January 15th, 2066 - 23:50 NZDT
It had been a pleasant few days one Tracy Island with very few rescues. A few days ago, Gordon was given the all clear to start going back on rescues and everyone was happy to see him back on his feet and moving around again. The height of the summer also meant that Scott, Marion, Nina, Alan and Kayo had all gone for a little vacation but hadn't gone so far in case they needed to be called back in an emergency. Scott was glad that the World Council were finally coming off his back about The Hood and his Chaos Crew. Colonel Casey promised Scott that she'll try and keep it that way as she understands that it wasn't in International Rescue's jurisdiction.
Meanwhile in Thunderbird 5, John and Ridley are glad to be spending some more time together as the construction of Thunderbird 10 is coming to a close. Ridley came back to Thunderbird 5 just before Christmas and hadn't left since. The pair where currently eating their lunch looking through the window of the gravity wheel to see the big, blue marble that is called Earth.
"...and then she looked up at me all confused before Captain Blacker came crashing into the room, destroying the freshly painted wall," Ridley laughs as she tells John one of her many stories from her time on Thunderbird 10.
"She must've been furious at him," John chuckles but abruptly stops as his wrist com starts beeping. He places down his cutlery and answers the call, "Thunderbird 5, here."
"John," Penelope replies appearing on the holographic screen, "I've just received a tsunami warning."
"Where abouts?" Ridley asks as she gets up from her seat and walks over to the holographic map of Earth in the adjacent room to the kitchen-dining area.
"Southern Ocean," Penelope explains, "Are you seeing anything, Thunderbird 5?"
"There's been an earthquake about a hundred miles north of your location," Ridley explains.
"That's what must have triggered the tsunami," Penelope states.
"It's not quite a tsunami yet," Ridley replies, "It's a rogue wave. The earthquake must've caused many smaller waves to stack on top of each other creating this giant wave in open ocean."
"And FAB 2's in the path of it," John adds.
"Oh dear," Penelope sighs, "Anyone else at risk, Thunderbird 5?"
"I'm alerting all the ships in the danger zone now," Ridley informs, "It should give them enough time to sail out of the path of the wave, if they move fast."
"That includes you," John states, "FAB 2 needs to leave right now."
"FAB," Penelope responds, "We'll be changing course immediately."
However, as FAB 2 starts to change its course, a mayday comes it from a large tanker ship that is caught in the path of the rogue wave. Looks like today isn't going to be a quite one after all.
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
In the Tracy Island lounge, Gordon walks into the room with a little bit of a skip in his step. He joins Virgil and Sally at the table where they are currently in converse with John and Ridley, who had also picked up the mayday call from the tanker.
"Look who's back and ready for his first mission debrief?" Gordon calls.
"Welcome back, Gordon," Virgil smiles.
"Come here, kiddo," Sally beams and meets Gordon in the middle to give him a big hug.
"Good to see ya," John states. Sally breaks her hug with Gordon and turns back to the couple in hologram form.
"You were saying, Thunderbird 5," Sally says.
"Yes," Ridley nods and brings up a large hologram of the tanker in question, "A broken-down tanker adrift in the Southern Ocean, and now in the path of a rogue wave."
"Lady Penelope was nearby, so she's gone to assist," John explains.
"International Rescue should be on site, too. I can fly Thunderbird 2 over the area," Virgil states and turns to leave but pauses and looks over his shoulder, "And I'd love my wingman out there with me!"
"Ready?" Gordon asks surprised, "Woohoo! I am back in the game!"
5
Virgil runs over to the painting of a rocket and gets suited up.
4
Thunderbird 4 is loaded into Module 4.
3
Gordon boards Thunderbird 2 via the passenger elevator.
2
Thunderbird 2 taxis down the main runway and comes to a halt allowing the ramp to raise.
1
The blast shield rises.
Thunderbirds are Go!
January 15th, 2066 - 18:32 TFT
FAB 2 arrives on scene of the tanker and Penelope gets on her aqua suit. Parker pulls up beside the tanker and Penelope gets out her grapple hook. She walks onto the deck of FAB 2 and fires a line up the side of the tanker before pulling herself up to the top. When she gets to the top, Penelope leaps over the barrier and starts making her way over to the bridge when she notices a figure approaching her.
"Lady Penelope?" the guy asks.
"Stew?" Penelope questions, making sure that this is the person that she spoke to earlier, "Is that you?"
"Oh. thank goodness you're here to rescue me," Stew sighs in relief as the pair make their way to the bridge, "You know, this is my very first time at sea. Just my luck that it's during a tsunami."
"Are you the only person on board?" Penelope queries.
"There are two others," Stew confirms, "Captain Jax, and the engineer, Elliot. They're blew deck in the engine room trying to get the tanker repaired."
