Alan had been as surprised as the rest of his brothers when Scott told him he was going to an aerospace show with Thunderbird 3, especially unaccompanied. His eldest brother had explained that it was time for him to learn some more diplomatic skills along with his expertise as a pilot and general boy scout (Gordon's words) abilities. In the end it hadn't been so bad, he'd had to field a few questions and for the most part he'd been pretty comfortable and confident on what he could answer - and how - and what he had to refuse to answer due to organisational secrecy. Or pass off towards the GDF. Then there had been a small demo of all the spaceships abilities and now he was back on the show floor with all the other pilots as visitors were allowed to look around, at a distance, and heavily supervised after being searched for recording devices.

Naturally he took a quick look around himself at the other ships. That was how he got into an argument with one of the other pilots, a guy with a beard and a baseball cap.

"You've gotta be kidding? Thunderbird 3 is the cutting edge of sub lightspeed flight. Not only do I have complete control of dozens of precision gadgets for rescues but she can turn on a pinhead!"

"This is the successor to the pinnacle of military design. Turian and human. Private money, military expertise and none of the regulations. The Normandy has stealth, manoeuvrability and the best pilot in the galaxy to go with her."

Alan laughed. "I could wipe the floor with both you and the Normandy in Thunderbird 3."

"Time and place, Bro. Time and place."

~-x-~

"You did what!?" Scott demanded with wide eyed shock and more than a little horror.

"I entered Thunderbird 3 into a race." Alan repeated, trying to keep his cool and not just fly off the handle. He had to handle this maturely, otherwise he knew he had no chance that didn't involve stealing his own ship.

Scott pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, Alan." He stated firmly, but mostly into his own hand. "It's a rescue vehicle, and we can't have it out of action."

"I'll only be out by the asteroid belt, and the bet gets postponed if it's an emergency." Alan explained. He'd been sensible about this, despite letting his pride get the better of him. He wasn't totally foolish, no matter what his brothers said. Okay, he kind of was, but no more than the rest of them.

"And what if you get hit? Thunderbird 3 will be down whilst Brains makes repairs, or worse you'll be out of action recovering from injury."

Alan had to admit he didn't really have an answer for that. "I'm a better pilot than that." He muttered to his shoes.

Scott remained unconvinced and the discussion ended there, he couldn't risk his brother getting hurt for no good reason. Nor could he risk one of their Thunderbirds being out of action, but his family came first.

~-x-~

"What are you doing?"

Alan's startled cry was totally at odds with Kayo's calm question. "uh..." He started as his brain scrambled to think of a convincing lie. Kayo raised a pointed eyebrow at him. "I was just catching up on some of Thunderbird 3's maintenance."

Kayo's expression remained impassive. "Such as?"

Alan visibly blanched. Damn, maybe he should have paid attention to Brains, Virgil or John when any of them started talking tech. More to the point he should have known Kayo would call his bluff on it. "I was going to run a routine diagnostic to double check there's no impending faults developing." He decided carefully. That was something he'd heard John talk about, right? "You know, baby steps and everything."

"Why not look at the logs on the one Brains ran earlier today?"

"Hands on experience is a better teacher?" That was definitely something most of his brothers said.

"All right." Kayo figured, far too calmly for Alan's liking. "Off you go."

"You're going to stick around to watch me run a diagnostic?"

"We'll never know if you keep stalling."

Alan swallowed as he headed to the control panel. He knew 3 inside and out from a pilot's perspective, but he'd never got involved in maintenance before, he was hoping Brains would have made diagnostics easy to run. Kayo was content to wait patiently as he did. They both knew he was busted and she was content to watch him like a cat who knows it's cornered it's prey.

After five minutes of searching menu options Alan finally gave up. "Okay, I'm not here to run a diagnostic."

"Shocker."

"I was going to take her out for a spin. I'll only be gone a couple of hours."

"Does Scott know about this?"

