#something could in fact keep them down

[skymaiden32]

Routine And Terror

Read on AO3 here

Fandom: Thunderbirds

Tagging: @dragonoffantasyandreality @thundergeek59 @janetm74 @katblu42 @liseylou @amistrio @uniwolfcorn @idontknowreallywhy (Please ask if you would like to get alerts when I update or post new stories.)

Thundertober Day 14: Submarine

When Gordon was in WASP, he commanded a deep-sea bathyscaphe for a year. This is the story of how that adventure ended, and what it could mean for the aquanaut service.

Continuity: TOS

A/n: References to Stingray abound! ^^ I just couldn't resist… >:3

------

Wake up. Shower. Breakfast. Give orders. Lunch. Give more orders. Dinner. Sleep.

Wake up. Shower. Breakfast. Give orders. Lunch. Give more orders. Dinner. Sleep.

Wake up. Shower. Breakfast. Give orders. Lunch. Give more orders. Dinner. Sleep.

The days were always the same. An everlasting blur of events that Lieutenant Gordon Tracy struggled through just to be able to say he was doing his duty as the Commander of the deep sea bathyscaphe he and his crew were currently on. His year was almost up, just a couple of weeks were left now. 

He felt as though the routine was slowly killing him from the inside out, taking his joy and free spirit the longer he sat in his command chair. Gordon loved the sea. More than the average person, and perhaps more than he probably should. But even he was beginning to feel stuck here. He sighed, grateful that all but the night crew were in their cabins, and pulled out a photo he’d taken with his family at Alan’s 16th birthday party. His only younger brother’s face beamed up at him, their three elder brothers looking up in fondness and reassurance.

If there was one thing he loved more than the dark blue waters of the ocean, it was his family. He missed them dearly, and the absence drove him to near insanity. But at the same time thoughts of them, of his father and his brothers, kept him sane. It was an odd paradox, but one Gordon found himself clinging onto. 

He clung onto his father and grandmother’s love, both of them tough but fair. He clung onto Scott’s brotherly concern and Virgil’s melodies. He clung onto John’s tales of the great tapestry of stars and planets and Alan’s dreams of glory on the racetrack. Most of all, he clung onto the promise that he’d made to all of them. The promise that he’d come home. And that was what kept him going. Throughout all of this, it came down to them.

The harsh ringing in the corner of his cabin caught him off-guard, almost making him jump and fall out of the bunk. Wondering who could be ringing at this time of night, Gordon clicked select on the video phone. The face of one of his subordinates looked back at him. Gordon resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “What’s wrong, Cadet Peters?” He frowned. “Your shift has been over for two hours. Get to bed.”

The cadet gritted her teeth nervously. “We have a problem, Lieutenant…” Gordon raised an eyebrow, prompting the woman to continue. “We have a breach in the port side of the hull.” Her superior lurched, bursting out of his cabin and into the corridor, heading for the bridge. Gordon thanked their lucky stars that the sub was nowhere near crush depth, having only just dived again after gathering supplies from the land above. The sea wouldn’t crush them, but it would still be their death if they didn’t act fast.

“Lieutenant on the bridge!” He heard as he burst through the double steel doors that separated the submarine's nerve centre from the main corridors. 

He quickly barked orders. “Jonas! Give me a damage report!” 

Jonas was happy to oblige. “Port side of our hull is badly damaged; near the engine bay. We’re leaking water.”

Another officer yelled. “If we don’t fix this soon we’ll be dead in the water.”

The chaos of the bridge only got larger and louder. “All right!” Gordon yelled out. To his surprise, they all listened without much argument. “Let’s not lose our heads, or we really will be stuck.” He turned to Peters, who’d only just come in. “Cadet, radio the engine bay and tell them to cut all power.” She nodded, rushing off to complete her assigned task. “Jonas. Surface. I don’t care what you have to do to accomplish it, but surface.” He looked at the other officer who had yelled before. “Prepare the lifeboats and be prepared to evacuate once we reach the surface. The rest of you, get ready to run. I need to let Marineville HQ know what’s going on.”

------

‘How was this even possible…?’ Gordon asked over and over again in his head once he and his crew were safe and sound on dry land. It shouldn’t have been possible; that bathyscape had withstood even the toughest of rocks and the roughest of waters during the testing phase. But even then, he supposed there were a lot of things about the sea that humanity knew nothing about, and perhaps never would. It had been one of the reasons he’d agreed to take the position as commander-in-chief of the vessel after all.

A knock on the door interrupted his train of thought. “You okay, Gords?” His younger brother strode into the room, sitting next to him on the bed. 

“I’m okay, Al.” Gordon grinned impishly. “I’m still here, aren’t I?” His mind flashed to the day they’d returned to Marineville with the help of a naval ship, weary and tired from days adrift at sea, but otherwise unharmed. The bathyscaphe had sunk, taking all the research they’d made with it. And so close to the end of its trial period, too. Commander Shore hadn’t been happy about the loss, but had acknowledged Gordon’s quick thinking and decision making skills to get everyone out alive. Thanks to him, they hadn’t lost a single aquanaut. “I’m just thinking about how that sub could’ve gotten damaged. We were in open water; no rocks in sight. Weather was optimal. And yet there was a massive hole in the side of the hull.” Alan frowned doubtfully. “Don’t give me that, we all saw it.”

His brother paused before asking the question. “Could you have been attacked?” 

“Maybe.” Gordon hummed. “But I doubt it. Our sonar didn’t pick up anything like another submersible… Guess it’s about time to switch to that new hydrophone technology the boffins have been bragging about.” He mused, huffing, and flopped backwards onto his bed. The thought that someone, or something, had attacked them sent shivers down his spine.

