good luck on your mission," John states.
"Starting countdown to launch," Alan replies.
1
The rockets start up.
Thunderbirds are Go!
Alan ups the throttle and Thunderbird 3 exits the round house. They go higher and higher into the sky until they exit Earth's atmosphere and enter space.
"Target identified, grappling arms deployed," Alan says. The grasping arms, that rest above each of the three main thrusters of Thunderbird 3, extend forward as Thunderbird 3 arrives at one of the many debris fields. There are huge pieces of metal that are floating around. "Easy does it."
One of Thunderbird 3's grapples is released. It consists of a small powerful magnetic that is attached to a wire. It connects onto one of the pieces of metal debris as Thunderbird 3 flies through the debris field.
"It's going to be a shit day," Alan comments.
"Hey, someone has to clean up all that junk floating around out there," John interrupts.
Alan fires more magnets out to collect the different pieces of metal that start to trail behind Thunderbird 3 in a large clump. Alan aims to grab as much of the larger pieces as possible as they're the ones that would cause the bigger threat should any space craft or satellite near the debris field.
"Oh, this is grunt work, John," Alan sighs.
"Least you got Kayo with you," John replies and winks causing Alan to blush.
"W-Whats t-t-that sup-posed to mean?" Alan stutters, and turns around to see Kayo re-entering the cockpit after configuring a pod in a case of an emergency call.
"Why are we in charge of clearing the garbage in space and not NASA?" Alan mutters.
"To be honest Alan, you do complain about not taking Thunderbird 3 out," Kayo says.
"Me and my fuckin' mouth," Alan mumbles.
Suddenly, there is a large jerk causing Kayo to sit back down in her seat, "The fuck was that?" she asks.
"Nothing," Alan replies innocently.
"No, not you," Kayo sighs and brings Thunderbird 3 to a halt. The debris attached to the ship is tugged as the ship spins around in space.
"Dunno," Alan responds and looks out his view window and spots an unusual circular machine, "Hey, there's something up ahead."
"Scanners aren't picking anything up," John notes, "Are you sure it isn't dirt on your portal… again?"
Alan leans forward and wipes his portal and looks over to Kayo, who's looking stern.
"No, it's out there alright," Alan replies.
"I'll go out to take a look as I'm 99.9% sure what it is," Kayo states.
"Any excuse," Alan comments, with an eye role and puts on his helmet as Kayo exits Thunderbird 3 on an astro-board.
Kayo flies around the machine to get a better view of it and create a scan for John to take a look at. Eerily, the machine is now glowing an intense red with spikes coming out of each quadrant.
"Are you getting this, Thunderbird 5?" Kayo asks, slightly nervous at to what she is witnessing.
"Affirmative Thunderbird 3, running a trace," John acknowledges.
"Looks like some kind of weapon," Alan observes.
After seeing no clear entry point to the machine, Kayo flies back around to the front where there is a camera lens and takes a closer look. She notices that there are other, smaller lenses near the main one that alter their focus as Kayo approaches. Beneath them are some buttons and a long but thin screen. Kayo wipes the dust off the screen and a no connection symbol is shown. Suddenly, a red explosive button appears and a thirty minute countdown begins.
"Oh, shit," Kayo gasps.
"What's wrong Kayo?" Alan calls.
"We need to get the fuck out of here. Now!" Kayo cries as she heads back to Thunderbird 3 as fast as she can.
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
Kayo is now back on board Thunderbird 3 and sitting in her seat next to Alan as they watch the circular machine closely. John calls in Brains to to get answers.
"So, what's the score with this thing, Brains?" Alan enquires.
"It's a stealth mine. Left over from the global conflict of 2040," Brains explains.
"That's why it was invisible to our scanners," John frowns.
"Powerful enough to blast a mid-size ship out of orbit," Kayo notes.
"And now it's been activated," Alan finishes.
"It enters a self-destruct sequence if it loses contact with the c-command network. Which was mothballed in 2043," Brains states.
"We have 30 minutes before this thing goes off," John explains, "If we can locate the kill code, we can de-active the mine manually."
"Problem solved. Or do I detect a 'but?'" Alan asks.
"With the command network offline, it will perceive any nearby vessel as the enemy," Brains replies.
"I'm detecting a cluster of spacecraft heading towards the debris field. If one of them strays too close to the mine, it could target them… and boom," John explains as the bomb camera lens turns around and spots the larger spacecraft and tries to pull away from Thunderbird 3's magnetic cables.
"So, we're going to have to keep it busy until you find the kill code," Kayo says.
"It looks that way. You'll have to get it locked onto Thunderbird 3 instead of something else," John orders.
"How about we drag this baby into deep space and detonate it somewhere out there?" Alan asks.
