August 17th, 2068 - 07:28 BST
Solar power is one of the many preferred types of renewable energy used by the world's nations. As the technology advanced, it soon became clear that relying on the sun through panels mounted on roofs of buildings couldn't always be relied on as clouds often covered the sun and prevented energy from being stored.
That was until the mid-2040s when someone finally came up with an idea to put a satellite in orbit fitted with solar panels that continuously collect energy from the sun and relay it back to Earth.
Sun-12 is the most up to date of these satellites and has recently been put into orbit. Its location is a geostationary orbit directly above Australia for the country it's to provide the energy for.
It is owned by Travis Industries, which is based in London. The CEO Mr Toby Travis helped design these new generation of solar energy and is currently giving a guided tour to invited guests that include a certain Lady Penelope. They are currently in the control room and Mr Travis is explaining how it only takes one satellite to power countries like the UK and USA. Penelope pays little attention to the waffle and instead scrutinizes the monitor screen looking at the data. The reason she has attended is that Brains had notices a potential design flaw in the blueprints of the satellites and had asked her to investigate.
"Pardon me, Mr Travis," Penelope interrupts, "What are your failsafe protocols should any of the satellites become overloaded?"
"Overloaded?" Mr Travis asks puzzled, "My dear, Lady Penelope, our satellites have more than enough storage space in them for whenever they turn to face the sun."
"I know," Penelope agrees, "But I mean in the case of a potential situation such as unexpected solar activity and the sun gives off too much energy?"
Mr Travis doesn't answer straight away, which immediately tells Penelope that he has not even considered such an event.
"Well, er, fortunately sun activity is few and far between," Mr Travis stutters, "And er, if it does ever take place, it never affects the Earth so I can assure you they are perfectly safe."
As if right on cue, alarms began ringing across the room as one of the controllers suddenly cry out. "ALERT! SOLAR FLARE!"
A colossal blast of solar energy erupts from the sun and soars across the millions of miles in all directions. A bright orange glow is momentarily seen in the sky across all parts of the world and strikes all the satellites that are currently orbiting on the side that is facing it. The energy in some of the older solar satellites are shot to well beyond their capacity causing them to explode. This leaves only Sun-12 taking a hit from the flare.
"Shut it down!" Mr Travis cries, "SHUT THEM ALL DOWN!"
The alarmed workers of the remaining satellites comply and soon all of the satellites are shut down and no longer showing any dangerous warning signs.
"There," Mr Travis breathes, "That's them all done."
"Not all of them," Penelope indicates, "Twelve's still going!"
Everyone looks at the red flashing warning light coming from the screen of Sun-12. Even though it has not exploded like the others it, the power it's containing is much greater than it should be.
"Can we get a visual?" Mr Travis asks one of the workers. The worker turns and presses some buttons on her computer to bring up a live-video feed of Sun-12 from a nearby remote camera. While it appears to remain intact, the antenna at the base that transmits the energy to Earth is glowing red hot.
"Is that normal?" Kat Kavanagh, now the leading journalist who works for Thunderbird 10, asks.
"No, it's not!" Mr Travis cries, turning to his workers, "I told you to shut it down!"
"It is shut down, sir!" the worker protests.
"I'd say not," Penelope mutters as the glow on the antenna gets brighter. Everyone looks on in horror as a beam of orange light suddenly shoots out from the satellite and down onto the Earth.
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
August 17th, 2068 - 18:43 NZST
"JURY SERVICE?!" Kayo almost shrieks, "How is that even possible?!"
"I wish I knew, Kayo," Jeff sighs, "I'm just as baffled by it as you are."
"Mr Tracy, I cannot do this," Kayo states firmly, "My job here is far too important to be wasting time in a courtroom trying to figure out if someone is guilty or not!"
"You surprise me, Kayo," Scott observes, "Given how much you enjoy catching criminals, I'd have thought you'd relish the chance to put one away?"
"This is different, Scott," Kayo deadpans, "I prefer to catch criminals and immediately lock them up because I've caught them in the act. They need no trial. But this? Some trials can go on for weeks! Months even! I can't be away from Tracy Island for any length of time. Our security depends on it!"
"Kayo," Jeff interrupts, clearing his throat, "I will do everything in my power to see that you are made except. Your role here is vital and we can't afford to lose you – especially with The Black Phantom still at large."