"I'm afraid the time for repairs has passed, Stew," Penelope says gravely, "This wave is travelling at tremendous speed."
"You don't need to convince me," Stew replies as he opens a door to allow Penelope through to the bridge, "As for the others, well, I hope your way with words is better than mine."
January 15th, 2066 - 18:36 TFT
Ridley goes through several charts in from of her and does a quick scan of the information in front of her. She then reaches over to the data that Thunderbird 5 had collected from the rogue wave and compares it with the information she just read. After a few seconds, she looks over to John in alarm.
"John, the telemetry coming through from this wave is off the charts," Ridley exclaims.
"And it's nearly to the tanker," John muses and presses down on his orange satchel, "Did you get that Lady Penelope? You need to leave now!"
"We're on our way, John," Penelope replies.
John watches the holographic map anxiously as the red line of the rogue wave arrives at the symbols of the tanker and FAB 2. There're a few seconds where he and Ridley hold their breathes before sigh in relief as FAB 2 starts to move away from the wave. However, the wave was so far from the hypocentre of the earthquake that it had become almost impossible to outrun it. They watch as the FAB 2 symbol comes to a stop before it accelerates at full speed back towards the wave.
"He's going to try and jump the wave," Ridley gasps, "Just like in that old movie in the scene where the Golden Gate Bridge was destroyed."
"It's that most movies," John jokes looking over at Ridley but receives a glare from his girlfriend.
"This is serious, John," Ridley cries, "They're not going to make it."
"Knowing Parker, they are," John replies and they watch as the FAB 2 moves past the wave warning and continues going in a straight line, "Whoo! Told you!"
"Phew!" Ridley sighs.
January 15th, 2066 - 18:47 TFT
Meanwhile, Thunderbird 2 arrives on the scene and discovers the tanker. They are shocked to what they see in front of them.
"Holy shit," Virgil gasps.
"The tanker's flipped completely upside down," Gordon exclaims.
"I hope you weren't planning on taking it easy on your first trip back out," Virgil jokes.
"I don't do easy," Gordon scoffs, and gets out of his seat to make his way down into the module. Once he's inside, he makes his way over to the control panel and prepares Thunderbird 4 for a launch from the underside hatch instead of a module deployment. He then rushes over to Thunderbird 4 and prepares himself to get inside.
"Is it alright with you that I'm dropping you straight from Thunderbird 2?" Virgil asks, just as Gordon takes his seat in Thunderbird 4.
"FAB, Virg," Gordon replies and watches as the underside hatch doors open, "Thunderbird 4 is go!" Thunderbird 4 is then released from the magnetic holder and into the depths below. As Thunderbird 4 settles, Gordon switches on the lights and starts to move towards the tanker. "Fucking hell," Gordon murmurs under his breath as he sees the last bit of lighting from the tanker go out, leading the giant metal body in total darkness. He reaches over to his com unit and makes a call, "FAB 2, what's your situation? Lady Penelope, can you hear me? Lady Penelope?"
Gordon gets no response. Frustrated, he decides to switch frequencies and calls Parker's private com unit, "Parker, are you okay? Where's Lady Penelope?"
"H'I'm fine, Gordon," Parker replies, "But h'I'm h'afraid m'lady was h'on the tanker when it flipped."
"You mean she didn't get out in time?" Gordon cries and quickly presses down on his yellow satchel, "Thunderbird 5! Lady Penelope is missing."
"WHAT!" Ridley yells.
"I need you to track down any transmissions in the area," Gordon continues in his ramble.
"On it," John replies and starts to do his scan on the tanker. After a few tense seconds, an audio transmission is heard inside Thunderbird 5, "I've got something. There's a tapping sound coming from inside the tanker."
"That's got to be her," Gordon responds and releases his satchel and lets out a sigh, "It's got to be."
Gordon then moves Thunderbird 4 closer to the tanker and connects to Thunderbird 5's frequency. A very quiet tapping is heard, and Gordon starts to scan one side of the tanker. He peers through the windows to see if there were any signs of life or even movement from inside the tanker but doesn't see any. All Gordon can hear is the constant tapping sound giving him hope that nothing serious had happened to Penelope, and the rest of the crew. He's disappointed as he gets to the end of the tanker but doesn't let this deter him and he moves Thunderbird 4 to the other side and carries on his scan.
Suddenly, the tapping sound gets louder and louder, and a familiar face appears in one of the windows. Penelope. Gordon lets out a sigh of relief.
"Lady Penelope!" Gordon cries and waves at her as another figure, Stew, appears next to her and waves back. He tries to connect to her com channel, "Are you okay?"
Penelope sees Gordon's lips moving and starts making hand signals pointing to her ear several times before indicating a thumbs down movement with a worried look on her face.