"Good plan. Just be careful as you've also got Kayo with ya," John warns, giving Alan another wink and receiving a glare.
"Right, I'll carefully fly towards the floating bomb," Alan gulps, ignoring John's comment.
"Hey, just because I'm a girl you bitch," Kayo says to John.
"Firing main thrusters in 3... 2... 1..." Alan counts down.
Thunderbird 3 the proceeds to fly towards the escaping stealth mine.
"Let the chase begin, I guess," Alan says sarcastically.
"Someone's in a mood," John muses.
"Fuck off and get on that kill code," Alan growls.
"Right..." John trails and exits the call.
As the stealth mine flies off towards a nearby space vessel, Alan proceeds to catch up with it. He quickly comes alongside it which causes the camera lenses of the stealth mine to look over to Thunderbird 3.
"It's locked onto you Thunderbird 3," Brains announces.
Alan proceeds to change the course of Thunderbird 3 away from the other vessels and the stealth mine follows suit. It's powerful thrusters giving chase to its new target.
"Moving out of orbit," Alan calls.
While this was going on Kayo was looking at the schematics of the stealth mine and comes across something that makes her worried, "Alan, stop! The mines equipped with a gravitational trigger," she quickly explains, "If it leaves the Earth's orbit, it explodes!"
"Oh, my," Brains exclaims, "How did I not see that?"
"Well, isn't that fuckin' brilliant," Alan grunts.
"And I've run the figures," John interjects, "If it detonates now, Thunderbird 3 will be in the blast radius."
"Fine, no leaving orbit," Alan sighs. Alan changes course once again and starts to bring Thunderbird 3 and the stealth mine back within Earth's gravitational field. "I just have to keep it busy. Shouldn't be a problem."
Kayo places her hand on Alan's left shoulder, "Stop stressing yourself out Alan."
"Yeah, yeah," Alan replies as a small blush appears in his cheeks, "What's her problem with me?"
"Alan!" John shouts.
"I know, I see it," Alan winces, gritting his teeth as he dodges the spacecraft and keeping distance so the mine continues to follow Thunderbird 3.
"Okay, I'm into the digital archives," John explains, "But I'm gonna need the mine's unique ID number to access the kill code."
"But the mine can't be scanned," Brains adds, "The only way to view it's ID number is to find it's tag on the fuselage."
"I'm on it," Kayo states.
"Killing main thrusters," Alan says. As he does this, Thunderbird 3 dives down and is able to spin 180 degrees allowing Kayo to read off the ID number as the stealth mine goes flying past the viewing window of the cockpit.
"The ID is X-Ray, Zulu, 1-5-7," Kayo reads.
"Firing main booster," Alan says as he fires up the thrusters once again and accelerates away with the stealth mine still following them.
"I'm surprised you haven't made this into a game yet Alan," John says, causing Alan to sigh.
"Just leave it John," Alan replies.
"But..." John starts but Alan cuts off the communication temporary to shut John up for pushing the subject.
"And I've got the brains to let you know to shut the fuck up," Alan mutters.
"But not the moves," Kayo giggles, and receives a glare from Alan in response.
John re-appears in hologram form. "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," John explains.
"And the bad news is?" Kayo questions.
"It's a scan of a paper copy. A bad scan. The last number is unreadable," John informs.
"Just try 0 through 9 till we get the right number," Alan deadpans.
"You only get one try," Brains informs, "A wrong number will be seen as a hacking attempt, the mine will self-destruct."
"We need to find where the original paper records are stored. If we locate that, we can access the kill code and deactivate the mine," John lists.
"Okay, and how fucking long will that take?" Kayo asks.
"It shouldn't take too long. I'll get right back to you," John responds and hangs up. Silence invades Thunderbird 3 as Alan and Kayo sit there, with Alan focusing on the flying.
"Do you..." Kayo starts.
"No!" Alan cuts off. A beeping sound is then heard which can only mean one thing, "Woah, that's not good. Multiple vessels ahead," cries Alan as they enter a large area full of vessels flying closely together. The stealth mine continues to follow Thunderbird 3 but as other vessels get closer its side jets fire up and it begins to slow down. All of a sudden, the jets suddenly turn off and the stealth mine closes up, coming to a complete stop. "Woah... Um... Hey, did it just die?" Alan mutters.
"Well without any reliable data after it were destroyed in 2044 we essentially have no idea," Kayo replies.
The stealth mine then opens up again, as quickly as it did shutting down. It's lenses continue to scan around in its new environment before the spikes and thrusters once again fire up. It heads upwards away from Thunderbird 3 and towards another vessel.
"What the fuck?" asks Alan.
"That ship is c-closer to the mine than Thunderbird 3!" Brains panics.
"You gotta be shittin' me," Kayo facepalms.
