THUNDERBIRD 5 was cruising high above the South American continent. John had been making use of some downtime to listen in to reports from Rio de Janeiro. Whilst it had been a while since the attack by Silver Swan on the city, he had been keeping a close eye on how the rebuilding of the city was going. It was fortunate that despite the damage, it was only in small areas unlike London which had been decimated the previous Christmas by the Rock Snake attack. Reconstruction of that was still going, as were several other places in the country.

Of all the distress calls he could have received on this day, the one he was about to get was from the very last person he could have expected as EOS came over to him. "John, I'm picking up a private emergency call," she said. "It's from your father."

"Dad?!" exclaimed John in surprise before pressing the holographic button to answer. "Dad, this is John. Are you receiving me?"

Jeff's hologram appeared in front of him. Straight away, John noticed something odd. Jeff was crouched down in an awkward position like he was trying to hide from something. "John, we have a situation," he said. "I need you to track my location."

John did so, locating Jeff's watch beacon from within Manhattan Island. "I have you, but you're going at quite a speed!" John said. "What's going on?"

"I'm in the back of a Pick-Up Truck, John."

"A what?!"

"Shhhh, I don't have time to explain," said Jeff. "Just get Kayo to launch Thunderbird Shadow and have her home in on my position. And make sure it's JUST Kayo. International Rescue can't be seen catching crooks. I'll then contact her once I track these creeps to their hideout. Make it snappy. Over and out!"

John opened his mouth to reply but Jeff's hologram was already gone. "Dad? DAD?!"

"He's terminated the call, John," said EOS.

John went to angrily punch something, only to realise there was nothing around him to hit. "Damn it!" he cursed. "Looks like maybe Scott was right to be concerned."

John had debated whether to tell Scott and the others or whether to just tell Kayo. But when he called in to inform her, he found she was in the lounge along with the others leaving him no choice but to inform them.

"He's WHAT NOW?!" exclaimed Scott.

"That's what he said, Scott," said John. "Said he was in the back of a Pick-Up Truck that's racing out of New York."

"So he's been snatched!" cried Alan.

"Actually, I'm not sure he had been," said John. "From his hologram, he was not restrained in any way. He also said about contacting Kayo once he'd tracked them to their hideout."

"You mean to say he got inside that truck willingly with them?!" asked Gordon.

"The occupants might not even know he's there," said Kayo. "If it's got a cover over its back he may be hiding underneath. I must get out there."

"We're coming too!" said Alan.

"No, you're not," said John. "Dad specifically said Kayo and Kayo only."

"But-" Gordon and Alan protested.

Virgil cut them off. "He's right!" he said. "Thunderbird Shadow can sneak up on those crooks and take them down before they've even realised what's hit them. But what would the authorities say if there were witnesses to Thunderbirds 1 and 2 taking them out?"

Scott, surprisingly, agreed with Virgil. "As much as I hate to say it, but you're right, Virgil," he said. "Kayo, this is your job. Go get Dad!"

"Don't worry, I will!" promised Kayo as she hurried to Thunderbird Shadow.

Scott turned back to John. "John, there has to be a reason why Dad's jumped into the back of this truck. Have a listen to the Police frequencies and see if you can learn anything."

"F-A-B!" said John and he ended the call.

The cliff rotated and Thunderbird Shadow was now out in the open. Once it had rotated round into position, it was ready for launch.

5! 4! 3! 2! 1!

The jets fired and the clamp was released. Thunderbird Shadow fell away and flipped over before zooming away from the island. "Thunderbird Shadow is GO!"

The four brothers watched as the small craft disappeared into the distance. They all felt uneasy. They all wanted to launch themselves, but knew that Kayo did have the best chance at succeeding in this mission. Just then a beeping sound came from the desk. It wasn't John calling back.

"This better not be another mission," said Gordon.

Scott pressed the button to receive. "Tracy Island?"

"Scott!"

"Grandma!" they all exclaimed.

"Are you okay, Grandma?" Scott asked.

