#captain grey

Here's my favourite panel of him. He's so precious 🥺

It was now a widely known fact that the Global Conflict that had birthed the ‘Peaceful Age’ was nowhere near as catastrophic as it could have been. On all sides small acts of defiance had ensured that attacks and bombs had fallen relatively harmlessly – either diverted from the intended civilian targets or the ‘highly-reactive’ (military speak for ‘if we hit it with a couple of bombs, it will obligingly make a massive explosion’) industries; weapons jammed through poorly applied maintenance or sabotaged parts; or even bombs that were re-engineered to be ‘duds’, insufficient explosive materials, or inoperable triggers.

In an ironic twist, it was these last devices – bombs and other explosives with full explosive loads, but trigger devices that did not operate, allowing them to fall to earth with only the potential of their ‘ballistic potential’ (military speak for ‘big heavy object, falling a long distance will damage whatever it hits’).

With long experience borne of many, many conflicts throughout the history of human experience the ‘failed’ ordinance had quickly and efficiently been cleared and ‘disposed off’ (‘blown up somewhere where nobody and nothing will get hurt’) from the land.

The ordinances that had ended up in the oceans were … left. The wise heads in government deciding that the risk they posed to human life and industries was not worth the cost of locating and disposing of them.

So when a rogue faction with Bereznikian sympathisers got themselves a submarine, located a supply of ‘suitable’ UXOs (Unexploded Ordinance) and started setting them in caches at major ports with new trigger devices that would ensure that they would explode this time around, Spectrum swung into action as the first reports had started trickling in.

Spectrum’s response had put Grey and a very pleased Lieutenant Green, as former WASPs with the most experience on and below the water, at the forefront. With the assistance of other Captains, Spectrum’s submarines had been manoeuvred into the vicinity of the caches, and Grey had swum out with a full scuba rig to render the munitions harmless again.

Once the caches had been neutralised, Scarlet led the ‘Hell’ contingent in a raid to capture the terrorists leaders, all of whom were now sitting – their heads probably still spinning from the speed of events – safely in DeWitts Prison awaiting their day in court. WASP were tasked to remove and dispose of the neutralised caches, and the rumblings that could be heard from Marineville all the way up on Cloudbase indicated that Commander Shore would be tasking his various submarines to clear up the remainder of the abandoned ordinances before “that aquatic asshole, Titan gets any ideas.”

It was only in the debrief that Grey had gave any indication that he had taken personal issue with the events.

After professionally and briskly making his report, Grey had requested leave to add some personal observations. White, valuing the submariner’s opinions, granted permission. What Grey had noticed, and what the rest of the Captains had not, was that many of the caches – while placed perfectly to disable shipping in and out of the ports – was also placed near various facilities designed to provide medical treatment and rehabilitation to endangered or injured sea life.

Grey let his feelings about this be known, at length and at volume. When he hit the ten minute mark with no signs of slowing down, and increasingly alarmed at the startlingly bright red hue his face had turned, the flush creeping down his neck to disappear into the low profile roll-neck he preferred, While glanced around at Doctor Fawn.

Fawn nodded and slid out of his seat. White watched with one eye as the Doctor casually headed to the beverage station on the far wall, and made a mug of tea, while waiting for the tea to brew he picked up a small spray bottle sitting next to a plant, and fiddled with the jet, sniffing cautiously at the contents. Before finishing making his drink.

Carefully carrying the mug back to his place next to Grey at the conference table, Fawn set it down, before unhooking the spray bottle and…

...fired six or seven quick bursts directly at Grey’s face.

Shocked, Grey spluttered to a halt, his eyes wide and jaw hanging loose as he stared at the Doctor.

Fawn smiled, set the spray bottle down and retook his seat. “Oh good, that worked. You’re much calmer now.”

Grey stared at him. “What … what did you do?” he spluttered, water dripping off his face.

“Activated the Mammalian Diving Response. When you have water hit your face it can lower heart rate and body temperature. It’s a rather neat evolutionary hold-over from before our ancestors left the oceans.” Fawn smiled. “It’s why it feels so good to stand under a shower with the water hitting your face.”