"Brains, how am I meant to get it back onto my tail?" Alan asks.
"Get very close to the mine and it'll re-target you," Brains orders.
"Oh brother…" Alan gulps.
Thunderbird 3 once again zooms towards the stealth mine in hot pursuit and it doesn't take long for the big red rocket to catch up with it once again. It edges closer to it's side as it comes up next to it.
"Did that work?" Alan enquires.
"Negative, Thunderbird 3. It's still targeting the other ship," Brains informs.
Thunderbird 3 picks up even more speed as it starts to edge in front of the stealth mine.
"Careful, Alan," John calls just as the lenses from the mine pick up movement, causing it to look over to Thunderbird 3 and once again locking onto its signal rather than the other space craft.
"You did it!" Kayo celebrates, "Its retargeted us!"
"The nuke is on our tail again," Alan says, "Lucky us."
Thunderbird 3 actives its main thrusters and heads away from the huge spaceship and the stealth mine follows as they remain in the confines of the Earth's orbit. Alan safely leads them out of the field of ships and back into empty space.
"Alright," Kayo smiles, "Now somebody get us that kill code."
"Yeah, about that..." John starts, "We've got a situation… The original files are in a storage facility under London. Deep under London. This place is huge." John decides to call the facility but has problems with the person answering the call so he decides to call Penelope to help in getting the kill code for Alan.
February 20th, 2060 - 14:25 NZDT
"Alan?" Kayo asks.
"What?" Alan reponds.
"We need to talk about what happened before we left," Kayo says delicately.
"There's nothing to say though; You've got your Thunderbird, your head of security of International Rescue, your knowledge of things is through the roof and to be honest it's been 2 years. You don't need me anymore," Alan says and looks away.
"I... I don't know what to say," Kayo trails.
"Look I've never seen you so happy before and your following your dreams, at the end of the day it's up to you what you want to achieve in life. The talents you have are already amazing and Thunderbird S will only help to improve them so can do your very best at reaching your capabilities or goals," Alan states, "And more importantly your my best friend who I have known my whole life, and we've done everything together and supported each other but I guess we've got separate parts when it comes to International Rescue." Alan pauses again, unsure of what else to say, "I'm going to miss that, that's all. As well as your company on every mission we've had."
Like anyone would been Kayo is left in shock at what Alan has just confessed to her, which is one of the things she liked about him. While Alan is all for a laugh and a joke, alongside a bit of sarcasm, he still remains truthful. She is about to reply to Alan when a call comes in.
"Thunderbird 3, this is Thunderbird 1. I hear things are rough up there for you guys," Scott says.
"Erm, yeah, Scott. Everything's fine here," Alan says failing to hold back a yawn.
"Are you sure? You sound tired," Scott comments as there is an explosion behind him and screaming, "Back to work. I'm keeping an eye on your situation. Stay safe you two."
"Copy that, Scott. Copy that," Alan replies looking over at Thunderbird 5 off in the distance as Scott hangs up, "Ugh, John. What are you doing? How hard is it to find one number?"
"Alan, I'm going to take over flying," Kayo states.
"But..." Alan begins.
"No buts," Kayo glares as the pair switch seats.
"Yes, mom," Alan smirks.
"And about earlier. I never knew you felt that way," Kayo says.
"It doesn't matter," Alan waves off.
"But it does," Kayo continues, "You've probably helped me in more ways that you think. Look, I've never told anyone this but when my dad was away I got real low," Kayo says carefully considering her words.
Alan's eyebrows raises in curiosity and concern but doesn't say anything as he knows that Kayo isn't done yet.
"It was also around this time I got diagnosed with depression, which nobody knew about except my dad and now you. I was in a dark place and even to this day I'm facing the consequences of that. One of the few thing that kept me going though was the talks I had with you over the communicator. Just talking to you made my day feel better you know and I'll always be grateful for that. Though I now have Thunderbird Shadow to help with my security operations, I'll always take a mission with you on Thunderbird 3."
Alan smiles. "Well you came to the right person to help you out then."
"You don't think differently of me?" Kayo asks.
"Of course not," Alan replies and smiles causing Kayo to follows suit. He then turns to look out the viewing window to look back at the stealth mine which is still chasing closely behind them as the different lenses dart around in order to keep in contact with its lock. On its screen, the countdown has reached the halfway point and the minutes quickly disappear.
"Thunderbird 5," Kayo calls, "Any updates on the kill code?"
"Everything is… under control," John replies, not very confidently.
"Yeah, well it fucking better be," Alan interjects, "We've only got fifteen minutes left."
