July 3rd, 2062 - 18:46 CST
Thunderbird Shadow flies over the Himalayan Mountains that are covered in snow and ice brought on by the cold temperatures in the higher atmosphere. Kayo's widen in awe at the sight of the towering peaks, their snowy caps piercing the heavens. A world untouched by the greedy hands of mankind, a sanctuary of purity that calls to an adventure that she'd never comprehend. The journey had been short but arduous, However, as she soars through the valleys and over the treacherous passes, Kayo is forced to squint around due to a blizzard settling in the higher she got. She looks down at her holographic map looking for a blink but it remains blank with the target not in sight.
"Thunderbird 5 to Thunderbird Shadow," John calls over the comms, "You are coming up on target do you have visual?"
"Negative Thunderbird 5. Still no sign of him," Kayo sighs.
"Can't say I'm surprised, your target does have a history of being hard to reach," John responds and Kayo glances back at the holo-map of the area, noticing that she is in the location of his last known position.
"Let me know if his position changes, John," Kayo says as she presses a button on her control unit to reveal Thunderbird Shadow's landing struts that attach the aircraft onto a cliff face, "I'm going out for a climb." Putting her helmet on, Kayo opens the hatch and leaves the warm driver's seat of her Shadow Bike and begins her climb of the mountains. As the blizzard got worse, Kayo pauses to have a look around. "Where is he?" Kayo mumbles to herself. Suddenly, the rock beneath her give's way causing her foot to slip. "Fuck!" Kayo cries and falls twenty meters before reaching out and grabbing a ledge. Through the sound of the wind, a metallic noise is heard in the background. Curious, Kayo jumps down to another ledge and sees a man come out between a small gap between the two mountains.
"Nice move there," he says.
"You're a hard man to find Captain Taylor," Kayo fires back.
"Nice to see you too uh..." Taylor trails.
"You don't remember my name, do you?" Kayo asks.
"Wait it'll come to me," Taylor says, "Tin-Tin, Tammy?"
"It's Kayo," Kayo says with a smirk, "And I wish you'd find less dangerous ways to spend your retirement."
"Just trying to keep busy now that I'm back on Earth. Taking it easy has never been my style," Taylor states.
"Then this may interest you." Kayo says, "International Rescue has a situation. 140 million miles away."
"That's the distance from Earth to... Mars," Taylor realises.
"There's a spacecraft on its way with major engine trouble. Can retirement wait a little bit longer, Captain?" Kayo asks, "You're needed back in space."
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
July 3rd, 2062 - 23:12 NZST
Alan and Kayo sit on one of the sofas in the lounge, with Captain Taylor sitting across from them. Scott and Marion appear on a hologram alongside John, who brings up an image of the ship in question. The ship is shown to be above Mars as John runs a simulation of what should've happened.
"The Helius is a transport ship designed to reach Mars and send landing pods to the life support systems on the surface. Dozens of families are on board," John explains, "And will be the first to actually live on the planet."
"Unless you count all the aliens," Alan jokes. John's face turns to one of annoyance.
"Ignore him," John mumbles, "We received an emergency transponder message from Dr. Sandra Travis, the Helius mission director."
"An unexpected proton storm has crippled our ship's controls. Engines won't shut off. None of the systems are responding correctly. Please, if anyone sees this, send help!" Travis says on the recording.
"That's where you come in Captain. We need someone to board that ship and get things back up and running," Scott says.
"Don't you have Brian for that sort of thing?" Taylor asks.
"Yes, they do," Brains says, "But although the t-transponder is working, the other communications are down. My attempts at troubleshooting remotely have f-failed. Not to mention space travel makes me rather q-queasy."
"Sir, you spent years repairing your moon base before it was destroyed. Plus, you're the second person in history to have ever set foot on Mars," Marion says.
"Just behind the great Jeff Tracy himself," Taylor muses, "Now those were the days."
"Unfortunately, as you can see me and Marion are busy, so it'll just be you three," Scott sighs.
"I'll go configure a pod and meet you in Thunderbird 3," Kayo says and walks away to head down to the main hanger to set up a red pod.
"Well then I guess that just about settles it," Taylor says standing up, "Like you boys say, Thunderbirds are off! Wait, that's not it. Thunderbirds have left the building. Thunderbirds are..."
"Go?" Alan asks and watches as Taylor sits in Kayo's seat.
"That's the one." Taylor says.
5
Alan and Taylor descend and start to get suited up.
4
A red pod is loaded into Thunderbird 3's cargo hold with Kayo inside.
3
Thunderbird 3's blast door closes once Alan and Taylor have been lifted inside.