"Shaken but I'll live," said Grandma. "I'm at a Police Precinct that's been attacked by some criminals in a Pick-Up Truck. There's multiple casualties, but I can't seem to find your father anywhere."

The boys exchanged nervous looks.

"You've all gone quiet," Grandma said. "You know something."

Scott knew he couldn't lie. "Yeah…we know where he is," he said.

"Do NOT tell me he's in the back of that Pick-Up!" said Grandma sternly.

Another awkward pause followed before Gordon answered. "He's in the Pick-Up."

Grandma almost swore out loud, which was unheard of for her. "Then why the hell aren't you boys doing something about it?!"

"Kayo is heading out there now, Grandma," said Virgil. "Dad told John only she could carry out the assignment. International Rescue shouldn't be seen taking down crooks."

Grandma scoffed loudly. "The irony of it! Those are his own words, and yet that's the second time he's done gone after a criminal today!" she said.

The brothers exchanged puzzled looks. "The second?" repeated Scott. "What was the first?"

Tiredness was the best word Hayley Madison could use to describe how she was feeling right now. Following the incident with the wedding of Wayne and Amanda Rigby, she had been the only GDF Captain available for the past few months. She'd taken on a lot of duty and responsibility whilst the other two had taken time out to not only get over their ordeal, but to repair the relationships with their families who had equally been left shaken by what Warren Grafton had done. Hayley had been kept very busy, but it did mean that she'd been working almost non stop with only a few rest days in between. This meant she and Virgil had not seen each other with the exception of when they'd been together in Rio following Swan's attack. She missed him very much and was hoping that Colonel Jennings was going to find a solution to their problems. With Christmas fast approaching, she was hoping that Wayne and Amanda might return so she could get Christmas off to see both her family and Virgil as well.

Hayley walked up to Colonel Jennings' office in the main Headquarters building and knocked on the door.

"Come!"

Hayley opened the door and went inside. She found the Colonel sitting at her desk looking at some files.

Colonel Jennings looked up as Hayley approached. "Ah, Madison. Have a seat, please."

"Thank you, Colonel," Hayley said as she sat down in one of the comfortable chairs in front of the desk.

Colonel Jennings put the papers back in the file and looked at her lead field officer. "Jesus, you look rough," she said.

"I'm more than happy to help Amanda and Wayne out, Colonel," said Hayley. "And I know you've been pitching in as well, but this is starting to get a bit too much for me now I feel."

"I agree," said Colonel Jennings. "You've performed exceptionally well these past few months, Captain. I'm very pleased, but you are right. Enough is enough. I've been trying for weeks to get someone else to help. Typically it's only taken until now for things to come together. By the end of today, there'll be four of you to share the work."

Hayley blinked in surprise. "Four, ma'am?"

Colonel Jennings nodded. "That's correct," she said. "Rigby and Thompson are returning today and should be here very shortly. Then later on the new Captain shall arrive."

Hayley was intrigued. She was happy to hear her friends were returning, but was also very interested to meet the new member.

"In the meantime though," Colonel Jennings said. "There's some things I'd like to show you." She put an iPad on the desk and pressed the screen. "It has come to my attention that our vehicle fleet is in need of a serious upgrade."

"All vehicles?"

"No, not all," said Colonel Jennings. "The Cheetah has proven to be a brilliant success, but the Flyers are in need of urgent replacement. We've had too many fall victim to the likes of The Mechanic, The Chaos Crew and The Cabal over the years. I feel it is time to switch things up a bit. I've had our designers come up with a collection of new vehicles. I'd like to get your opinion on them if you're interested?"

"I'm interested," said Hayley.

"Good. First of all, there's this," said Colonel Jennings. A hologram of a sleek and deadly-looking motorbike appeared from the iPad. "The Stallion Raid Bike. It has missiles and machine-guns and can outrun any conventional motorbike in existence. Also has detachable wings so it can be dropped into a danger zone from the air."

"Kind of reminds me of the bike that is a part of Thunderbird Shadow," said Hayley.