"Oh, your coms aren't working," Gordon realises and starts to do hand signals of his own while saying, "Are you okay?" Penelope seems to understand Gordon as she smiles at him and gives a thumbs up, which eases some of the tension that Gordon feels inside. Stew looks between Penelope and Gordon before grinning and putting up his own thumb in return. Penelope then starts doing more signals with her hands and Gordon speaks to himself and copies some of the movements to try and translate what Penelope is conveying.
"Okay, the both of you are going up the tanker," Gordon mutters and pauses as Penelope puts up two fingers at him, "Two?" Gordon thinks for a second and searches the crew log of the tanker in front of him that was recorded when it left Durban, South Africa. "Ah, to get the other two crew members!" Gordon notes. Penelope then looks serious and points downwards. "What's down there?" Gordon wonders and takes Thunderbird 4 to the underside of the tanker. The thing with tankers, they are not designed to go upside down in the water and inevitably with the force of the rogue wave tipping it over it is going to leave some damage.
"Er, that's not good," Gordon muses as he sees the large cracks and takes Thunderbird 4 back up to the window Penelope and Stew were at before explaining what he's seen with his hands, "A hole in the hull. I'm on it."
Penelope and Stew both give Gordon a double thumbs up before walking away from the window and disappearing from view once again. Gordon waits for a couple more seconds before moving away from the window and heading towards the surface.
"Virgil," Gordon calls, "I've located Lady Penelope, she's doing just fine."
"Thanks for letting me know, Gordon," Virgil replies, "I'll inform Parker."
January 15th, 2066 - 19:03 TFT
"FAB," Gordon responds and disappears from Thunderbird 2's holographic coms unit and his figure is replaced by a very worried looking Parker.
"Parker," Virgil starts, "Gordon's located Lady Penelope. She's okay."
"Thank goodness!" Parker exclaims, "H'is there h'anything h'I can do?"
"Actually, there is," Virgil replies and brings up a hologram of FAB 2 for both Parker and him to see, "I'm showing minor damage to FAB 2's engine cells. Could you take a look?"
"FAB," Parker answers and disappears from view.
"Gordon," Virgil calls again, "Parker's dealing with some damage to FAB 2 but should be one his way soon."
"Good to hear," Gordon states, "I'm going to have a look and see if I can fix some of the fractures in the hull."
"FAB," Virgil responds.
Thunderbird 4 then dips back down under the waves and goes underneath the tanker. Gordon positions Thunderbird 4 accordingly and turns on the welding laser and gets to work closing off all the cracks to prevent any further flooding of the tanker that could risk it sinking with the crew and the tankers onboard. He seals off the main cracks before a crackling sound comes over the coms.
"Call— —national— —cue," a voice mutters before it starts to clear up, "—ello? Hello? Boys, we've got a situation down here."
"Lady Penelope!" both Virgil and Gordon cry.
"M'lady!" Parker calls.
"It's good to hear your voice," Gordon sighs," Have you found the rest of the crew?"
"Yes," Penelope replies, "We're together in the engine room, but Elliott is injured."
"That's a complication," Virgil mutters.
"There's more," Penelope continues, "We had a bit of a swim to get here, which means the tanker is still taking on water."
"Thunderbird 2, what are our options?" Gordon asks, as he once again backs away from the tanker to get to a safe distance.
"We could cut a hole in the hull near the engine room, and pull them out from there," Virgil suggests.
"But wouldn't the tanker sink?" Stew asks.
"It might be our only option," Penelope states.
"I imagine it's hard for someone who's never captained a ship to understand," the Captain, Jax, starts, "But this tanker is a home, an extension of myself and my crew. I cannot abandon it."
"I get it, Captain. I recently lost a ship myself, and there's no way to make that right," Gordon interjects but then pauses as a smile forms on his face, "Unless we make it right! By flipping the tanker right side up!"
"Aren't you feeling well, Gordon?" Penelope nervously chuckles.
"I'll attach tethers to the tanker," Gordon explains, "Then Virgil can use Thunderbird 2 to pull it over."
"But that's impossible," Virgil interrupts, "To get the right angle and velocity, I'd need to make sure that the lines are to be kept taut through the entire arc of the manoeuvre in order to exert the necessary rotational force."
"But it can be done," Gordon replies, "If you send the cables down on one side of the ship, I'll move them across to the far side. Once attached, Thunderbird 2 will just need to start going vertically upwards which will get the lines to go taut."
"Hmm," Virgil muses as he uses Thunderbird 2 to calculate the trajectory, "That could work. There's only a 48% chance of it though."
"We have to try," Gordon states.
"I'm in," Virgil says, after a pause, "Anything to save a crew and its ship."
"Me, too," Jax calls, "Your plan just might be crazy enough to work."
"I wonder if being bedridden hasn't done something to your thinking, Gordon," Penelope giggles, "You've got my vote."