"Thank you, Mr Tracy," Kayo sighs.
"International Rescue, we have a situation," Ridley declares as her hologram appears from her portrait.
"Yeah, we noticed," Alan jokes, "Kayo's being asked to do jury service!"
"Never mind that," Ridley scoffs, "No offense Kayo."
"None taken," Kayo nods.
Ridley then brings up a hologram image which shows the Earth, Australia and a satellite with the heat-beam shooting down from it. "This is the Sun-12. The latest solar energy collecting satellite for Travis Industries. That solar-flare we experienced has caused it to malfunction and it's sending a tremendous heat-ray down onto the outback of Australia."
"What's the damage?" Jeff inquires.
"From what I can tell just a forest has been affected," Ridley informs, "But it's heading towards the nearby town of Proctor and the river beyond that. There's another town in the valley beyond and I estimate that if the beam hits the river, it will cause a rupture that could flood the entire valley - town included!"
"Then we'd better move fast!" Scott says.
"Agreed," Jeff adds, "Scott. Launch immediately. Go track that beam and warn anybody in its projected path."
Brains, Moffy, Virgil and Gordon then hurry in and saw the situation for themselves.
"Oh, m-my!" Brains exclaims as he grabs the holographic image of the Sun-12, "I was afraid t-this might happen one day! Those satellites are a t-terrible design!"
"You work on the problem, Brains, Moffy. See if you can find us a solution," Jeff orders, "Virgil and Gordon, launch Thunderbird 2. Take Module 4 and load a couple of Pods into it as well. We have to be ready for anything."
"What about me?" Alan asks.
"You have the biggest job of all," Jeff states, "I need you and Kayo to launch Thunderbird 3 and try and shut that satellite down, providing that Brains can find out the source of the problem."
"F-A-B," Alan and Kayo acknowledge.
5
Scott, Virgil Alan, Kayo and Gordon descend and start to get suited up.
4
Thunderbird 4 and the pod equipment are loaded into Module 4.
3
Thunderbird 3's blast door closes once Alan and Kayo have been lifted inside.
2
Thunderbird 2 taxis down the main runway and comes to a halt allowing the ramp to raise.
1
Thunderbird 1 comes to a stop as the swimming pool above starts to retract.
Thunderbirds are Go!
August 17th, 2068 - 16:32 ACST
When Scott arrives at the small town, he doesn't have much to do in the way of organising an evacuation. He watches as the last of the residents flee in their cars just as the heat-beam reach the outskirts. Scott can do nothing but sit and watch in shock as the beam rips through several houses, leaving a long cut in the ground behind it.
"Good grief!" Scott remarks, "Thunderbird 10, this thing is horrendous! Any luck with hacking into it?"
"That's a negative, I'm afraid, Scott," Ridley answers grimly, "I'm assigning Thunderbird 5 as Mobile Control while I try and get in contact with London."
"F-A-B," Scott nods, "Mobile Control?"
"Hey, Scott," John answers, "Unfortunately I'm struggling to get access to the blueprints. I'm not expecting Ridley to have much luck either."
"Oh?" Scott enquires and raises his eyebrow.
August 17th, 2068 - 19:04 NZST
To everyone onboard Thunderbird 10, there is one thing that people could bet on and that is Ridley never loses her temper with someone when it came to work, only reprimand them. However, this is looking increasingly likely to happen as people observe her get into a heated conversation with Mr Travis.
"You were told years ago that your satellite design was not properly approved!" Ridley states.
"And I told your engineer that he's a worrisome good-for-nothing!" Mr Travis retorts rudely, "There is not a single thing wrong with my satellites!"
"Son on a bitch," Ridley mutters to herself taking a breath before returning her gaze to the monitor, "And that's despite the majority having been destroyed and your biggest is now firing a power heat-ray down on Australia?"
"That is none of your business!" Mr Travis snaps.
"IT IS MY FUCKING BUSINESS!" Ridley shouts causing the people around her to stop in their tracks and all gulp in fear, "Peoples lives are in danger now because of you. That satellite needs to be shut down and the only way to do that is if you hand over the blueprints. We can do this the easy w—"
"I KNEW IT!" Mr Travis shrieks, "YOU'RE TRYING TO STEAL MY DESIGNS! NO WAY! GET LOST AND NEVER CONTACT ME AGAIN!" He then sticks up his middle finger just as the feed cuts out.