"That was kind of where I got the inspiration from," said Colonel Jennings. "Miss Kyrano's bike has proven to be formidable against fleeing vehicles. It's not right we should bring her in for situations like that. We need to have some of our own."

"I agree," said Hayley. She looked closely at the bike. "Pure white?"

"No, that's the standard look," said Colonel Jennings. "Each officer will be allocated one of their own. Yours will had a red paint scheme mixed in with the white."

Hayley smiled. "Looks good," she said.

Colonel Jennings nodded before changing the image. "Next, we have the Swift." A hologram of a small white and blue Passenger Jet appeared. "This is for transportation only. When you or your fellow officers need to travel around the world, you can do it in this way, rather than us allocating you your own small aircraft."

"Ride in comfort?" said Hayley.

"Exactly. If you've got a particularly tough assignment ahead of you, you can afford to relax whilst on the way," said Colonel Jennings. "Staying in the air. We have this next." The image changed again, this time to an all white Helicopter. "The Hummingbird."

"I'm seeing a pattern here," said Hayley. "Everything is named after animals."

Colonel Jennings grinned. "I wondered how long before you realised that," she said. "You can't deny the names sound better?"

"Of course," said Hayley. "Flyers is just a dull name. Are they getting renamed?"

"No-no-no, they're going to be replaced in time," said Colonel Jennings. "Primarily by this." She changed the image again to an aircraft that didn't look too dissimilar to the Flyers only it was grey and more deadly-looking. It looked faster and sleeker as well. "This is the Albatros," she said. "It's not just a high-altitude VTOL Troop Carrier, but in its hold, it can also carry one of these." She changed the image yet again to show another grey vehicle that looked like an armoured attack vehicle. "The Rhino."

"Oof!" remarked Hayley. "Even I'm feeling intimidated by that."

"You think you are, wait until the world's criminals go up against one," said Colonel Jennings.

Hayley was now trying to visualise the look of fear and terror on the faces of a criminal gang that had just robbed a bank, finding themselves being chased by such a fast and deadly-looking vehicle that could fire missiles and machine-guns at them.

"These vehicles are pretty much going to be exclusively for the likes of you and your fellow officers," said Colonel Jennings. "These, however, are a bit different." The image now showed another all-white aircraft. It was a fighter jet. Sleek and streamlined. It looked like it could give Thunderbird Shadow a run for its money. "The White Falcon Interceptor," she said. "It'll be one of a formation of five flown by a specially trained group of pilots who we shall call The Angels."

"Angels, Colonel?"

"Yes, Madison. An all-female squadron. All Air Forces have their female pilots, but can you name any that has an all-female squadron?"

Hayley couldn't think of anywhere.

Colonel Jennings checked the iPad. "I think that's everything," she said. "No, wait. There's one more." Another vehicle appeared. This was a brown-liveried vehicle. Large and bulky. It looked like an all-terrain vehicle. "This is the Bison. This is for use in hostile environments. Both on Earth and potentially off-world as well."

"You mean like the Moon?" asked Hayley.

"Or Mars," said Colonel Jennings. "We're in the process of designing a Space Shuttle to carry one."

Hayley was impressed. "Well, Colonel. I can honestly say, there's no bad ideas or designs in that group. I can't wait to try them out."

Colonel Jennings was pleased. "Thank you, Madison," she said. "It'll be a while before they can be put to use in the field, but I've given orders for prototypes to be built for testing."

"There is one thing we are lacking though," said Hayley. "We've got the air, land and space covered. What about the oceans?"

"Well…the World Aquanaut Security Patrol kind of has that covered already," said Colonel Jennings. "However…" she paused impressively. "There is one other thing that I need to show you. But that will have to wait until-" There was a knock at the door. Colonel Jennings turned off the iPad. "Come!"

The door opened and Hayley's eyes lit up as two familiar figures walked in.

"Captains Liberty and Rigby reporting for duty!"

