Accidents

Summary

When a NASA test flight goes seriously wrong, one of the Tracy brothers is injured while attempting a rescue and presumed dead. As the family and the world mourn, they discover that not everything is as they had first thought…

Disclaimer

Thunderbirds and all the characters etc. belong to Gerry Anderson and Working Title films, I'm just borrowing them.

A/N

THIS STORY IS BASED ON THE PUPPET SERIES, NOT THE FILM (I thought I had better say that first).

This story is based on an idea that I had some time ago, but have only just got round to writing down. There are some serious injuries to character/s, so be warned. Sorry if it starts slowly, but I have to give all the background to the story before we get to the action.

All ages/birthdays/other info etc, are taken from 'The Complete Book of Thunderbirds' by Chris Bentley, so I'm sorry if you don't agree with them.

All info about the crafts etc. (especially Thunderbird 5) comes from 'Thunderbirds FAB Cross-sections' by Graham Bleathman, so I'm sorry again if you don't agree with the details.

This story is set before Grandma joined, so she is not living on Tracy Island at this point.

P.S – Lines of show a change in time or place (or both) and thoughts/flashbacks are in italics.

Review if you have any CREATIVE comments about the story, no flames please.

Accidents

Chapter 1 – Testing the Equipment

"Calling International Rescue, Calling International Rescue, this is NASA Control, please come in" the voice blared over the speakers, startling John Tracy out of his thoughts. He had been in the middle of a good book and was about to go to bed, but duty calls. Besides, if NASA were calling for their help, it had to be important.

"NASA Control, this is International Rescue. What's up?" John answered quickly, stifling a yawn

"Ah, sorry to disturb you, but nothing is 'up'" the same voice replied "We at NASA Control are very gracious to you for what you have done for us and the rest of the world and we have a proposition you might be interested in" the voice said cryptically

"Alright, I'm listening"

"Here we are folks, the moment you've all been waiting for" A tall, dark blonde reporter announced to thousands of live viewers at home "I'm Lindsey Acclebourne and I'm standing in the Control centre of NASA headquarters, eagerly awaiting news of the upcoming launch of the new, experimental T-42 missile. With me is Colonel Nigel Roberts, head of the T-42 team, and hopefully he'll give us some more information." Lindsey turned to a tall, almost black haired man standing beside her "Well Colonel, can you tell us how this missile launch come to be such big news around the world?"

"I certainly can, and it is most definitely a good story. It all started just over 3 weeks ago, when the directors of NASA were trying to decide how exactly to monitor the test of the T-42 missile, as the yield we are expecting the missile to have and the distance it would have to be away from Earth would be beyond the computers here at NASA Control."

"Then how did you get around this problem?" Lindsey asked

"After some time, one of the younger members of the board of directors suggested that International Rescue might be willing to use the sensors on their incredible space craft to monitor the progress of the T-42 missile. This seemed to be the best option and we suggested it to them. On a recent rescue mission, however, International Rescue's space craft, Thunderbird 3, had suffered serious damage and has been grounded for repairs for some time."

"Then International Rescue were not able to help…?" Lindsey started, but the Colonel interrupted her.

"Oh no, quite the opposite in fact. International Rescue themselves offered another solution, which with certain precautions, they would be willing to do."

"And what was this?"

"International Rescue has agreed to monitor the T-42 missile using equipment on their communications satellite, Thunderbird 5. With numerous safety precautions put in place for their secrecy, and assurances that everything to do with the launch would be recorded live for audiences around the world, the operation is now ready to proceed."

"Well, I certainly am glad to be here, Colonel, but may I ask why International Rescue insisted on a worldwide audience for this event. Surely this would be even more of a risk to them."

"It was a concern, but I believe that they wanted the whole world to see this as it would allow everyone to be involved in some way and, in the past, most breakthroughs to do with space travel have been broadcast to worldwide audiences." Colonel Roberts was clearly expressing his own opinion on the subject, as International Rescue hadn't actually given a reason. "It has been rather hectic around here, but we have finally reached the day of the launch." He added

"Yes we have." Lindsey said happily "Thank you for your time Colonel" she directed her attention back to all the television viewers "Well, there you are, the story behind this incredible launch. If all goes well, and the link-ups to Thunderbird 5 and the International Rescue base are successful, I should be able to show you live footage from this command centre in only a few hours time. This is Lindsey Acclebourne, standing by for more information" The recording stopped and the television screen went on to adverts, before quickly being turned off.

"Well, she made it sound easy" Scott said sarcastically as he went back to his seat on the bed next to Gordon. He, Gordon, Virgil and Alan had been watching the broadcast in Scott's bedroom to see how the media was seeing this, and also because they had just had rather a talking to from Jeff about getting in the way of them working all the time.