Ridley is on the verge of tearing her hair out and she is about to scream when Jeff, Brains and Sally appear on her workbench holo-projector.
"Breath, Ridley," Sally says, "Don't let yourself boil over."
"Apologies, Mrs Tracy," Ridley sighs as she slumps down at her desk and the people around her get back to work.
"Don't worry, Ridley," Jeff smiles, "If he'd stayed on the line a minute longer, I'd have given him a piece of my mind! Of all the arrogant people I've ever come across, that man has got to be the worst of the worst!"
"Even L-Langstrom Fischler isn't as b-bad as that," Brains sighs, "T-Toby Travis was in the s-same class as m-me at Cambridge. He was always so d-desperate to prove he was the b-best in the class and would b-bully anybody who got t-top of the class."
"Did he ever?" Sally enquires.
"N-Never," Brains replies, shaking his head.
"I'm not surprised," Jeff scoffs, "But without his help there's not a lot we can do."
"Hang on, I've got an incoming call," Ridley announces a moment later Penelope's hologram joins everyone else.
"Go ahead, Penny," Jeff states.
"Hello, Jeff," Penelope says, "Ridley, I'm so sorry you had to get spoken to like that. I'm in the control room at Travis Industries."
"Ahhh!" Jeff, Ridley and Sally exclaim as they'd exchanged a puzzled look halfway through that sentence.
"This is perfect!" Moffy declares as she walks into the Tracy Island lounge, "Lady Penelope. We could use your help."
"Whatever you need," Penelope responds.
"We need access to the entire Travis Industries database," Moffy explains, "We can then find the blueprints for the Sun-12 satellite and hopefully find a way for either Thunderbirds 3, 5 or 10 to access it and then shut it down."
"Consider it done," Penelope nods, "I'll attach my compact to the side of a server. Will that work?"
"P-Perfectly!" Brains beams as he is encouraged by Moffy's idea.
"Stand-by," Penelope calls as she moves over to one of the control room's massive servers and after checking to make sure nobody is looking, places her compact onto the side. Its magnetic base sticks to the server and immediately establishes a connection. "How's that?"
Brains watches as the holo-table begins to show that a download of the Travis Industries database is starting to come through to Tracy Island's own servers. "D-Data incoming!" he announces, "Just k-keep it up for a f-few more minutes."
Penelope glances around. Nobody is looking her way, but if anyone saw where she is, she knows she would be in trouble. "Let's hope that's enough," she mutters quietly.
August 17th, 2068 - 19:13 NZST
Alan and Kayo had been able to see the orange glow from the heat-ray as soon as they'd launched from Tracy Island. Now they are approaching Sun-12 in Thunderbird 3 and gaze at the rather frightening sight that is in front of them.
"Woah!" Alan mumbles, bringing Thunderbird 3 to a stop about a mile from the satellite. "I daren't take her in any closer."
"Brains may have built our ships to withstand tough environments but I don't believe heat-rays are one of them," Kayo agrees, "So what now?"
"I'll alert base and see what they want us to do," Alan informs and presses a button on the control panel, "Base from Thunderbird 3. We have a visual on the satellite. What's the plan?"
"For the m-moment, keep a s-safe distance," Brains replies as he and Moffy appear on the holo-projector, "I'm g-getting the schematics s-sent to me by Lady P-Penelope."
"If we can't access the satellite remotely, then I'm afraid that you'll have to try and shut it down manually," Moffy informs. This causes Alan and Kayo to exchange nervous glances. Neither of them like the idea of that.
"You don't mean one of us would have to go out to the satellite itself, do you?" Kayo questions.
"If need be, y-yes, Kayo," Brains confirms, "But only as a l-last resort. Stand-by." He then signs off.
"Shit..." the couple say.
August 17th, 2068 - 16:45 ACST
Thunderbird 2 is now arriving on the scene. The heat-ray has decimated Proctor and is now heading towards a nearby forest.
"Be ready with the fire-fighting gear, Thunderbird 2," Scott orders, "It only needs to make one line through to set the whole thing ablaze."