2
Alan and Taylor's chairs roll up to the controls with Kayo in the passenger seat behind Alan.
1
The rockets start up.
Thunderbirds are Go!
July 3rd, 2062 - 23:19 NZST
Thunderbird 3 ascends into the morning blue sky as it escapes from its launch tube on Tracy Island. It doesn't take them long to rise high above the Earth's atmosphere. Ahead in the start-filled sky, the Sun shines brightly as the glowing red rocket enters Earth's orbit.
"Firing ion engines in three... two... one," Alan announces and Thunderbird 3 rockets away from Earth at its max speed. Taylor grabs slightly onto the arm rests.
"Woah!" Taylor states and switches positions with Kayo, "Ha! That never gets old."
"Settle in everyone. Even with our enhanced engine power we've got a long flight ahead of us," Kayo says.
"No problem. I've got hours of alien footage to pass the time," Alan says.
"A really long flight," Kayo sighs, "This reminds me of Gordon with his 'Into the Unknown' show."
"I've made some Thunderbird 3 m-modifications for you to review as well. There are improvements to the heat shield, enhanced p-pod defences. Oh, and Captain, there's even a handy chart lists all our n-names and vehicles," Brains says before adding, "Just in case."
"Thanks, Brain," Taylor says.
"It's Brains," Brains deadpans.
July 6th, 2062 - 23:24 NZST
"Thunderbird 5 to Thunderbird 3, I'm reading no changes to the Helius' trajectory," John informs, "By the time you arrive, the Helius will be deep inside the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter."
"See if you can get a message out John," Kayo says, "We'll keep monitoring their situation."
"F-A-B," John acknowledges.
"International Rescue to Helius. Dr. Travis, help is on the way," John says.
July 10th, 2062 - 00:06 NZST
"So... What do you think Captain?" Alan asks, "Any of these aliens look familiar?"
"I hate to break it to you kid, but nothing was there when Jeff and I explored the surface," Taylor says.
"No, no, take your time. I've got hundreds more where this came from," Alan says.
"Ugh. We must be close now," Kayo says, and scans the space in front of her before seeing Mars, "On your left."
"Just like I remember it," Taylor states, "Took us months to get out here the first time. Jeff and I didn't have fancy ion engines back in those days."
"But you still made it. You and Jeff were the first team to ever land there," Kayo muses.
"Nearly didn't. Dust storm almost made us call off the descent, but we took the risk and went anyway," Taylor explains, "Jeff said 'Humanity never got anywhere taking it easy.' I've always remembered that. Gordon, here, should take it to heart every time he pilots Thunderbird 3."
"Uh, I'm Alan, Sir," Alan corrects, "Gordon's in Thunderbird 4."
"Right," Taylor trails, "Maybe I better pull up that chart."
July 10th, 2062 - 07:15 NZST
It takes Thunderbird 3 a few more hours until it reaches the outskirts of the asteroid belt. Once they passed Mars, they were able to get a lock on the Heluis' signal and Alan had set a course for that direction. As they enter the asteroid belt, it doesn't take long for them to spot the engines of a spaceship ahead.
"Coming into range now," Alan shouts.
"There she is. No time to lose. They'll be asteroid chowder if we don't get over there!" Taylor says.
"Alan, match speed with the Helius," Kayo orders.
"On it," Alan says. Once alongside, Kayo and Captain Taylor get their helmets on and head into the cargo bay in order to get across to Helius. Alan uses a hologram of the Helius that John had provided him and finds a contact point.
"Deploying grasping arm," Alan informs and presses a button on his control panel and a grasping arm is deployed from the side of engine one and rotates to stretch outwards from the ship. He uses the thrusters to slow his red rocket down to get in line with contact point before locking it in. "Steady. Steady. Got it!" Alan informs, "We're locked in."
Inside the cargo bay, Taylor and Kayo stand and watch the bay doors open to reveal the Helius.
"Now for the fun part," Taylor says turning to Kayo, "Getting to the other side."
"Head in and make contact with the passengers," Kayo says and fires a magnetic grapple that quickly finds a lock on the Helius. The end of it connecting next to one of the airlocks.
"Will do, Marion," Taylor says taking the grapple from Kayo and pulling himself across.
"It's Kayo, Sir!" Kayo calls after him but to no avail, "Never mind."
"Kayo. We got a problem. At the rate we're moving towards this asteroid field, the Helius is going to need some serious cover," Alan says.