White quickly took control. “If I understand the points you were making, Captain, you feel that the risk to the Marine Rehabilitation Centres was not incidental, but a deliberate choice; and you would wish that this be added to the charges against ‘The Collective’?”

Grey nodded. “Uh, yes, sir; you see…”

White held up a hand. “Thank you, Captain Grey. I will ask that you provide all the relevant details in a separate report. Which I will pass along to the World Government’s Judiciary Branch, as well as WASP with a recommendation that they assist the centres revise their security programmes.”

To White’s immense relief, Grey nodded and sat down without another word.

“Does anyone have anything else to add?” There were head shakes and negative murmurs all around. “Very well. This was a successful mission, and I have every expectation that with the information we will provide to the Judiciary will ensure that those responsible for this attempted catastrophe will not be able to further their agenda.”

White let them absorb that, before dismissing them. “Please have your reports to me by noon tomorrow. And get some rest.” he added as Fawn went to speak. “Dismissed.”

His final word was only half spoken when chairs started scraping back, and the sound of folders being slid across the table top filled the room. Fawn – not having a new charge in Sickbay for a change – was one of the last to leave, fairly skipping out of the room.

White took a moment to collect his thoughts before he, too, stood to make his way out of the conference room. As he turned just inside the door to check the room over for anything missed. The spray bottle, sitting innocently on the table caught his eye.

White sighed, and added ‘write memo to housekeeping to ensure equipment is not left lying around’ to his list of things to do.

Another thought had him checking the time and noting it in his notepad, along with the date. He would have to keep a sharp ear out to figure out how long it was before someone ‘tested’ Fawn’s assertion and he would have to keep an eye out to ensure it didn’t get out of hand.

Personally, he gave Ochre and Magenta less than six hours before they gave into temptation.

Maybe Fawn would be amenable to a little wager...

Notes:

I saw a post about the Mammalian Diving Reflex on Tumblr, which explained that standing under a shower with water hitting your face feels sooooo goooood because it activates the Mammalian Diving Reflex, which lowers heartbeat and temperature – use for our fish ancestors (and, presumably, our currently living fish cousins), so they didn’t waste calories during the high-demand activity of swimming.

How my brain went from that fact, to hitting somebody who’s aggravated in the face with a jet from a spray bottle like they’re a disobedient cat is a mystery for the ages.

The standard disclaimers, I do not own Captain Scarlet, either the TOS or CGI Series. (Although I do own copies on DVD.)

Amber was a few steps behind Grey

Eyes flickering around the base as the captain talked with tge petty officer about  navel and security of the base, Amber mildy amused with grey showing his former navy roots, seeming at ease in his stance as he stepped with the petty officer.

Amber was second eyes for the sweep, of the base, its main purpose? designing ships to carve through the ocean, with speed and stealth.

"I'm sure the lieutenant would love to test that" Greys voice came through and Amber glanced at them with an eyebrow

"The weapons on board as precision, built to cripple targets, not eliminate" the petty officer smiled

"Means your targeting more of tye prepellas no?" Amber responded, making tge petty officer laugh

"Something along those lines, lieutenet" the officer smiled "think of it like a ship capture for submarines" 

"Huh..."

The petty officer paused taking out his phone "sorry...I have"

Grey waved him off with a half smile, Amber watched

"Your distracted"

He looked at the captain and sighed "I'm fine"

A slight tossle to his shoulder and he sighed "alright...working security, watching it incase of seeing a mysteron or something"

Grey sighed "were secure Amber trust me"

"I still want to check the perimeter grey...just incase alright?"

The older agent gave the blond a look, before giving In

"Alright, but I want you reporting in if you see anything and I mean anything" Grey stated "also want your eye on the weapons so be back in time alright?"

A grin came over Ambers face

"Course Grey, you keep taking to your other navy lads with your slang and banter and ill be actually doing the job-"

A long sigh from the captain, with a noticible eye roll "don't let the carpet trip you up snipes"

A laugh followed as he watched the lieutenant disapear around the cornor to do his sweep of the base

Grey sighed gearing the petty officers return

"Where did the lieutenant go?"