"F-A-B, Thunderbird 1," Virgil acknowledges, "We can't actually release the Pods with Thunderbird 4 inside so will fill up the module with water and do a water drop."
"Couldn't we do that before the beam gets to the trees?" Gordon asks, "Wet wood doesn't burn well."
"Gordon, that heat-beam is registering at over five hundred degrees," Virgil deadpans, "I doubt dampening the trees is going to save them."
"My thoughts exactly," Scott agrees "Just be ready to—" He is cut off by an alarm in Thunderbird 1. "The proximity alarm?" he mutters, "But what—"
"SCOTT, LOOK-OUT!" Virgil and Gordon both yell.
"WHAT?!" Scott questions as he looks up and sees, "NYYYAAAAARRGGGHH!" He yanks back on the controls and puts Thunderbird 1 into reverse moments before the heat-beam strikes. "What the?!" Scott gasps when he found his voice, "Did I get too close?"
"Scott! Are you okay?" John asks.
"I think so, Mobile Control," Scott replies shakily, "What did I do?"
"Nothing," John says, "The satellite has shifted in orbit. The beam's changed direction!"
"Well at least the forest is safe," Gordon muses, "And all the wildlife that lives there."
"Yeah but look where it's headed!" Virgil points, "Straight towards the river!"
"And there's another town in that valley beyond," Scott adds.
"But the beam's not headed for the town?" Gordon puzzles as he observes the beam's direction.
"It doesn't have to, Gordon," John explains, "The beam will destroy the bank of the river and potentially cause it to flood. If the torrent is powerful enough it could wash everything away."
"We'll go ahead and evacuate the town," Scott sighs, "Hopefully there aren't too many people there."
John then contacted Thunderbird 3. "Alan, Kayo, are you two, okay?"
"Yes, Mobile Control, but the satellite has shifted," Alan announces, "No idea why. I think Thunderbird 3 must have drifted closer than I thought she had."
"Could it have motion-sensors?" Kayo suggests.
"P-Possibly," Brains thinks, "Alan, move Thunderbird 3 back away from the satellite. Your presence might have triggered the sensors and c-caused it to shift."
Alan quickly complies and moves Thunderbird 3 backwards a short distance. "Will that do?" he asks.
"That'll be fine," Moffy responds, "If you need to get up to it, you'll have to use your astro-board."
"Moffy, I am not going out there with that heat-ray blazing!" Alan protests, "And what if my presence activates its sensors again."
"I have to agree," Kayo states, "Moffy, even I'm reluctant to go near that."
"There has to be a way to shut it down without endangering Alan and Kayo's lives as well as those in Australia," Jeff comments.
"There m-may not b-be any other option, Mr Tracy," Brains says grimly and he looks back at the data that is still coming through, "Download at eighty-three percent, Lady Penelope. Just a l-little bit longer."
"Okay, Brains," Penelope replies over the hologram, "But I'm now having to hide myself from view. A few of the guards are a little close for comfort."
August 17th, 2068 - 16:53 ACST
Cooper's Well is the name of the small town that is now in danger from the heat-ray's destructive capability, and although the beam isn't directly heading for the town, as predicted, its passing through a river that divides the land between the valley that Cooper's Well is located and what remains of Proctor causes a massive rupture that sends a cascade of water across the sloping land towards the valley.
Scott watches from Thunderbird 1 as several cars, vans, buses and pick-up trucks hurry out of the town and up the hills on the opposite side to get away from impending danger. Not everybody can be fitted in the road vehicles, so a small number are collected by the lifting chairs and taken into Thunderbird 2, although this becomes a bit of a squeeze trying to fit thirty people in the module and around Thunderbird 4 and the Pods.
"That's the last of them, Scott," Virgil announces over the holo-projector.
"Good work, Virgil," Scott replies, "Drop them on the rendezvous point above the town. They'll all be safe there."
A space has been cleared on the hillside overlooking the town. The townsfolk had initially been unaware of the heat-ray until they'd left the town and seen it in the distance, which frightens them initially but being on the hill not only keeps them safe from the oncoming flood but also, they will be out of harm's way of the beam.
Virgil lands Thunderbird 2 in the space and opens Module 4 to allow the people that have been picked up to exit. He and Gordon then exits the craft themselves to make sure everyone is safe.