"It's time we bring out Brains' new gadget," Kayo says. The lights flicker on revealing the shiny red pod inside. Near the door there is a control box, which she opens. It reveals a hologram of all the different space pod options and Kayo selects the Space Pod Explorer. Several mechanical arms get to work attaching engines, thrusters and a modified ODDM cannon to Pod G. The cockpit window opens allowing Kayo to take her seat. As the pod's thrusters ignite, they start moving along the cargo hold. The pod is attached to a magnet on a huge slider on the ceiling and the thrusters push the pod into position over the hatch below, when they power down once again. Pressing a button on his console, Kayo disengages the magnet allowing for the pod to be released from Thunderbird 3. Once clear of the cargo bay, she fires up the engines and the pod flies clear of Thunderbird 3. "Pod Explorer is go." Kayo moves the small pod ahead of the Helius and positions it dead centre.
"Thunderbird 3 to Pod Explorer. Those asteroids are less than a minute from contact," Alan says.
"F-A-B," Kayo acknowledges, "I'm charging up the Portable Debris Defence Module now."
"Catchy name," Alan jokes.
"Let's just hope it works as good as it sounds," Kayo responds and calls Taylor, "Captain Taylor, do you read me?"
"F-A-D. Uh, B. Whatever that means," Taylor answers, "The hull's intact, but I still can't find anyone."
"Keep looking," Kayo says, "I'll keep in touch." She ends the transmission and looks at the asteroid field ahead of her.
"You better start destroying that space rock soon Kayo," Alan says, "Thunderbird 3 will be quite vulnerable as well in this position."
"Targets are locked in three... two... one," Kayo replies and starts firing at the asteroids directly in front of the Helius with explosive results, "Yes! Remind me to thank Brains for this."
"Okay," Alan calls. He pauses for a moment. "Hey Kayo. Remember to thank Brains."
"Very funny, Al," Kayo smiles and rolls her eyes, not that Alan could see.
"So, Captain Taylor's on board. You're blasting asteroids and I'm just sitting here!" Alan complains. The sound of explosions and the two holograms in front of him the only things keeping Alan company.
"Any other ideas?" Kayo asks.
"Actually, yes," Alan replies as an idea comes to mind, "There might be another way to help guide the Helius. I'm coming to the front."
"Be my guest Al," Kayo responds, "I'll take all the help I can get."
"F-A-B," Alan says and detaches from the Helius. He retracts the grasping arm back into place by engine one before firing Thunderbird 3 to the front, getting hit by a couple of small asteroids along the way. Kayo moves the Pod Explorer a little bit more ahead of the Heluis allowing Alan the room to manoeuvre Thunderbird 3 to face the Helius at the front of it. "Getting into position," Alan announces as he presses several buttons on his control panel and the three grasping arms are deployed from the side of each of the main engines and rotate to face the front of the ship. "So far, so good," Alan muses, "Here comes the twist." He uses the turn dials to rotate Thunderbird 3 into the correct position causing the claws at the end of each arm to lock into place. Alan cuts the engines of Thunderbird 3 completely. "Full reversal complete. Get ready to alter course, K. Firing thruster one," he announces and, in an instant, the Helius changes its course in the asteroid belt, "Yes! It's actually working!"
"Uh, what's working, exactly?" Kayo asks.
"I'm using my engines, one at a time, to guide the Helius," Alan explains cutting thruster one, "It's kinda like steering a boat on a river, except, you know, faster. Thruster three - fire!"
"Impressive Al," Kayo says as the Helius changes course again, "Remind me to thank you later."
"Okay," Alan says and pauses, "Hey, Kayo—"
"Later I said Al," Kayo muses.
July 10th, 2062 - 08:27 NZST
"Helius to International Rescue," Taylor interrupts as he floats into another room, "I've located Dr. Travers in the control room."
"F-A-B," Alan and Kayo acknowledges.
"Captain Taylor," Travers smiles and floats over the Taylor to shake his hand, "We've examined every last scrap of panelling. The controls should be working – it's all perfectly in order."
"Then let's try shaking things up a bit," Taylor shrugs and heads over to the control units at the back of the room, He starts removing wires and moving them around a bit.
"Why are you reconfiguring the power feed coils?" Travers exclaims rushing over to Taylor, "That could take the system offline."
"Exactly," Taylor deadpans, as he continues to work, "The proton storm didn't damage the systems, it put them on hold. We need to manually re-jump each connection to get things running again." Travers' eyes widen in realisation as Taylor passes her a large cable. "Here, start patching the sub-controllers to the central grid."
Travers floats over the control unit behind Taylor and connects the large power cable into it which causes the whole system to beep. This prompts Travers to check her tablet and she beams as a green call hologram appears on her screen.
"I don't believe it," Travers cries, "We just brought back communications."
"Mum?" a voice calls as a hologram of a young boy appears on the main screen at the controls of the ship.