"A sweep, just normal spectrum business" Grey followed the officer "say how many knots can this ship do again?"

———

Amber walked the corridors silently, eyes flickering around the halls, just doing a sweep, he would smile to other crew mates, passing by who nodded back, leaving the lieutenant alone to sweep for anything suspicious

His mind wondering to the past few months, the tensenes around the world from the mysteron threat, colonel whites worry for him, before it settled on Black death, returning to them again...but not as Conrad they all once knew

he paused inhaling sharply

No, best not to think of that, not now, not here

Conrad is a threat and an enemy, but still a part of him still thought

If Scarlet could free himself from the Mysteron control, why not Scarlet?

He continued on his walk, pausing at the server room door, it would have been usually locked, but it appeared it is half a jar, latched almost, as if someone was propping it open

Raising an eyebrow hand going to the butt of his spectrum pistol

Opening the door steadily

stepping in checking the corners,

glancing over the servers, he closed the door behind him with a faint whisper of a click

Darkness enveloping the room, apart from the faint beeps and flickering lights of the rows of servers, and the low purr of fans within the room.

He stepped steadily, before pausing eyes falling on the slumped form against the work bench.

He rested a hand on their shoulder, giving a delicate shake

"Hello?"

No response, not even a flutter of their eyelids.

He checked for a pulse and stopped

Nothing-

His radio speaker dropped down "Grey- captain Grey come in?"

Static- must be the damn servers, maybe?

He spun heading back out, gripping his pistol tighter, ready to be jumped by an attack

But a chill caught him off guard, as it slivered up his spin, stealing his breath

His visioned swarmed suddenly making him stagger

Shaking his head to try and shift the growing feeling, but had little to no affect

His gun clattered to the floor, his suddenly hands numb

Sweat broke out from his brow, blurring his vision

His knees buckled under his fleeting strength

"h-how..."

He glanced towards the slumped form, who was now stood

Looming over his weakened form with a cruel smile

Amber breathed out falling onto his side as the numbness spread up his forarms, He gasped trying to catch his breath.

Vision blurry as the figure leant down into view, a cold hard cradling his jaw, which numbed with the simple touch

Ambers hair stood on end, seeing the faint green glow

"You-"

"Shhhh...just sleep now little lieutenant" the Mysteron smiled

And Amber was unable to fight off the wave of numbed sleep

———

Grey scowled "Captain Grey to Lieutenant Amber come in."

Nothing

He cursed leaving the American to sweep alone before sighing "Captain Grey to sky base"

"Captain, this is sky base" Green voice met him

"I've-" He sighed rubbing the bridge od his nose "I've lost Amber"

"Ha...again?" He heard the amusement in lieutenets tone, before a sigh "pinging his cap"

"Ah huh?"

"Looks like their in the server room"

Grey sighed, its never like Amber to get lost, he followed where Green stated the younger agent would be

Eyes on the server room before stepping in, hand resting cautionsly on his weapon seeing no sign of the Lieutenant

"You sure he's in here? I don't...-"

His eyes flickered to under the work bench, and froze, mouth going dry 

Leaning down grasping, Amber's fallen pistol

he swallowed the lump in his throat, gaze sweeping around the room

"Captain Green, spectrum is red, Amber's been taken"

———

Amber woke with a groan, groggy he tried to lift his head, everything felt so heavy

The effects of what ever the toxic still evident in his system, his still felt the same numbness on the base

He exhaled, swallowing thickly

How long was I out?  He thought

He breathed out, slowly, calming his panic,

No point in panicking, only lead to more issues

He trying to shift his arms again, feeling the mild strain up his arms, definitely bound

His gaze glancing down at himself

Just in his black under tunic and boots, Great

He rolled his jaw, forcing his head up

The room was dark, a light just above which hurt his eyes making it hard for him to see beyond the glare of the light, hard stone flooring under him which scraped against his boots

A shiver crept through Amber's body, alright breath focus

He closed his eyes trying to listen for anything that gave away his position

A low hum somwhere and that's all he got, he grunted, trying to shift his arms again feeling the faint tingles of pins and needles steadily settling in as feeling flooded into his joints

hearing footsteps

He stopped eyes scrunching up as the door opened, light hitting his eyes, the door closed

he opened his brown eyes again, staring up at his captures

———

Grey found Ambers cap shoved away in one of the server panels, the comlink damage, but its beacon still intact

Now he was just mapping out what could have possibly played out to catch the lieutenant so off guard.

