Foreward

Disclaimer: I do not in any way own or profit from the characters or settings of Thunderbirds. They were created by Gerry Anderson, and the copyright is held by Granada. This story is for my own entertainment and that of others.

Author's Note: This story was first published at FanFiction.net from January 1 to March 23, 2005. It was my attempt at taking on the "babe washed up on Tracy Island" cliché, and ended up being just the first in a series I eventually called the "Friends of the Family" story arc. The "babe washed up on the beach" had turned up several times in Thunderbirds fan fiction, with the voluptuous young lady--usually in her late teens, and a near blatant self-insertion--turning up unconscious on a Tracy Island beach, not able to share any information about herself, pursued by dastardly villains, and finally, falling in love with one of the Tracys and staying as a member of the team forever. My idea was that the "babe" turns out to be a middle-aged lady, and she eventually goes home.

Besides turning this cliché on its head, I also hoped to give Jeff Tracy a romantic partner who wasn't almost half his age. The majority of the authorized materials had declared Lady Penelope (who showed a decided interest in Jeff) to be in her late twenties. My thought was that he would have more in common with a lady of his own age, or close to it, than someone as young as his sons. So, enter Lucinda Myles... and her four cats. Yes, these are blatant insertions of the cats I had at the time, with my namesake, Tika, becoming "Spot". The setting, Asheville, NC, and the Blue Ridge Parkway, were fresh in my mind from a brief visit there, and I was able to use those fresh memories to provide vivid descriptions of the area. The reviews I received for the story indicated that I had accomplished my objectives, as well as calling me interesting names like "toad" and "the Devil Incarnate" for the twists and turns I put into the story. I particularly liked the latter name.

This story is heavily influence by the 1990s comic books, which I was collecting at the time. According to The Complete Thunderbirds Story , Lucille and Jeff's father, Grant, died in an avalanche roughly one year before Jeff decided to start IR. In my story, I allowed two to three years for the development of the facilities and the crafts, and determined that International Rescue had been in business for four years. So the story takes place roughly seven years or so after Lucille's and Grant's death. The Complete Thunderbirds Story was published from 1993 through 1994 in the Fleetway Thunderbirds comics. It was written by Alan Fennell and illustrated by Andrew Skilleter.

The World Government is also an invention of the comic books. It is based in Bermuda--I mistakenly set it in the Bahamas--and is basically in charge of everything that goes on between nations. Their police arm is the World Police, but I felt that Interpol was already in place, so why not use them? So in my story, Interpol oversees any cases that cross international borders, much like the FBI tackles interstate cases. Another comic book influence can be found in Chapter 17, where I took an ocean liner, the President, from a story entitled "Revolution". It was reprinted in Thunderbirds: The Comic, issues numbered 11, 12, and 13, which were published biweekly from March 7 to April 17, 1992. Each time I used a comic book story, I made sure to mention in my author's notes just where it came from.

Unfortunately, my careful annotation didn't keep me from being accused--though not to my face--of plagiarism. Several years after this was published, another fan fiction writer claimed in print that I had stolen a scene in chapter 13 from her own creation. There are many similarities in the two scenes, to be sure: both restaurants were family-owned, both were Italian, both had the same name, the original character (in my case, Lucinda) knows the owners, and she takes a Tracy to lunch there. But the influences for that scene were unique to me, and the details flowed from both a family joke and a restaurant, local to where I live, with a similar name to the one I chose. I flatly denied the accusation, then as now. There is a public post in my LiveJournal that details exactly how I came to write the scene. I refer any interested readers to that here.

Many thanks to Lisa Bauer, Elizabeth Beers, Daria Brooks, Lorraine Clarke, Dena Lawless, and Christine Shultz for their advice, betareading, and encouragement. Cover art and artwork found throughout the story is by Christine Shultz and is used with her kind permission. All original characters are copyright to me, and may not be used without permission.

I hope you will enjoy the story.

Tikatu