"Paul!" Travers exclaims and floats over to the pilot's seat to answer the call and greet her son, "Are you alright?"
"Oh, yeah," Paul responds, clearly strapped into a seat, "We've got everyone strapped in tight. Are we still going to Mars?"
"One step at a time, Paul," Taylor states as he floats over to talk to Paul and grab the attention of Travers, "First, we need to get these engines under control." Taylor turns to leave again but his arm is harshly grabbed by Travers causing him to turn back and face her.
"Please, Captain," Travers begs, "Advancement of the human race depends on our ship reaching Mars. Over a decade of preparation went into this mission. To have everything we've worked for suddenly lost would be devastating."
"Understood," Taylor responds, looking thoughtful for a few seconds as the memories and adventures he had with Jeff come running back to him, "I know something about that myself. Helius to Pod Explorer. Repairs won't take long. Just keep the path clear a few more minutes."
"Uh, yeah, about that," Kayo stutters as she looks up at the field in front of her, "We've got a big, rocky problem up ahead. My cannons won't be able to blast something that size."
"Whoa!" Alan says as he does a scan, bringing it up on his holo-screen, "No way we're moving around it either."
"I'm almost done here - you've gotta do something," Taylor argues.
"Uh, here goes... something," Alan mumbles, "Thrusters one, two and three - fire."
"The Helius is slowing down," Kayo notes and reduces her own speed, "You should have a few more seconds, Captain."
Captain Taylor connects some of the last remaining wires and turns a few handles and the ship them suddenly comes back online. "Bingo!" Taylor celebrates, "Controls are back online." A few seconds later, the engines on Helius cut out and they continue to slow down further but it isn't enough. In order to prevent a collision, Helius turns her own side thrusters on and the turn away from the massive asteroid continues.
"We're moving away!" Alan calls.
"Keep turning!" Taylor replies and watches as the asteroid continues to turn right into their path. Thunderbird 3 and the Pod Explorer manage to clear the asteroid just in time, though the Helius isn't as lucky and crashes into the rock. It screeches along the surface losing several pieces of equipment. "We just lost the landing pods," Taylor announces as the Helius then moves away from the asteroid and the asteroid belt. However, it nicks the surface again and sends the space craft into a spin along with Thunderbird 3.
"Whoa!" Alan yells, "I can't keep this up, Captain. You have to get control of the Helius."
"We're working on it!" Taylor grunts.
"There's no time - we're gonna crash," Alan cries as he sees another asteroid come into view, luckily, Kayo comes fling back in front of Thunderbird 3, "Kayo!"
"I've got you covered as always Al," Kayo smirks as she blasts the asteroid to dust.
"Got it," Taylor says and the Helius stops her spin allowing Thunderbird 3 to disconnect.
"Glad to have you back K," Alan says, "Remind me to thank you some time."
"Sure thing," Kayo says and pauses, "Hey, Al—"
"Later I said K," Alan chuckles and does a scan of the Helius. His laughter comes to a halt as he sees the damage and the black smoke billowing from the spacecraft. "That's not good."
"No, it isn't," Kayo says as Alan sends her the scan and calls the Helius, "I'm reading heavy damage to the oxygen tanks."
"The important thing is we get everyone back to Earth safely," Taylor states.
"That could be a problem, Captain," Kayo says, "At the rate it's leaking oxygen, the Helius will run out before you reach Earth, and there's no way Thunderbird 3 can hold every family in one trip."
"It may not have to," Alan interrupts, "John said there were life-support systems waiting for you on Mars, right? That means we just need to land the Helius on the surface."
"This is a transport ship," Travers butts in, "It wasn't designed to land on the planet. Without a proper heat shield, we'd never make it through the Mars atmosphere."
"I've set up a link with Tracy Island," Alan informs, "Brains, would my heat shield be enough to cover Thunderbird 3 and the Helius?"
"T-Theoretically, but the chances of the Helius landing without b-breaking apart are very slim," Brains explains.
"But it's the only option we have," Kayo says.
"I agree," Travers says, "A slim chance is better than none. We're willing to take the risk."
"I second that," Taylor states.
"Pod Explorer to Helius. I'm heading to the control room," Kayo announces and docks with the Helius.
"Now, let's turn this thing around and head back to Mars," Travers says.
"I've had it up to here with asteroids!" Taylor indicates with his hand, referencing Alfie. The Helius turns around and starts to head back towards Mars with Thunderbird 3 following closely alongside.