February 20th, 2060 - 14:41 NZDT
The explosion timer is now on only at four minutes, leaving Alan and Kayo very worried. Kayo was more on focusing on flying Thunderbird 3 as it weaves, dives and ducks in open space to keep the stealth mine a good distance away from Thunderbird 3 so it doesn't accidently detonate early. All the while Alan is trying to relax a bit but is unable due to being so nervous.
"You holding up, Thunderbird 3?" John questions.
"Yep. Everything's just fucking dandy here John, except for the fact that we're being chased by a nuclear bomb. How are you?" Kayo growls.
"Don't worry," John waves off, "Lady Penelope and Parker are on the case. We'll have the code any second now."
February 20th, 2060 - 14:43 NZDT
The explosion timer is now on only 2 minutes, Kayo is now quite scared and Alan is getting ready to exit Thunderbird 3 to type the code in. The only problem is that they still didn't have the last number.
"John, what's going on? Is that number coming or not?" Alan asks.
"I don't know. I've lost contact with Lady Penelope and Parker," John admits.
"We've only have 90 seconds until this thing explodes. We're just gonna have to pick a number," Alan sighs.
"Alan! It's too risky. You've only got a 1-in-10-chance. Let's just give 'em a little more time," John states.
"Oh shit," Kayo winces as a familiar beeping sound is heard once again, "More vessels ahead."
Thunderbird 3 heads straight into another busy space lane and Kayo tries to make it towards an open area. However, like last time, the side jets suddenly turn off and the stealth mine closes up, coming to a complete stop. It then opens up again, and dives downwards away from Thunderbird 3 and towards another vessel.
"SHIT!" Alan shouts, "Its retargeted again!"
Alan grabs his astro-board and opens the airlock. He uses the remote sensors to active his board and dives down afterwards, leaving a very worried Kayo on board Thunderbird 3.
"Alan!" John calls, "What are you doing? Have you lost your mind?"
"It's too late, John," Alan states, "We're going to have to gamble on the last number before we reach any more vessels. Kayo leave the blast radius."
The stealth mine powers down its thrusters as it approaches its target. Alan continues to shoot down after it, catching up with it as quickly as he can. He soon reaches the debris that he had attached to the mine at the start of the chase and begins to dodge his way through it so he can reach the mine itself.
"Woah! That was close," Alan exclaims as he almost gets hit by a large chunk of metal as he approaches the mine. Eventually, he gets round to the countdown screen at the front of the mine, where a keypad is located to the right of it. "Okay, I'm here. What's the code?"
"The kill code is 3-0-0-5-2-0-1..." John says.
"I got it... Just that last one," Alan mutters.
"Time to pick our lucky number," John breathes.
"7's lucky, right?" Alan asks.
"Here's hoping. 10 seconds," John gulps.
"Okay. Here goes nothing," Alan replies.
"Alan!" Kayo shouts, as Alan presses the button and moves away from the mine. Everything goes quite. BANG!
February 20th, 2060 - 14:45:00 NZDT
"ALAN!" cries Kayo
"John the number is 3," Penelope calls in.
"Too late..." John gulps as he mouth suddenly goes bone dry.
February 20th, 2060 - 14:45:10 NZDT
"Alan!" Kayo screams as she gets out of Thunderbird 3 and quickly heads over on another astro-board over to were Alan's body is floating, "Please, answer me," Kayo cries, taking Alan back to Thunderbird 3. She checks his pulse and receives a very weak one.
She manages to fly Thunderbird 3 back down to Earth to land at Sydney Hospital. Alan has to be put into an induced coma while he recovers from his injuries. He isn't discharged until March 12th, which turns out to be his 16th birthday.
After returning to Tracy Island, Alan remains on bedrest for another two weeks. Kayo rarely leaves his side, mainly feeling responsible for the injuries that Alan suffered as a result of the explosion.
March 12th, 2060 - 21:05 NZDT
"Kayo seriously I'm fine," Alan says while in bed across from Kayo who is getting into her bed.
"Sure?" Kayo asks.
"Sure," Alan replies smiling.
"I really did think you would die," Kayo says as she wipes a small tear that appears in the corner of her eye.
"But I couldn't as I had a best friend who also needs babysitting," Alan jokes.
"Ugh, Alan you never think about yourself always other people," Kayo says, "Sometimes you need to treat yourself."
"Well I can't see the bad side in looking after others," Alan shrugs.
"True," Kayo replies, she pauses before asking, "Do you ever think you won't return from a mission?"
Alan quickly shakes his head and looks sternly at Kayo, "You should never think of the worst outcome on a mission, always be hopeful and you can trust me because I'm the 6th one behind my brothers and father who organized the preparation for being a part of International Rescue."
"I guess you're right," Kayo nods, "But just so we're clear, don't ever do something like that again am I clear."
This causes Alan to chuckle slightly as Kayo playfully slaps his cheek, "F-A-B."