He shifted his scanner around the room, he stopping at the scanners worrisome chirping showing an outline of a man leant againts the the work table, the outline pulsed with a worrying toxin signature, known to numb and make a target collapse with what it just seems to be a bad case of the flu

Must be how they managed to grab him with ease....

He mentally kicked himself for not keeping an eye on the younger agent

He backed out before he could get exposed any more standing oustide of the room

"Grey to colonel White..." He chewed his tongue

"Colonel White to Grey, go for?"

He resisted to rub his face "what I'm getting is that Amber got nosey, during his spot check route...they used a drug on him, believe it may have been the XS4"

"Are you positive captain?"

"Used scanner on it, chemically it links to it, but we have no further signs until we do further tests"

"SIG, get Scarlet and Blue to provide aid"

"SIG sir" He called off glancing at his hands he needed to wash them...

He pointed to the two guards

"No one gets in that room unless it's spectrum or the hazmat team, clear?" They nodded standing either side of the door

And Grey went to look for a bathroom to scrub his hands, just incase.

———

Amber spat blood his jaw ached as he bared his teeth at his kidnappers.

His face was grabbed, nails digging into his cheeks

"You will tell us where skybase is."

"Up your ass." He spat and a slap across the face made his head snap to the side

"No use boss, he's stubborn."

"Yet the stubborn can be broken." His hair was grabbed and he winced coming eye level with the capture

Amber glared, at the almost impossible to read eyes, likely because of these men were already dead.

"Mm...definitely has that fire in his eyes...."

He spat blood which splattered on the man's pale skin

His hair was let go, as the man laughed wiping his cheek smearing the blood

"Definitely fire."

He door opened and he was left alone in the silence, the cold settling in as Amber panted

Breath He thought, im still alive

He spat a thick glob of blood against the floor bowing his head as he was left with his thoughts

He exhaled slowly, wiggling his fingers, feeling the restraints against his bare wrists, lightly tugging, still locked tight...fuck

Footsteps returns, Amber looked up as the door opened

His jaw tensed ready for the next wave of pain.

———

"The hell you mean there's nothing?" Scarlet snapped eyes flickering over the recordings, scanning for the bright orange uniform, finding nothing.

"How the hell did they get him out?"

"Were going through as best we can-"

"He's bright orange. You can't miss him." Scarlet huffed

"Im sorry sir...we've went throigh twice, unless they had a cloak of invisibility...we don't know where they took him"

Scarelt rubbed his eyes, they've been at it for hours scanning through the video tapes and nothing was found, they saw Amber enter the server room, but nothing from then

No sign of anyone entering nor leaving

"I'll send the recordings to sky base." He sighed trying to ease the worry In his tone "Thank you."

The operator nodded, letting Scarlet send the videos towards sky base for more eyes on

He stepped out, eyes on Blue and Grey

"Anything?"

Blue shook his head

"Part from eye witnesses, they passed Amber doing a sweep" He sighed "other then that we have nothing scarlet"

Scarlet chewed the inside of his mouth, thinking

"We gotta inform the colonel, if They have Amber...its a security issue"

Scarlet glanced at the two other captains before his communicator flickered down

"Colonel-"

"We were just about to call captain. The recording was tempered with-"

He was already twisting towards the cctv room, Blue and Grey looking at eachother before following the storming Scarlet

He barged back into the room,  making the operator yelp

"Who has access to this room?'

"Wh-"

"Who has access." He snapped

"J-just security!"

"I want a list on who's on duty."

"S-sir?"

"Did I stutter?"

The operator fingers clicked and a list was brought up on monitor, of all the security officers on duty

5 names lit up red

"Uh...that's not-" the operator typed more

"They were supposed to be on duty..they haven't reported in..."