The two brothers sat in silence for a good few minutes, just enjoying each other's company for a brief moment. “We were really worried when we heard what had happened from Marineville, you know. For two days, none of us had any idea if you were safe…”

“Let me guess,” Gordon started, “don’t do it again?” Alan nodded furiously, and his brother shook his head in turn. “You know it doesn’t just work like that, Al. Not after what happened to Scott in Bereznik.” His eyes drooped apologetically at the words. Everyone hated remembering that time period, and they all made sure to never even say the name of the country in front of their eldest brother. “Military life is dangerous.”

Alan sighed. “I know. I just wish none of us had to deal with it…”

Gordon sat up from his position and wrapped an arm around his brother, pulling the aspiring motorist into a hug. “Hey, it’ll work out. We’ll all be okay. You know nothing can keep us down for long.”

[silusvesuius]

n*loth not being able to bag anyone over the (human term) age of 25-30 at most is the only logical and real conclusion to me because it can be just explained away as him wanting to prove and control everything and anyone (Cus he's a man!) but being stuck in that demographic because his unbearable and vile personality is a force that nobody can look past once they've outgrown the possible fear and idolization period of anyone but also n*loth in particular.

[gladiatorcunt]

han solo wants what atton rand has

[scopophobia-polaris]

I mean it's a poll about which you prefer not which is objectively better. Windwaker could be the best game ever made and tbh I'd still vote oot. Sorry

And yet, OoT isn't that great even coming from a dude obsessed with it 😭 Sorry

[cent-scratchnsniff]

More sketchy employee profile images. Mostly made to be able to replace the picrew I had in the template I made since I can draw. I did end up just putting it as back and white though but the color is just nice to have. I'm STILL trying to tweak the template since it is very finicky and there is an example of what it looks down below if you're interested. It is a lot. It will happen. I am just not the quickest

There are typos and inconsistencies I missed but in general it should be fine...

[carryhatchet]

It's crazy how the incest stuff negates any support system Cathy has. like technically she has someone offering her an out from her abusive husband but choosing that also means choosing this other terrible thing. like. she's trying to get as far away from the past abuse as she can (while still holding onto so much anger) but she's escaping into new abuse (connected to holding onto anger???) and trusting. deciding. believing that it will aid her in achieving her goals, and then she can go from there. this belief of indestructibility bc what does she have if not that??? how could she stand to keep going while stuck between these options if she didn't separate herself entirely from them. the only people offering her escapes are just asking if she'd please come get abused by them instead of the current guy and every option is still better than how she was raised

[origami-butterfly]

Ok but sometimes the most infuriating political stance a person can have is point blank refusing to discuss social issues with you when you bring it up because they "don't want to get political". Don't open the tags unless you want to read a rant

[whump-n-comfort]

when you read a fic that gives you a hyper-specific whump scenario that you know would either A.) take forever to find in another story or B.) hasn't been written at all so the obvious conclusion is that you have to write it yourself

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

Had an ADHD assessment a few years ago and the fuckwit that assessed me said, as a direct quote, "You're too smart to have ADHD." Like that's not any type of paraphrasing, that stupid fucking statement is burned in my brain forever and has been since I heard it.

I talked to my psychiatrist about getting a referral to a different psychologist for assessment, and she agreed and sent it in.

Today I got a call that said they don't agree that I need reassessment, and I'm welcome to pursue it elsewhere, but they won't provide reassessment. Which is just.

I don't even know where to start with that one. I just needed to get it out. I'm so tired.

[the-casbah-way]

FINALLY finished my outline for prodigal son it’s going to end up way longer than i planned </3

[july-19th-club]

i love talking to Religious People but i dont love it so i called my mom earlier and my brother stopped by and to both of them i talked about my 8am religious thing and i was like - well, the UU thing sounded *fun* - it kind of felt like that was cheating - and my brother (practicing dirtbag catholic electrician who goes to mass and sits there having intrusive thoughts about the crusades) goes "yeah, well, it's not supposed to be fun, it's supposed to be reflective" . ok mister 500 years ago i would have chopped peoples heads off. first of all probably not they didn't send tater farmers on those kinds of things . second of all my mother goes "not supposed to be fun? where'd you get that idea?" like.........why didn't YOU get that idea? like. you grew up in the same religion i did and you don't have weird issues about it. unfair

[spinnysocks]

personally i think every single fitting room should have seats :c

[dutybcrne]

Me BSing hcs like: The fact that Kae is not only able to create a shield when he is dangerously low HP but also the fact that he is able to regenerate HP when he hits opponents with Frostgnaw is definitely due to him receiving his Vision when Diluc had tried to kill him in their Confrontation...but could it be possible that his familial ties to the Abyss Order could have influenced that HP drain of his-

[rosicheeks]

i do not know if i ever sent this to you. i have posted it. i hope you like it Princess.

[nerdie-faerie]

Having a complicated relationship with your mum is so confusing. It's the knowledge that she taught me the best way to make gravy, how tie my shoes and how to make my bed. But she's also the one that made disparaging comments about my body growing up and is part of the reason I don't want to be a parent myself and why I moved across the country for uni. But she's still my mum and I still find myself wishing I could seek comfort from her when things get a little too hard but the mum I'm longing for doesn't really exist. And I see her in the colour of my eyes and in the way I grit my teeth when I'm angry. She taught me how to do my hair and how to cover up bruises. She's a part of me in all the good and the bad. And there's no way to say you hate someone that doesn't also acknowledge all the good because nothings as ever as black and white as that

[creamecream]

“Get BACK Here!!”