Despite a large Police presence with both ground vehicles and Helicopters conducting a massive search of both the city and surrounding suburbs, the 4x4 that had ram-raided the Precinct had managed to escape from its pursuers. The hairless thug who'd held the Sergeant at gunpoint was a technical wizard. He had created a device that was mounted on the roof of the cab that made it invisible to infra-red scanners. Dark clouds made it seem like night and soon they'd escaped into the blizzard that was now falling which had forced the Helicopters to withdraw. Ground units continued to search but had to take extra care due to the ice and snow.

The 4x4 had no issues running through the snow and soon it was out in open country heading for the gang's hideout. The three occupants still had no idea that they had a stowaway in the back as Jeff had remained silent and still since making his call to John. he occasionally lifted a bit of the black tarpaulin that covered the open section of the back to have a look but was careful not to move it too much where it might attract the attention of those in the cab.

After a while, Jeff felt the vehicle slow down before making a sharp left turn onto some uneven terrain. Jeff peered out. They were heading down what looked like a farm track. "We must be near their hideout," Jeff muttered to himself. "Time I made my exit." He thought for a moment how he could do this. Climbing out would cause the tarpaulin to move too much. He didn't want to attract attention. He therefore decided to lower the tailgate. After finding the latches, he undid them and lowered it flat before letting himself drop. As the 4x4 made a left turn, he darted right into the trees, hoping he'd remained hidden from those inside.

The 4x4 continued down the track for another quarter of a mile before reaching an abandoned farmyard. There wasn't much there except for one open-sided shed which the vehicle drove underneath. Another shed was nearby full of equipment.

The Bull along with the other two men stepped out. "Well done, boys," he said. "Now, the cops will still be searching the area. Get out the paint and change the tyres. Let's change the look of our vehicle so that they're not looking at the right one."

The driver and the hairless man went to work. But it wasn't long before the hairless one made a discovery. "Hey, boss!"

"What?"

"The tailgate's open!"

The Bull came round to look at the back of the Pick-Up. He lifted up the tarpaulin but there was nothing underneath. "What's the problem?" he asked.

"Someone must have been hiding in there," said the hairless man. "Maybe someone knows where we are?"

"Stop talking trash, Jimbo!" scoffed The Bull. "The speed we was going. Nobody could've gotten in the back of this truck. Now get those tyres changed! I want to be out of here in less than an hour."

Jimbo set to work removing the tyres that were on the Pick-Up to replace them with those of a different kind. The driver, Moses, had gotten some spray-paint with the intention of repainting the 4x4 from red to blue. The Bull would make some adjustments to the roof rack so that the whole appearance of it would look different.

The three men had no idea that they were being watched. Jeff was hiding in the trees nearby. After making sure he was certain they would be there for a while, he moved away so that he could call up Kayo on his watch and not be heard. "Jeff Tracy calling Thunderbird Shadow. Can you read me, Kayo?"

Kayo's hologram appeared from the face in Jeff's watch. "Mr Tracy! I'm glad to see you're okay."

"Do you have my location?"

"Yes, I'm twenty minutes out," said Kayo. "What's the situation?"

"The crooks are hiding in an open-side barn in an abandoned farm," said Jeff. "Looks like they're attempting to remodel their vehicle to confuse the Police when they head out again."

"Clever," said Kayo. "But not clever enough."

"They don't know I'm here," said Jeff. "And I'm gonna keep it that way. Take them down however you feel necessary and then we shall leave an anonymous tip for the Police to come and collect them."

Kayo smirked. "F-A-B," she said.

Hayley had hugged both Wayne and Amanda upon their return to the GDF HQ and both were formally welcomed back by Colonel Jennings. But then she got onto some serious business.

"How do you both feel?"

"Much better, thank you, Colonel," said Wayne.

"Ready to get back to work," said Amanda.

"Good, cause I'm gonna need you both," said Colonel Jennings. "Madison here has done an excellent job in your absence. Now you both need to owe it back to her. Madison, you will be granted an extended period of leave very soon. I do however have one more mission for you which I would like you to do with Captain Rigby here."