"Is that everyone, Chief?" Virgil questions.
"I believe so, buddy," the Chief of Police replies and looks around at the townsfolk just to be sure.
"How's that beam, Scott?" Virgil enquires into his radio.
Scott is still flying in Thunderbird 1. Leaving Thunderbird 2 to take care of the town, he's gone back to monitoring the path of the beam which is now cutting through a nearby mountain.
"The heat from that ray is fantastic!" Scott comments, "It cut through that mountain as if it was bread! Have you had any luck, Brains, Moffy?"
"N-Negative, Scott," Brains sighs, "I've studied the blueprints, but it seems that T-Travis did not put in any k-kind of failsafe at all."
"What?!" exclaim several of the International Rescue Team at once.
"What kind of idiot doesn't put a reboot or failsafe system into their machine?" Alan scoffs.
"Langstrom Fischler, Warren Grafton, Toby Travis, probably more," Moffy lists.
"Even The Hood wouldn't have done something as stupid as that," Gordon agrees.
"There has to be something?" Jeff pleads.
"Not by me or any other f-form of hacking, Mr T-Tracy," Brains admits as he scratches his head, "Even EOS wouldn't be able to h-hack in. I'm afraid we're left with only t-two options. One - Alan or Kayo goes up to the satellite and breaks its c-controls so that it's forced to s-shut down. Two - they must d-destroy it."
"Brains, no offence but I'm not flying near that thing with that heat-ray shooting out of it!" Alan exclaims.
"I agree," Jeff nods, "It's too dangerous for anybody to go near it. Thunderbird 3, you have my clearance to destroy Sun-12."
"Hope we are prepared to receive a lawsuit if Mr Travis tries to sue us for destroying his property?" Kayo chuckles.
"Given what Penelope has been saying, I don't think he'll be an issue," said Jeff.
August 17th, 2068 - 16:59 ACST
Meanwhile, the water from the damaged river has now reached Cooper's Well and is steadily flooding the town. It is luckily not a raging torrent as everyone first feared so damage is looking to be minimal.
"Looks like we got everyone out in time," Virgil notes to Gordon.
"Indeed," Gordon agrees, "Anyone left behind and didn't know would be in serious trouble."
Suddenly, the Chief of Police lets out a cry of despair taking everyone by surprise. "Crash!" he cries, "I left Crash behind!"
"Crash?" Gordon repeats, "What crash?"
"Crash Mullins!" the Chief cries, his hands on his face, "He's locked in the cells of my office!"
As the townspeople gasp and exchange looks of shock, Virgil and Gordon exchange confused looks.
"Crash Mullins?" Virgil questions, "Isn't he a racing driver?"
"Yes!" Gordon says, remembering, "Alan raced against him once I think!"
"Why's Crash locked up, Chief?" one of the officers ask.
"He's a good lad, but he can't control himself sometimes," the Chief explains, "I caught him speeding this morning, so I locked him up to teach him a lesson. With all the sudden order to evacuate, I got everybody out except for him!" He turns back to the town which was now partially submerged in water and falls to his knees. "And now he's going to drown if he hasn't already! What have I done?"
"Mobile Control," Gordon calls, "I need you to scan the town of Cooper's Well. There's a man trapped in the Police Station. Can you check for a life sign?"
"Stand-by," John replies, "EOS?"
"Searching," EOS says. She scans the village and within seconds a signal appeared on the holo-map, "Life-form located."
"Gordon, we have a fix," John informs, "But the building's filling up with water fast. You'll have to move fast if you're gonna save him."
"F-A-B!" Gordon smiles. He makes his way into Thunderbird 2 and climbs into Thunderbird 4. "In position, Virgil."
"Hang tight," Virgil states.
Using the remote-control, Virgil has Thunderbird 2 lift-off and carefully positioned over the flooded park area of Cooper's Well. it is too risky to drop the Module or even drop Thunderbird 4 into the water due to any potential underwater obstruction so after opening the base of the Module, Thunderbird 4 is lowered down into the water instead.