"Their the kidnappers..."  Grey huffed

"Any ideas where they could have gone?"

The operator swallowed shaking his head

"Least we got closer to people who grabbed him" Blue gave a half smile "send, base the photos we can look for em"

"SIG" 

———

Amber inhaled, humming low the pain thrombing up his likely broken arm, he swallowed down the taste of nausea  breathing out a slow steady breath.

Sweat dripping down his nose into his already blood stained lap

He was still alive...thats the best...least he was still alive...for who ever is coming to retrieve him...

He grunted slowly shifting feeling the pain blossom up his arm, biting his tongue to hide the whimper that tried to break through, he breathed out

Gotta get out

He breathed, slowly moving his good arm, steadily pushing his thumb, feeling the soft pop under his skin, as he dislocated his thumb

He panted before slowly inching his hand out of the restraints

They were tight, even with his thumb dislocated, using his sweat almost as a  way to ease his hand out of the restraints

He gasped as his hand came free

pain blossomed up from his broke arm,  nearly whitening out his vision

He stood stakely, knees giving out almost falling to the stone floor

He sucked in a lung full of air, steadying himself

Keeping his broken arm tucked close, he peaked out of the bars finding the door was-

unlocked??

What?

He thought staggering out keeping low, steadily collecting his bearings

His feet light as he moved keeping to shadows listening for anything that sounded like people coming his way

He saw light and moved towards it, the rush of trees, a forest

Fuck- where was he?

Just move gotta get out

He pulled what strength he had and bolted

Boots crunching the dirt underneath his steps, panting, pain ebbing up his shoulder, he slipped and let out muffled scream as he jarred his arm, laying sprawled on the...

Road?

He patted the tarmac with his good arm, trying to force himself up, a swarm of headlights met him and his eyes widened at the skidded, just a few meters away from him, hearing doors open, eyes on the blond and brunet who stepped out the car, his vision making it hard to see any details further, catching the red and blue uniform, could it be?

"B-blue? S...Scarlet?" He panted shaking eyes widening at the sight, his vision darkening as he tried to pick himself up, with no use

As the cold wet tarmac met his face

———

Amber layed in the medical bed, forcing himself to stay awake, the cast was a good weight around his arm, keeping him settled, cuts and bruises tended to, but the pain was still strong, he refused the morphine

He blinked hard, trying to get comfy, with the pain still flooding through his system.

His eyes flickered over the Grey uniform and half smile

"Hey buddy"

"Hey.." Amber croaked, trying to hide the pain

"Gave us a scare you know that right?'

He nodded exhaling

He watched as the senior officer settled beside his bed

"So..."

Amber chuckled "Ya gotta wait...still trying to process it myself with what happend"

"I know...I know...had us worried you know" Amber watched, Greys gaze,  before watching the captains gaze flicker to the morphine counter

"You aren-"

"No...I rather stay lucid Brad..."

"Amber-.."

"I aren't alright?"

"Your in pain."

Callum tensed his jaw, he never liked morphome due to its side affects on him.

"Amb..."

His brown eyes flickered to meet Greys own, brow furrowed seeing the captains hand wrapped around the button

Callum swallowed, licking his lips

"Brad..."

He knew this was a loosing battle, he swallowed the lump in his throat

He heard the delicate click, he inhaled softly head leaning back against the pillow as the medication flooded his system through his IV

Feeling something holding his hand, it felt colder, the guys probably been outside for a while...

"Still with us?"

Amber nodded eyes flickering, to Grey his heart monitor spiking

"Hey...gonna stay here alright...what ever your seeing aren't here...just me and you in this room, alright?"

Callum swallowed nodding silently

"I'm going to keep talking" Grey said softly "keep holding your hand too alright bud?"

"Y-yeah" He croaked

He closed his eyes breathing out, feeling the fuzziness slowly start sinking in, holding Greys hand tighter feeling him delicately stroke his knuckled

"Still hear buddy" his voice settled his mind "your safe bud"

He exhaled

"Th-"

"Yeah?"