"Yeah, she sure wouldn't be saying that if she was here" Virgil added "From the way Dad, John and Brains have been acting recently, it seems they're having a hard time trying to get this link-up in place. I wish they would let us help them." the other three nodded, as they were getting rather bored just sitting around

"And John got the short straw." Alan said "If he needs to do any work up there, he's on his own. Thunderbird 3 is still out of action"

"How are the repairs going, by the way?" Gordon asked, gratefully changing the subject

"Slowly" Alan moaned "According to Brains, Scott and I were lucky to get back at all, and it is taking time to get the right parts from the suppliers to replace the main thrusters from that meteor hit"

"I thought we already had spares for all the main parts of the craft" Virgil said vaguely.

"We do, that's the problem" Alan looked at his brothers' confused faces before explaining "They're all up in Thunderbird 5, and we can't get to them"

"Great."

"We're nearly finished John, only got one more set of connections to make and it'll be ready" Brains said, wiping his forehead with his hand and only making himself more dirty

"Finally, it's taken long enough. I thought you said this was going to be a relatively easy modification" John replied through the communication link to Thunderbird 5, sounding absolutely exhausted and looking even worse.

"It is a relatively easy modification" Brains said defensively

"Oh, come on Brains. We've been at this, almost constantly, for nearly 2 weeks. That doesn't sound easy to me" John complained sarcastically. Brains' response was cut off when Jeff walked into the room.

"How's it going?" he asked, ignoring John's last remark that he had just about heard from the doorway.

"We're nearly finished" Brains said, receiving a glare from John "Give us a few minutes and we'll be ready to test it"

"Right. I'll go get the boys and have Virgil ready to take it over to NASA when you're finished" Jeff said, walking back towards the door. John, rather grudgingly, went back to work on the extra equipment

10 minutes later saw Brains and John setting up to test the modified equipment, with the rest of the family watching from well out of the way. If this didn't work, then the test flight of the missile would be a lot more difficult to monitor.

"Right, activate it from your end once we have cut transmission. We need to make sure it works independently of Thunderbird 5's other communication systems" Brains explained to John.

"F.A.B" is all John said, before disappearing from the screen.

About 30 seconds later, the device that was sitting in the middle of the lounge floor began to produce a fuzzy picture, and soon John and a complicated-looking bank of computer consoles were projected onto the screen.

"Well done, International Rescue is now ready to go" Jeff said, pleased. "Virgil, I want you and Brains to take the link-up over to NASA Control and show them how it works. John, can you make sure everything is ready up there."

"Yes Dad" John said tiredly

"Oh, and John" Jeff added, amused, and John looked at him "Have a shower and get some sleep while you're at it, you need it." Everyone in the room smiled, John definitely looked as if he needed the break.

"F.A.B Dad, see you later."

Getting the link-up technology over to NASA Control and installed around their other equipment had actually taken a lot longer than expected, so it was almost seven hours later before they were set up and ready to test it.

"Phew, finally, I thought we'd never be finished" Virgil exclaimed, standing up and stretching. He, Brains and a few NASA technicians had just finished getting the link-up ready and now they were waiting to see if it would still work. "You ready Brains?"

"Just about, Virgil" Brains replied, putting the tools back in his toolbox. The other technicians were also packing away their equipment. Virgil lifted his watch and activated the communicator.

"Base and Thunderbird 5 from Virgil, we're ready"

"That's good to hear" came Jeff's relieved voice "As soon as John is ready, we'll test it"

"I'm ready now" John piped in quickly "Once we close this channel, I'll activate the link to base, check that is working properly, and then try the link-up to NASA as well."

"F.A.B John, standing by" Virgil said as he closed the channel and waited. A couple of agonisingly long minutes later, a fuzzy picture appeared on the screen and they could hear John's voice asking if it was working.

"We've got a picture John, but it's rather distorted. Try boosting the power" Brains suggested.

"That better?" John asked

"Much" Virgil replied, "It looks like we're in business" Scott, who they could see on the left half of the screen (John and Thunderbird 5 on the right) also nodded. Colonel Roberts, who had been standing well out of their way, signalled to reporter Lindsey Acclebourne that the link-up was complete. Her cameraman activated the live feed to the rest of the world.

"Hello again" she started, "This is Lindsey Acclebourne, reporting once again from the Control Centre at NASA Headquarters. The link-ups to International Rescue's base and Thunderbird 5 have just been established and the countdown for launch is a mere hour away. I'll be here, giving you all the latest news on this event as it comes in. Don't go away."

However, unknown to everyone else involved, there was another person eagerly watching the events unfolding at NASA Control. Yet this person's intentions were far more sinister…

TBC…