"Do you think I'd be trying to bluff you if he did?" Kayo had to admit, Alan wasn't that stupid. Impulsive and rash, but not straight up dumb.

"Okay, start talking."

Alan wasn't sure if that made him more or less nervous. He knew, however, that his only option was to explain, so he did. Everything from the wager he had made with Joker - emphasising Thunderbird 3's honour was at stake - to where and when they'd agreed to race. He explained that he and Joker had laid down rules so that neither was punished if duty called and they weren't going to put lives at risk just for their egos.

Kayo considered everything he said in silence, waiting until his conscious decided that was everything. She knew the brothers inside and out, Gordon and Alan were relatively easy to make talk, they wanted to so all she had to do was wait for their own guilt to do the work for her. John usually told her what she needed to know, Virgil too, but they were also the two she'd probably struggle to make tell her anything they didn't want too. In many ways Scott was the trickier one, sometimes she could make him spill with just one pointed eyebrow, other times it would become a full on shouting match, but she'd wear him down in the end. "Okay. Here's the deal, we're going on a routine satellite check, and if we just so happen to take a detour... well, Scott doesn't need to know."

"Seriously? You're not going to hand me in?"

Kayo shrugged. "I want to see who wins." She added as Alan took his seat.

"What? You can't bet against me or 3!"

~-x-~

Soon enough they were at the rendezvous on the outskirts of the asteroid belt. "Thought you were going to back out for a moment." Joker goaded as they manoeuvred alongside the Normandy.

"Ha! You wish." Alan retorted.

"Okay, boys, save it for the race. What're the rules?" Kayo interrupted.

"Jeff and Alan have already agreed on a start and finish point." A pleasant, electronic, feminine voice stated. "I shall count down to start and the first to reach the finish mark wins. Neither team is allowed to interfere with the other or will be eliminated. If either team have to forfeit the race for urgent obligations then a rematch will be called."

"Who's that?" Alan asked.

"EDI, my copilot. Yours?" Joker explained proudly.

"Kayo." She replied herself before cutting back to the query Alan had interrupted. "Urgent obligations?"

"For example a rescue SOS or military orders." EDI supplied.

"Seems fair." Kayo figured.

"Hell, yeah, it does. I want to win because I've wiped the floor with you, not because you had to go save a kitten up stuck up a tree!" Joker agreed.

"Why would a space ship rescue a kitten up a tree?" Both Kayo and EDI asked.

"Our job is so much more important than that!" Alan objected.

"I mean... I've fought reapers, you guys just fight Darwinism." Joker asserted.

"As does modern medicine." Kayo added. She'd done her homework.

"Oh, ice cold!" Joker objected.

"Jeff, you started it." EDI reminded him. "Any last questions?"

"Why are we racing in a virtually empty obstacle course?" Kayo asked.

"Because to win each of us has to try and get an edge over the other, that means getting between them faster, cutting down the time between objects." Alan explained and Kayo figured that made sense. Two hotshots who refused to let the other win might well pull some crazy and dangerous moves just to stay ahead.

"Yeah, we want a challenge, not a death sentence." Joker agreed. Kayo considered her question answered and EDI checked there were no further questions and that both Alan and Joker were ready.

"3... 2... 1... go!"

Both ships practically leapt from the starting line and into the asteroid zone. Kayo had brought up the proximity and scanner telemetry up in front of her the moment EDI started counting.

Kayo had to admit if she wasn't aware of how good a deep space pilot Alan was, she would be rather concerned at the way he was cheering and laughing as he swerved, weaved and dodged between the asteroids that she alerted him too.

The contrast between the two cabins couldn't have been starker. Joker had gone silent in concentration as EDI warned him of impending collisions, adrenaline spikes and the progress of Thunderbird 3.

~-x-~

Both pilots were experts at their craft and both ships had features that the other did not. They were well matched as they zoomed through the asteroid belt, zipping between obstacles and diving through the gaps that opened up. They kept catching glimpses of each other but for the most part focused on their own route rather than what the other was up to.