July 10th, 2062 - 11:58 NZST
It takes Thunderbird 3 and the Helius a few hours to make it back to Mars. Even with some help from Thunderbird 3, it still is a longwinded journey. Everyone is released when the vast red expanse of Mars fills the viewport, the rusty hues of the planet swirling like a cosmic watercolour painting. It is a sight of stark beauty, a world both familiar and alien.
"We're ready for a rough landing," Travers informs Taylor and Kayo.
"Well, that's putting it mildly," Kayo says sternly, "Helius to Thunderbird 3. Are you sure you're up to this Alan?"
"It's like my Dad said - 'Humanity never got anywhere taking it easy'," Alan responds.
"Right you are, kid," Taylor nods approvingly, "Spoken like a true Tracy!"
"Phew!" Alan sighs, "Here we go everyone - activating heat shield and beginning decent." Alan opens up a diagram of the heat shield to make sure nothing gets too toasty for the Helius. He presses down on it and watches the vitals that is in the corner of the hologram closely. One mistake would not only mean that the Helius would burn up killing everyone on board but Thunderbird 3 will end up not having enough feul to make it back to Earth and there were no nukes to help him this time. Alan has to make sure that his calculations are perfect. "Pressure's climbing fast," he notes as the decent continues.
"Alan," Kayo calls, clearly worried, "Thunderbird 3 can't take anymore - you have to pull off."
"Just... a little... bit more," Alan strains and a panel on Thunderbird 3 rips off and strikes the Pod Explorer, destroying it.
"You've gotten us through the worst of it," Kayo strains, "Please, just let us take it from here."
"F-A-B," Alan sighs as he can now hear the concern in Kayo's voice quite clearly and doesn't want to stress her out too much. He pulls Thunderbird 3 off and away from the Helius and watches at it continues to descend towards the planet surface.
"Going down!" Taylor calls.
"But not out!" Kayo shouts, "Firing counter-thrusters." Kayo manages to get the Helius to slow down a little bit more, but it isn't enough. "We're still coming in too fast!"
"Son of a bitch," Alan growls and dives after the Helius once again after overhearing Kayo on the comm channel. She must've forgotten to turn off her comm which is something that rarely happens with Kayo, indicating to Alan how stressed she must be right now. Using Thunderbird 3's superior speed, he soon pulls up alongside the Helius.
"Al!" Kayo cries, "You're still here!"
"Sorry, K, couldn't let you have all the fun," Alan chuckles, "Hang on, everyone!" He presses several buttons on his control panel and two grasping arms are deployed from thrusters one and two. Alan rotates Thunderbird 3 into position as he prepares to fire two cables from each of the arms. He watches the hologram of the Helius as he searches for a lock. As soon as the lights show green for both cables, Alan doesn't waste another second. "Now!" he cries and pulls up with all the force that Thunderbird 3 has while the Helius is brought to more of an acute angle. Within moments, the Helius crashes down on Mars' surface and runs along at a tremendous speed. The ship completely breaks apart with different sections going everywhere. Thunderbird 3 is forced to release the transport ship otherwise Alan risked getting caught in an explosion or even worse, pulled down and crashing into the surface himself. Eventually, everything stops moving and there's silence.
Alan turns around and flies back to the crash site, circling the area as thick plumes of smoke rises from the wreckage. "Thunderbird 3 to Helius. Come in, Helius!" Alan calls, "Kayo? Captain Taylor? Does anyone read me?"
"Loud and clear, Alan," Taylor replies.
"Captain, you're alive!" Alan cries, "And you got my name right!"
Alan lands Thunderbird 3 next to the centre control section of the Helius and helps the family's get out and onto the surface of Mars. Everyone appears to be okay, with no major injuries, just some bruising and scratches. The group then walk a couple of miles and reach the location of the first Mars colony that had already been set up. Located next to Jeff Tracy's footprint that had been encased in glass to indicate the first man on Mars.
"This was the same site Jeff and I landed on all those years ago," Taylor says looking at the footprint reminiscing. He then turns and faces the colony, "Now, thanks to you two, it's the home of a shiny new Martian colony. Pretty cool, huh?"
"I was still kinda hoping for aliens," Alan jokes.
"I'm just glad this mission is complete," Kayo says and leans on Alan, who puts an arm around her, "We've got a long ride home ahead of us."
"Actually, Tin-Tin, if it's all the same to you, I think I'll stay for a while," Taylor says with a sad smile, "These folks could use some help out here, and it's never too late to start again. I can't think of a better place than Mars to spend my golden years."
"It does seem perfect for you, Sir," Kayo says, "And it's Kayo. Tin-Tin is—."
"Should we get back to you in a month?" Alan interrupts.
"Better make it two," Taylor says and the pair nod before turning and making their way back to Thunderbird 3, "So long you two."