Hayley looked at Wayne and Amanda. "Pardon me, ma'am, but aren't they both Captain Rigby now?"

"If you want to still refer to me as Thompson, Colonel, please do," said Amanda. "It'll save confusion."

"Rigby here is now Captain Liberty," said Colonel Jennings. "You're also now married so technically, you are Captain Rigby now. That's what I've changed your files to anyway."

"Will we get to work together on missions, Colonel?" Wayne asked.

Colonel Jennings didn't answer immediately. "As you're now married, technically you shouldn't," she said. "We can't risk any personal thoughts or desires between the two of you to interfere with your assignments. You, Captain Liberty, excel at working solo, whereas Captain Rigby here has an excellent working relationship with Captain Madison. I will, however, be pairing you both individually with the new Captain when she arrives until she's ready to take her own command."

Amanda and Wayne were now the ones intrigued. "New Captain?"

"I said the same thing," Hayley said.

"She should be arriving soon," said Colonel Jennings. "Hopefully you'll get to meet her today." She then turned back to Hayley. "Going back to the assignment in question, Madison. I've been receiving reports of suspicious activity in New York. There's rumours of a criminal gang planning something big in the build-up to Christmas. I don't know what it is or what any potential target might be. All we have to go on is that they've been sighted acting suspiciously in and around the Harman's Toy Store. I'd like you both to go and investigate."

"Yes, Colonel," said Hayley. "How long is the mission likely to take?"

"That depends on how quickly you can learn things, Madison," said Colonel Jennings. "But I don't want you and Rigby to rush this job. This has got to be done right, and swiftly. If you can find out who they are and what they're planning, I want you to inform me and then I can arrange for the NYPD to assist you in taking them down. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Hayley.

"Clearly understood," added Amanda.

"Excellent," said Colonel Jennings. "Well, in that case, I think we're done here. Dis-" There came another knock at the door. "Scratch that," said Colonel Jennings. "Looks like our new Captain has arrived after all. COME!"

The doors opened to reveal a tall, brown-haired woman tied back in a bun. She gracefully walked into the room. She too wore a uniform like Hayley and Amanda did whereas Wayne was in his Captain Liberty outfit. Given the nature of their colours, Red, Green and originally Blue, and Colonel Jennings' field uniform or white, they could easily be forgiven for assuming this new captain would have the colour yellow. But no. Her uniform was a clean and shiny lavender colour.

"Hayley Madison. Amanda Thompson. Wayne Rigby, aka Captain Liberty," Colonel Jennings said. "This is our new addition - fresh from the World Aquanaut Security Patrol. Meet Captain Alexa Lavender."

Jimbo had gotten three of the four wheels changed over and Moses was just finishing up the left-side painting of the vehicle. The Bull was in the other shed tinkering with the engine gaskets. All three remained totally unaware that they were going to find themselves with some unexpected company.

Kayo was approaching the location. Checking her radar screen, she could see the beeping from Jeff's watch beacon. "Okay then," she said. "Time to drop in. Activating optical camouflage."

Thunderbird Shadow disappeared as the optical camouflage turned on. Its engines also went silent so nothing could betray its presence to those on the ground. The first that any of them became aware of anything out of the ordinary was when there came a dull clunk on the roof of the open shed.

"Hey! What was that?!" asked Moses.

"What was what?" asked Jimbo.

"I thought I heard something on the roof," said Moses. He dropped the spray can and removed his mask before running outside to have a look. He stared up at the roof. But there was nothing there.

Jimbo also put down his drill and came outside to look. "Nothing!" he said. "You're getting jumpy, that's all."

"WHY ARE YOU STANDING THERE?!" bellowed The Bull from inside the other shed.

"I heard something land on the roof, boss!" said Moses.

"He imagined he did!" said Jimbo.

The Bull appeared at the door and looked at the roof of the shed himself. "Well there's nothing there, so get back to work!" he ordered.