"I'll ditch Thunderbird 2's module." Virgil informs, "It'll make it easier to move vertically."
"FAB 2 h'is ready," Parker states, "H'and h'I'll follow m'lady wherever she leads."
Thunderbird 2 drops the module around a quarter of a mile away from the tanker before returning and dropping the cables into the water. Gordon takes Thunderbird 4 over to the cable and grabs onto each one with Thunderbird 4's grasping arms. He places one in the deck in front of the bridge and the other at the bow of the tanker. As he does this, Thunderbird 2 lowers until she is just skimming the surface of the ocean.
"Here we go!" Virgil calls and brings Thunderbird 2 into an upright position before firing her thrusters to maximum. The green Thunderbird goes flying up into the sky before coming to an abrupt stop as the cables go completely taut. An alarm goes off from inside Thunderbird 2 indicating to Virgil that the thrusters were in danger of failing due to the strain being put on them. Moving several hundred tons of metal is no easy task.
Underneath the waves, Gordon watches as the tanker starts to lift but not by much. "Careful, Virgil," Gordon shouts.
"Engaging afterburners," Virgil mutters, as he grits his teeth. A groaning sound is heard from the ship as it beings to move once again. Virgil grunts and he pushes down on the controls as hard as he can to get the tanker upright. The slow movement of the tanker comes to a stop once again as the weight becomes too much for Thunderbird 2 to handle.
"It's not enough," Virgil groans, "I need more pull!" Suddenly, out of nowhere, FAB 1 comes into view. Inside is a very determined Parker and a very scared Sherbet. Parker flies FAB 1 in front of Thunderbird 2 and fires its own cable which attaches to the nosecone of Thunderbird 2.
"Parker!" Virgil cries.
"H'indeed, Mr Virgil, Sir," Parker replies.
Despite being a very small vehicle, FAB 1's strong thrusters seem to stabilize the swaying Thunderbird 2 and together they start pulling and the tanker once again. The previously small movements of the tanker become a lot greater as the first part of the deck surfaces. The two keep working and after the taker landed on its side, it became a lot easier for Thunderbird 2 to pull the whole tanker upwards and floating the right side up again. Virgil watches as the tanker bobbles on the surface of the ocean once again and releases the cables. Parker does the same with FAB 1.
"Yeah!" Gordon yells.
"Woohoo!" Virgil celebrates while Parker laughs in relief.
January 15th, 2066 - 20:22 TFT
Gordon helps Penelope get all the crew off the tanker and into Thunderbird 2's module. Parker pulls FAB 2 up alongside the module and watches as Thunderbird 4 is brought back inside. Virgil informs Thunderbird 5 that the coast guard will need to sort out a tugboat team to get the tanker back to Durban for repairs. When it is time for Thunderbird 2 to leave, Gordon decides to stay onboard FAB 2 as he hadn't seen Penelope in a while and wanted to discuss something with her.
"See you back on Tracy Island," Gordon says to a holographic image of Virgil on his communicator.
"Copy that," Virgil replies as Penelope takes a seat next to Gordon.
"Hi," Gordon smiles awkwardly.
"Hi. I..." Penelope mumbles blushing, trying to formulate a sentence, "I haven't had a chance to welcome you back to International Rescue.
"Well, it's been a busy day," Gordon chuckles nervously.
"You've been missed, Gordon Cooper Tracy," Penelope states.
"Missed?" Gordon questions before gaining the confidence to add, "By anyone in particular?"
"So," Parker calls out walking into the room and taking a seat between the pair, "What h'are we chatting h'about h'on this beautiful evening?"
"Erm, n... nothing," Gordon stutters.
"Well, h'in that case," Parker says standing up again, "H'I've made some dinner for h'us."
"What have you made Parker?" Penelope inquires.
"Pie, m'lady," Parker responds.
"Well, we can't say no to pie, can we?" Penelope says to Gordon with an awkward smile, "Let's go find some plates." She then gets up to follow Parker. Sherbet gets up from his seat and walks over the seating and lies down in Gordon's lap. Gordon holds a scowl on his face and crosses his arms.
"Aren't you going, too?" Gordon grumbles to the dog but looks up as he hears approaching footsteps. He notices Penelope making her way back over to him and before he could react, she kisses him on the lips. It is a small kiss but instantly Gordon's lift is lifted, and he feels all the butterflies that loomed in his stomach lift. All that nervousness that he had, instantly gone. Penelope pulls away shyly and tucks a strand of hair behind her left ear.
"My way of saying thanks for saving us today," Penelope mutters as she looks down at the floor. She goes to walk away but Gordon grabs onto her arm and pulls her into a deeper kiss that before.
Now that's certainly one way to return to duty.
Rest of Part 4C to be fully published on August 26th, 2023