"The naval base....how did weapons testing go?" The lieutenant smiled

"Weapons testing?" Grey questioned "we didn't run any"

Amber's stopped, eyes opening, looking slowly towards the captain

"We were running security only" Grey continued, the heart monitor spiked steadily

"Huh...must of really hit my head harder...." Amber licked his lips

"Say..." Amber started "what does...SIG mean again?"

Grey half laughed "wow, must of really hit your head hard, amb..." Grey smiled squeezing Amber's hand tighter"

"Connect to fire arms-"

Ambers heart monitor beside the bed spiked

Grey barley reacted to it, eyes locked onto Ambers own

Amber pulling his hand away from 'Greys' hold

"You can't leave Amber-"

He swung his legs out of bed

Nearly falling out of the bed with a clatter, Grey standing up smoothly, following the panicking lieutenet

Amber panted, yanking the IV out, wincing as blood oozed from the inside of his elbow, heart monitor cutting into a long beep as a green light flooded the room

"No-"

This had to be a dream, a fucked up fever dream

Amber backed up eyes wide, he staggered wincing as he slammed hus back into the wall, jarring his arm which sent pain up his arm

He was falling suddenly

Nothing around him

Before he slammed hard onto the ground

He gasped

Pain throbbing up his shoulder, gasping as bile rose in his throat at the pain, curling up almost onto himself, struggling to breath, his face scrunched up in the blinding hot pain

Mumbles around him, all felt too far away

Too much, too little, he curled up tighter feeling a wait on his shoulder, gasping

"S-st-op-"

A sharp pain in his hip

He whimpered feeling a hand cradle his head, running a hand throigh his hair soothing almost

"St..stop..."

He slurred before the darkness pulled him in again

———

Grey held his hands together, his palms sweaty with worry, as he glanced up at Gold, standing instantly

"He's stable, had to introduce a sedative"

Grey nodded

"This...this is my fault-"

"None of it is captain.." Gold voice soft "but right now he needs someone that he can trust"

Grey nodded "thanks doc.."

He was lead into the quiet room, eyes on the heart monitor, steady better then it was atleast

Eyes tracing over, sickly dark blues and purples painted over his pale skin around his face and his eyes, stitches marrying his skin back together, lip busted, arm casted up and that was just some of the wounds they noticable that the kidnappers  inflicted over Amber

Tox screen came back with a cocktail of fucked up drugs

When they did find him, He was barley coherent, and a state that no one has saw Callum in

Scared

Even in his scared state, he managed to land a hit into Blues jaw

Grey would have laughed under any other circumstances, but a heavily drugged hallucinating marine who's been held hostage, for nearly 5 weeks for information?

Not laughing matter

He sat beside the blond, just watching the rise and fall of his chest

Eyes on the restraints incase Callum woke up aggravated

Just a saftey precaution for himself and the medical staff

He inched his hand into holding Callums cracked nailed ones, feeling the fingers twitch around his hand

"I'm right here brother, all here"

Another finger twitch and he gave a small smile at it

"I'll keep watch"

———

Hours tick on by, and Grey found himself reading through the naval base report he wrote, beside Callums unconscious form, now just spot checking over what he wrote

The tablet laying propped up on callums bed, Greys other hand still holding the lieutenants hand as Grey read

He felt Amber's hand tighten around his own and his gaze flickered up, meeting the tired dark brown eyes

"Cal-"

"What-what does- SIG mean-" the man croaked

"Wha-"

A tight squeeze against his hand which made him winced slightly

"What. Does it mean" the lieutenant growled

"Spectrum is green"

He watched as the lieutenant, eyes widened, breathed out a wheeze, tears bubbled up and he felt the grip ease instantly

"Bra-"

He dropped the tablet "Hey hey hey-"

Crap-

"Gold!" He called back for the doctor

He cupped the lieutenants face

"Hey...on me. Eyes." He ordered

Amber's eyes locked onto Greys, tears falling down his face

"There we are...your safe. Your on skybase alright?"

"Y-yeah" the smaller lieutenant hiccuped

"We found ya" Grey said calming down the lieutenet, who hiccuped

"Still with me?"