Jimbo and Moses started back towards the shed. But they both stopped dead at the sound of screeching metal. Even The Bull returned to the door after hearing it. Before any of them could ask what was causing it, they all jumped back in shock as the roof was suddenly ripped clean off the top with the six metal supports falling in all directions. Jimbo and Moses tried to run away but Moses was knocked over by one of the beams.

"AAARGH!"

"MOSES, MAN!" cried Jimbo and ran towards him, just as the roof was suddenly released by whatever was holding it and it crashed heavily on the floor.

Jimbo shoved the beam off Moses' leg. "Are you hurt, man?"

"Argh, my leg!" whimpered Moses. "I think it's broken."

Jimbo pulled his friend up and together they tried to get to the 4x4. But then a figure dropped down from above and landed on its roof. "Hiya, boys!" said Kayo, whose face was concealed behind an opaque covering on the glass of her helmet. Only two glowing blue lights where the eyes would be could be seen.

The Bull instantly vanished back inside the shed.

"Who the fu-" began Jimbo but Kayo darted forwards and knocked both men to the ground.

Moses screamed in pain due to his leg and Kayo quickly noticed from the angle what was wrong. "I do not need to take you down," she said, turning her full attention to Jimbo.

Jimbo scrambled to his feet and pulled out his gun. He didn't get a chance to fire it though as Kayo was upon him in less than a second, smacking the gun clean out of his hand. He then threw his hands up in the air. "STOP! NO!" he screamed in terror. "I GIVE UP! I GIVE UP!"

"Wise," said Kayo before knocking him out with a single punch. "But you could have made it more of a challenge."

"YOU WANNA CHALLENGE?!"

Kayo turned just in time to see The Bull emerge from the barn wielding a large mini-gun. Kayo had to activate her suit's own optical camouflage and dive for cover as he opened fire, bullets ripping through the trees and causing some to collapse. One landed right on top of the 4x4 and crushed it.

The Bull swore out loud before throwing the weapon to the ground and disappearing back inside the barn.

Kayo emerged from her hiding place and deactivated the camouflage. Then she heard the sound of what sounded like a large motorbike engine revving up. Then the doors of the barn burst open and The Bull came out riding a large off-road quad-bike. Kayo ran up and jumped onto his back. "Not so fast!" she said.

"GET OFF ME!" bellowed The Bull.

"Give it up!" Kayo ordered. "You've got nowhere to go."

"I'LL NEVER GIVE UP!" shouted The Bull.

As strong as Kayo's suit was, The Bull was much stronger physically. He managed to grab hold of one of Kayo's arms and managed to throw her off before he turned his quad-bike and disappeared into the trees.

Kayo was a bit dizzy, but not hurt. But by the time she'd picked herself up, The Bull had quite the head start on her, and now he was in the trees, she couldn't directly follow him with Thunderbird Shadow. "Damn it! He's getting away!" she cursed, deactivating the opaque filter from the helmet.

But Jeff, still hiding in the trees, had seen everything. "Leave him to me, Kayo!" he said. He'd had an idea. He'd already removed the rucksack and pulled out the model of Thunderbird 2. Using the remote control, he activated its little motors and sent it chasing off after The Bull. It zipped left and right, avoiding the trunks and closing in on the escaping criminal.

The Bull wasn't bothering to look behind him. He was too confident at being able to escape. "They'll never catch up with me!" he snickered to himself. Suddenly, something small and green darted across in front of his face. "WHAT THE BULL-" he exclaimed as he looked all around, trying to get a visual on whatever it was. But the object was gone as swiftly as it had come. And by the time he'd turned back to face forward, the tree in front of him was only a few metres away. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH!" he screamed and yanked the handlebars to try and steer clear. But the momentum carried him on and he slammed straight into the trunk. The impact threw him off where he landed face-first in a heap of snow. He lifted his head and spat out some of the snow that had gone in his mouth. He then picked himself up and looked around. Then he heard a low buzzing sound and saw a small green object coming directly at him. Not realising what it was, he grabbed a small rock and got ready to throw it.