"Thunderbird 4 is go!" Gordon announces after the clamp is released, "Woah! This is surreal." He'd seen many sights underwater but nothing like this. Buildings and cars underwater are an unusual sight. He has to be very careful as cars and a few vans and pick-up trucks are floating around in the water. This is nothing like Bay City had looked when he and Kayo had gone to rescue the Sullivan family after they got caught up in a scheme by The Mechanic. "Heading for the Police Station, Virgil," Gordon reports, "Should be there in a few minutes."
"Okay, Gordon, but get there sooner," Virgil orders over the holo-projector, "Mr Mullins won't have much air left soon."
August 17th, 2068 - 19:37 NZST
Brains and Moffy look over the blueprints again and again, but they cannot find an easy solution to the problem of the Sun-12.
"Guys, the beam's heading for another town!" Scott announces, "This one's bigger than the other two put together. No way can we evacuate this one in time."
"Then we have n-no alternative," Brains sighs, "Thunderbird 3. You m-must destroy the Sun-12 by any m-means necessary."
"Er, slight problem there, Brains," Alan answers, "The beam's still firing and it's containing a lot of stored energy still. If we blow it up it could cause more damage. Is there no way of shutting it down manually?"
"You could try and hotwire it, I guess," Moffy suggests, "But that would m-mean going right up to it."
"Then that's what I'll have to do," Alan states and grabs his helmet.
"I'll come with you," Kayo adds.
"No!" Jeff orders sharply, "It's too dangerous! It could burn you alive if its shifts again!"
"With all due respect, Dad, do you have a better idea?" Alan demands, bracing himself for an angry response from his father.
Instead of an angry response, Jeff responds with a sigh as he knew there isn't an alternative that he could think of. "Very well," he agrees reluctantly, "But be careful."
"F-A-B," Alan and Kayo reply as they donned their helmets.
August 17th, 2068 - 17:11 ACST
Thunderbird 4 navigates through a number of streets before it reaches the Police Station. Straight away Gordon has a problem because a van has been tipped on its side and is blocking the front doors. Using the grabbing arms, he is quickly able to remove the van but soon realises that it has been the reason why the inside of the station isn't as flooded as the rest of the town is. "Shit," he mutters, "Looks like I'll have to move fast." He dons his helmet and exits the cockpit before dropping through the airlock. Grabbing his EVA mini pack, he makes his way inside to the reception desk.
"Thunderbird 2 from Thunderbird 4, I'm inside the Police station," Gordon reports.
"The Chief says he keeps a spare set of keys inside one of the drawers in the desk," Virgil answers, "It has a keypad. Type in 2060 and it should open."
"That won't be necessary," Gordon responds as he reaches the other side of the desk, "The drawer is wide open. Looks like the water's fried the electrics." He peers inside. "There's no keys here either. The water must have swept them away. I'll have to cut Mr Mullins out." He then hears a dull clunking noise coming from deep inside the station. "I hear something. Must be Crash. I'm going to get him!"
"Hurry, Gordon!" Virgil cries urgently.
Crash finds the water level has reached his head. Despite pulling himself up to the ceiling he isn't able to keep his head above water any longer. "Someone...please...help...me..." he manages to say before he becomes completely submerged in water.
His prayers are answered almost immediately for he then sees a figure in a blue and yellow suit swimming towards him. Gordon arrives and uses the laser in the EVA-suit to quickly cut through four of the bars top and bottom before pulling them away to make a big enough hole to get Crash through. He also gives him a respirator for him to breath. "There you go, buddy," Gordon smiles, "Now let's get you to safety."
August 17th, 2068 - 17:16 ACST
Using the astro-boards, Alan and Kayo quickly but carefully exit Thunderbird 3 and make their way towards the Sun-12. If it was Thunderbird 3 that had set off the satellite's sensors earlier and caused it to move slightly then this is their best way in. They hope their movements aren't detected.
"We're here," Alan informs, "Where's the controls?"
"L-Look for a panel on the s-side marked A-14, Alan," Brains replies over the radio.
"Got it," Alan calls as he spots it, "It appears to be locked. Is there a code or a special key for it? I don't see a keypad."
"Special key I'm afraid," Moffy states, "Use your laser."
"F-A-B!" Alan acknowledges and pulls his pocket laser out of his utility sash and zaps the lock with it. The lock disintegrates and the panel falls off.
"Alan," Scott calls, "Whatever you're going to do, do it fast. The beam's almost at the town!"