A quite nod ans he eased a breath out

"Glad ya still here Cal..."

Sitting on the floor of the darkened Promenade deck, Brad searched the night sky, hunting out the familiar shapes within the sea of lights. At last he found the Southern Cross and the twin jewels of The Pointers. Using them as markers he measured with his eyes until he found the patch of sky that was the South Celestial Pole. ‘Hello, old friend.’  That waypoint identified, he went back to looking for the next constellation on his mental list. His life had taken him all across the globe, knowing the stars and always being reassured he’d be able to find his way had been one of his little habits ever since he was a boy and first learned about navigating by the stars. 

He ignored the faint swish of the door opening, his attention on looking for Orion. ‘If they want to talk to me, they’ll let me know.’ 

A shift of air and the rustle of fabric told him his visitor did in fact want his attention and he pulled his eyes away from the stars to find Paul quietly sitting next to him, the younger man looking sorely conflicted about something. 

Brad was glad to see him - something had obviously been bothering him for several days now, and as usual whenever he was bothered by something, Paul vanished for however long it took him to figure out how to put it into words. His worst episode (quite understandably) had been after the Car-Vu. If he wasn’t on duty or on standby, he’d quite simply been gone for almost two months, and no matter how hard they looked, they hadn’t been able to find hide nor hair of him until he was ready to reappear. 

A nod told Paul that he saw and acknowledged him, and that Paul had his attention, then Brad settled in to wait for Paul to gather the courage to use his words and ask for the help he needed. 

“It’s about ‘Operation Feather’ and ‘Operation Ma’at’,” Paul said at last, his voice quiet. “Especially Ma’at. Feather’s the rescue, but Ma’at, getting the truth out there…” he paused, needing to regather and rearrange his thoughts, skip over the unnecessary, and get to the heart of the matter. “Once the dust settles, they’ll go home. I want them to go home, but I also don’t want them to go. They’re my friends, and a part of me wants them to stay, and I feel so very guilty about it.” 

Brad let that sit for a moment. People that Paul could trust and lean on, especially with the pressures of the unique burden that he carried, were a rare commodity, and he needed his brothers in arms to keep himself sane and grounded. It was no small wonder that there was a part of Paul that didn’t want them to go - he didn’t want to lose two of his anchors - and why he felt such crushing guilt about it. Paul cared deeply about his friends and they’d all come to realise that Scott and Gordon needed to be back in their Thunderbirds, so for him to want them to stay would naturally make him feel awful for being so selfish to put his wants above their needs.

“It’s not selfish to want to keep your friends close.” Brad decided to open with that. Paul sometimes needed permission to feel what he was feeling and that it was perfectly normal and valid, and this seemed to be one of those times. 

“Even though having them stay would be mainly for my benefit, not theirs?” Paul asked in return. 

“Yep. That’s why we’re friends with people, isn’t it? Because they bring something good into our lives and we want more of it. Pretty natural to be a little greedy about something like that.” 

Paul made a thinking noise as he turned that over. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone describe it that way.” 

“It’s true though, isn’t it?” 

“It is.” 

“I’m in the same boat,” Brad revealed. “I’d like to keep Guppy, but like you, I know he needs to be home and Cloudbase isn’t it.” He sighed and shifted to sit with his legs straight out, leaning back on his hands. “Saying goodbye to someone you care about is only easy when you know that that ‘goodbye’ has a ‘welcome back’ attached to it. Otherwise you’re always left wondering if this is going to be the last one. With the job we have, and the job they’ll have back…” He paused for a moment. “...that ‘goodbye’ is going to feel permanent and the ‘welcome back’ feel pretty uncertain. It’s natural to be worried that you’ll be losing them for good.”  

Paul nodded and fell silent, staring at the deck for a moment…then his head snapped up and he looked straight at ‘the hiding place’ behind the screen of climbing roses. “Who’s there!” Scarlet demanded, his voice harsh to cover his fear and shame at being overheard in a vulnerable moment. 

Grey shifted to sit cross-legged and waited, a sinking feeling in his gut. Depending on who it was and how much they’d heard, this could be bad. 