Jeff, who was using a pair of VR goggles to see through the tiny camera in the front of the Thunderbird 2 model, saw what The Bull was doing and flicked a switch on the remote control. It turned on a bright LED light which shone right into The Bull's eyes.

"AAARGH!" The Bull cried, dropping the rock as he threw his hands up to shield them. As he rubbed his eyes, he failed to notice Kayo catching up to him with the Shadowbike. Turning around, he was just able to see her leap out of the cockpit and drop down before she knocked him to the ground with a double-footed kick and then finishing him off with a powerful punch to the jaw. The Bull lay motionless in the snow, blooded, bruised and defeated.

Jeff then appeared beside her, removing the VR goggles and looking down at The Bull. "Happy landings, Bull," he said.

"Wow, Mr Tracy!" said Kayo as the small Thunderbird 2 model came back to them. "Where did that come from?"

Jeff gave a chuckle. "Well now, Kayo," he said mysteriously. "That's my little secret."

Hayley volunteered to take Captain Lavender to the officers quarters where they had their accommodation. She more than the others was eager to learn more about her.

"This is where you'll be sleeping," she said. "You're next door to mine. Although I'll be taking some leave after my next assignment is over."

"That's a shame," said Captain Lavender. "I feel a bit of an outcast here."

"Ah, don't be. You'll settle in quickly," said Hayley with a smile. "It took me a while to adjust but I got there."

Captain Lavender smiled back. "Thank you," she said. "Although between you and I, I'm much more of a sailor than a soldier. Or Aquanaut to be precise."

"You're an ex-W.A.S.P., Colonel Jennings said?" Hayley asked as she sat down to watch Lavender unpack.

"Yes, I used to be a navigational officer on the Barracuda before getting this promotion," said Captain Lavender. "I had hoped one day to take command of Stingray. But who knows if her commander will ever give her up."

Hayley chuckled. "Troy would never give Stingray up, you're right," she said.

Captain Lavender looked at her in surprise. "You know Troy?"

"I do," said Hayley. "I used to work for the W.A.S.P. as well."

Captain Lavender's eyes lit up in amazement. "Oh, my goodness! Wait…Madison, was it?"

"That's right."

"Didn't you go to command the Ulysses?"

"That's correct," Hayley said. "Forgive me, Captain Lavender. I don't remember encountering you."

"I think we may have seen each other in passing," Captain Lavender said. "But, please call me Alexa."

"Okay, Alexa. And it's Hayley, by the way. Yes, you're right. I did go to take command on the Ulysses." She paused for a moment. "Gosh, that seems like a long time ago."

Alexa sat on the bed beside her. "You lost your crew?" she asked.

"Some of them," Hayley replied, her heart sinking. "I managed to escape. But so many did not. Many nights I've thought about if I could have done more." She closed her eyes and tried not to cry. She was surprised to feel a hand touching hers. She opened them and saw Alexa was squeezing her hand.

"I'm sorry," Alexa said. "Then she pulled her hand away suddenly."

"Hey, it's okay," said Hayley hastily. "It's sad but…I've managed to cope."

Alexa blushed. "No, I've only just met you. I shouldn't have done that."

"Seriously, it's fine," said Hayley.

There was a moment of awkward silence before Alexa spoke again. "Who's the lucky person?" she asked.

Hayley was confused for a moment before realising that Alexa was referring to the engagement ring on her finger. "Ohhh," she said. "Come. I'll show you." She took Alexa round to her apartment next door and showed her a framed photo of her with Virgil taken on the beach on Tracy Island. "That's him."

Alexa looked at the photo. "You've done well for yourself," she remarked. "When's the wedding?"

"Next year," said Hayley. "Still don't have a date for it though."

Alexa smiled. "I'm happy for you, Hayley," she said. "Forgive me for saying this though, is it going to be tough for him marrying someone who does what you do?"

Hayley pondered for a moment. Then she smiled. "No, not really," she said. "And besides, his job is a far greater one to what I have."

"And what's that?" asked Alexa.

Hayley grinned. "He's a Thunderbird."

Alexa was stunned into silence.