Mostly. "Whoa!" Alan whistled as he watched Joker use the Normandy's forward battery to blast a large asteroid out of his way that he was unable to swerve around. "I think I need to ask Brains for some upgrades."

"We don't have weapons for a reason, remember?" Kayo retorted. It was something she and Scott had frequently argued about, but he had been adamant. She eventually conceded that he was right.

"Like major plan backfire?" Alan asked worriedly as the debris from the detonation came hurtling towards them.

Yeah, Kayo thought, like that. "Here." She flicked a potential route through to Alan who quickly assimilated it before his face set in steely determination and with a couple of flicks of his wrist he was corkscrewing through the debris with a natural grace.

On the Normandy EDI was reporting on Thunderbird 3's progress to Joker who for the moment was on top of the potential obstacles in front of him. Before suddenly the bright red rocket popped out of one of the hollow rocks and blasted past them. "How -?" Joker was partway through asking before he could've sworn he saw the kid mock saluting him.

"Physics, Jeff." EDI stated calmly before she relayed another course correction.

~-x-~

They were about halfway through the race when the instruments on both ships flashed red. "Explosion!" Kayo shouted as Alan swerved the blast as EDI and Joker did similar in the Normandy.

"What the hell was that?" Joker asked both pilots coming to a stop as their curiosity and instincts got the better of them.

"I've pin-pointed the explosion site, it appears to be a mining platform on one of the larger asteroids." Kayo explained as she scanned through her data feeds. "I'm detecting minimal damage to their hull and they still appear to have minimal power. I'm reading one life sign on board."

"Tell me it's not Ned?"

Kayo chuckled warily at Alan's worry. "That's a very small crew, is this operation legit?" Joker wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

"Most of these kind of mining platforms are mostly automated." Kayo explained, she and Alan had seen this kind of setup before.

"Due to the excellent source of mineral deposits in the asteroid belt mining operations are highly restricted and exclusive." EDI added.

"Right. The Alliance has control of the mineral rights but has some kind of accord in place with the GDF to share an allocation." Kayo agreed. "Both organisations protect their share in the investment, it's very difficult for other ventures to set up without either knowing."

"So if this guy is either Alliance or GDF how come we haven't been able to raise them on comms?" Joker asked.

"There is some damage to the platform, due to the interference from the minerals in the asteroid itself I am unable to get a clear reading. However, it is possible that their comms are down." EDI explained.

"No problem, I'll hop on my board and sail over there with a beacon to boost the signal and we can talk to them." Alan figured as he lifted the shoulder guards on his seat to float up.

"I am detecting a number of small explosive devices in the vicinity, I believe they are charges typically used in mining." EDI explained. "You should be able to safely pass through them. If you are careful."

"I'm always careful."

"What, like Gordon is delicate?" Kayo teased and was able to keep a remarkably impassive face as Alan glared at her on his way to the cargo hold.

Both Thunderbird 3 and the Normandy held their position just outside of the asteroid as they watched Alan carefully make his way over to the platform on his board. Kayo and EDI occasionally interjecting with additional telemetry data to enable him to make his way safely to the platform. He was able to get safely through the mines and was in the middle of reporting his approach of the platform when both EDI and Kayo saw an energy spike on their scanners. "Alan, look out!" Kayo warned.

A split second after Alan dove away from where he was a laser bolt hit the asteroid below where his board had been, a dark singe on the surface and Alan looked towards where it had come from, frantically trying to pinpoint the source. He spotted a turret, then another, and another. He could see the glow and decided not to stick around long enough to give them a target, weaving around the craggy surface of the asteroid and slamming the booster onto the inside surface of one of the jagged outcrops. "Why are they shooting at me?" He asked as he used his dexterity to evade the energy blasts that were powerful enough to incinerate him.

"The platforms defences have been activated, they will automatically target anything that does not have permission to enter. Standard Alliance issue." EDI explained.

"Then don't you guys have access codes to safely get past them?" Kayo asked.