Alan and Kayo look at the wires inside. There are a lot of them. "Er... which one turns it off?" Alan questions.
"Doesn't matter," Kayo replies, "Just rip them all out!"
Alan grabs the wires and rip them all. A few sparks fly but luckily, they are protected by their suits. With a kind of mechanical groan, the satellite powers down and the heat-beam stops emitting from the end.
Down on the ground, Scott watches with relief as the beam disappears which also provides no end of relief for those terrified residents of the town that had been in its path. "It's over, guys," Scott happily reports, "The beam is no longer a threat."
The relief was short-lived however for Ridley calls in after noticing something that nobody else had. "Guys, I'm still detecting massive energy readings from inside the satellite," she announces, "Alan may have stopped the beam from firing but the solar panels are self-sustaining. It's still drawing power from the sun."
"And with no way of d-dispersing it, it's going to go critical and explode!" Brains realises.
"Alan! Kayo! Get out of there!" Jeff shouts.
Kayo and Alan can see there is an unnerving orange glow coming from inside the satellite which is causing it to shake violently.
"Come on!" Kayo cries as she and Alan hurry to make their way back to Thunderbird 3.
As they get back into the cockpit, Alan realises something. "Wait! If it explodes it could rain debris down onto the Earth below!"
"It'll be blown to pieces, Alan," Kayo deadpans, "The pieces will burn up on re-entry."
"Not always," Alan says as he took the controls, "Do you trust me?"
"Is that even a question?" Kayo questions and Alan nods.
"Deploying grasping arms!" Alan says and brings the grasping arms around. He fires a grapple cable to the satellite which it attaches to. He throws Thunderbird 3 into reverse thrust and begins to pull the Sun-12 out of its geostationary orbit. Once he's built up enough momentum, he swings Thunderbird 3 around and releases the grapple before firing the main boosters in order to get them away from the satellite. No sooner are they in the clear when the Sun-12's energy becomes too much, and it explodes into thousands of tiny pieces.
"YES!" John cries with delight, "They did it!"
Brains, Moffy and Jeff collapse into their chairs with relief.
"High-five, Max!" Brains smiles and the robot complies.
Jeff beams. His concern had turned to feeling proud. "International Rescue has done it again," he says to himself. "Well done."
August 18th, 2068 - 05:04 NZST
The next morning, Alan, Kayo, Jeff, Brains and Moffy are in the lounge talking to Penelope. Penelope is giving a rundown of yesterday's mission from her point of view so Jeff can put it in his mission report to send to Thunderbird 10 which will be used by the World Council at a future date.
"...the GDF stormed the Travis Industries HQ and rescued the other reporters," Penelope explains, "Nobody was hurt. The security surrendered without firing a single shot."
"That's excellent news," Jeff says with relief, "What about Travis?"
"Currently locked in the cells at GDF HQ," Penelope smirks, "He's swearing his innocence though."
"Of c-course he is," Brains sighs with a roll of his eyes, "M-Men like him never accept that t-they aren't the ones responsible for a s-situation like this."
"You can relax, Brains," Penelope reassures, "Colonel Casey has promised to make sure he is put on trial for what he's done."
"If there's a jury, perhaps Kayo can be the one to declare him guilty," Alan jokes but quickly stops at Kayo's scowl.
"Why would Kayo be the one to do that?" Penelope enquires.
"I've been summoned to attend jury duty," Kayo sighs, "It has to be a mistake. I can't be wasting my time with some petty trial and leaving the security of International Rescue in jeopardy!"
"How odd," Penelope frowns, "I thought you were all except from being asked to perform such duties?"
"I made it very clear to the Courts Council when I first set about moving to the island," Jeff states, "I am going to investigate this matter personally."
"What court are you supposed to be going to, Kayo?" Penelope asks.
"Birmingham, England," Kayo responds.
"I'll make some inquiries," Penelope promises, "As you said, It's probably a mistake, Kayo. I'll look into it for you."
"Thank you, Penelope," Kayo smiles, "I really appreciate it."
Penelope nods and her hologram disappears.
"We'll sort this out for you. I promise," Jeff adds after a pause.
"I hope you and Penelope can, Mr Tracy," Kayo says, now sounding rather worried, "I really, really do."