“...me.” 

A grunt of effort and Scott stood up, a book in his hand and looking even more conflicted than Paul. “I... um… I’ll go…”    

“No, come and sit with us,” Brad quickly jumped in before either Scott or Paul could flee the scene. “This is something that needs talking about.” 

Scott shifted on his feet, then nodded and came to join them, leaving his book on a nearby table. 

Brad looked between the two of them, feeling very much reminded of the times he’d had to mediate between two of his nephews having difficulties with each other and sorting out tiffs and squabbles between younger crewmembers back in WASP. Scott and Paul might be adults, officers, and highly trained and experienced professionals, but doing that thing of using their words, especially to express emotions and deep, personal thoughts, feelings and fears was something that they both struggled with, albeit for very different reasons. 

“How much did you overhear?” He directed that at Scott. 

“Um, all of it,” Scott quietly admitted. 

Even in the dark, Brad could see the embarrassed and ashamed flush creeping up Paul’s face. 

“Good. Then we don’t have to rehash anything,” Brad nodded, making them both blink in surprise that that could be called a good thing. “You.” He pointed at Paul. “Not wanting to lose contact with a friend is perfectly normal, especially when you live two doors down from them. You.” He pointed to Scott. “I’m guessing you’re feeling the same?” 

There was a mute nod in response. 

“Ditto for my part. Excellent, we’re all on the same page,” Brad declared, well pleased and grinning at the almost identical expressions of befuddlement he was getting from the other two. This was not the way that either of them had expected this conversation to go. “Scott, you’re feeling conflicted about wanting to go home, but not wanting to leave us, right? Because we’ve got this whole band of brothers, brothers in arms, blood of the covenant and so on thing going on, and you feel safe, cared about and welcome with us.” 

Another nod from Scott, his eyes wide.

‘I’m gonna have him half convinced I am a mind reader at this rate,’ was Brad’s amused remark to himself. “Right then.” He ticked the points off on his fingers. “So we’ve got a Tracy feeling torn about his loyalties to family because he's got blood family and covenant family and doesn’t want to hurt either of them, and a Metcalfe who’s feeling torn about two of his covenant family leaving but knowing that they need to be with their blood family, and a Holden who’s feeling the same as the Metcalfe. Am I right?” 

Two more nods. 

“Okay, first things first, you’re both going to have to start using either words, Morse or sign language at some point soon because I’m not actually a mind reader, neither of you are telepathic, and you need to start communicating with each other,” Brad informed them. “Secondly, goodbye isn’t the same as gone, ‘phones exist and so does email, remember? Third,” he softened a little, “I read once that friendships are either for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. You two are going to be friends for a lifetime. Ah, no, don’t you dare,” he admonished Paul, emphasising it with a pointing finger, “no existential crisis about how long a lifetime could be for you, one problem at a time.” 

Paul blinked at him again, then huffed a laugh and quirked a half smile at him. “Get out of my head, Holden,” he mock growled at him, then turned to Scott. “I don’t think he missed anything, do you?” 

Scott nodded slowly, clearly replaying it all in his head. “No, I think he got it all.” There was a pause, then he looked at the other two. “When,” he hesitated for a split second, “when everything’s sorted out and the dust has settled, there’s an open invitation for all of you to come and spend your leave on the Island with us.” 

“And the same here,” Paul nodded, “Mum keeps asking when I’m bringing my friends around again.” 

“I’ve finally bought that boat in Maine I was talking about. When she’s ship-shape, there’s plenty of bunks and a great big ocean to explore.” Brad made a mental note to follow up with Scott later, he’d seen the ‘if’ that the younger man had been intending to say before he changed it to a ‘when’, and there was an entire world between the first ‘when’ and the second. He let things settle for a little, then when it seemed safe enough to leave the two alone, he shifted in preparation to stand. “Right, you two need to go and get coffee or play a game of chess or something and I’m going to find Guppy. He was talking about having a ‘so bad it’s good’ movie marathon and I want to know what’s on his short list.” 

He got himself to his feet, but paused when Scott called his name. 

“Brad… thanks for doing that, it helped.”