Joker couldn't hold in his laughter at that. "Oh, believe me, we wish!" He retorted. "But if such a thing exists they don't even give them to N7 marines."

"Can we hack them?"

"If you get close enough." Joker confirmed. "They're not the most sophisticated of devices, you'll need an omni-tool and some tech knowhow though."

"How about the booster I planted? Is it near enough to be any use?"

"I have been able to establish a comm link with the platform." EDI reported. "The engineer is making repairs after one of the mines went off too early damaging the platform and disrupting many of his on-board systems." Kayo could practically hear Alan's internal prayer that it wasn't Ned. "The link itself cannot be used to disrupt the turrets but it is boosting our sensors."

"Do we need to evac the engineer?" Kayo asked.

"His life support systems are damaged, we will need to either restore them or evacuate him." EDI confirmed.

"If I can get past the turrets then I can attach Thunderbird 3's umbilical to sustain him until the repairs are completed." Alan said as if it were the simplest thing in the world. In many other circumstances that was about as standard of a deep space rescue as they came. The problem was the turrets as he glanced at the laser cutter in his hand. He might boast about his aim with teenage bravado amongst his brothers, but in a critical situation he was far less willing to gamble on a skill he wasn't confident with.

"Then we take out the turrets." Kayo confirmed as if it were easy.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Joker challenged. "You might not have noticed this, but I'm not exactly action man. Normally it's our marines that handle the explosions and I didn't think International Rescue had a lot of expertise around bombs and guns."

"Alan, if I send you a hacking program to your wrist controller can you get near enough to the turrets to disable them?" Kayo asked.

"There's too many of them, I'd be vaporised before I got near enough." He admitted as he scrolled over the sensor generated map on the holographic display on his wrist controller. "What about the grapple arms? The turrets aren't connected to the main platform, we could break them off."

"How do you plan on stopping them targeting Thunderbird 3?" Joker's tone was more than a little condescending.

Alan smirked. "How good of a pilot do you think you are?"

~-x-~

The cockpit of the Normandy was unusually quiet as Joker and EDI both finished making their preparations for their run on the platform. Joker and Alan had worked out a plan where they worked together to disable the turrets as quickly as possible. Joker had the Normandy's forward battery and Alan had Thunderbird 3's grapples - though he rather wished he'd brought Maximum MAX along for the additional offensive capabilities provided by a giant circular saw and blowtorch.

The plan was simple enough, they weave around each other to avoid being blasted to smithereens whilst providing conflicting targets and destroying the turrets once they had a clear shot. Joker and Alan had both claimed their priority targets. However, they also both knew that it would be nowhere near as simple in practise as it was on paper.

Soon enough both pilots confirmed that they were ready. EDI and Kayo read out the latest most critical sensor updates and they set off, Joker took a swooping vertical downwards as Alan zoomed in horizontally.

Joker claimed the first destroyed turret on his second pass over the platform by utilising Thunderbird 3 as a distraction, he was able to take out a second one on his next pass around. "Hey, are you going to join in or are you gonna let me take all the glory?" He goaded as he narrowly - as anyone but himself would say, he totally had it under control - missed an energy blast as he swerved away from the platform again. The Normandy's stealth capabilities weren't all that much use at this close range, but they could help throw off the targeting abilities of their foes.

"Don't mind me, I'm just doing all the heavy lifting." Alan retorted as the grapples finally connected with one of their targets and Thunderbird 3's momentum yanked the turret off it's podium enough to disable it and he released the grapples.

"You two were made for each other." Kayo muttered to herself as she swept through data updates on her screen. Neither pilot heard her, though EDI made a note of it for later, she could have fun with that.

There were six turrets in all, with three already disabled. Joker was able to damage a fourth on his next corkscrewing pass but when Alan attached a grapple onto another the remaining two took fire at the grapple line. "They're learning, can they do that? How can they do that?" He demanded as he released the magnetic grip before the line was clean cut through.

"Virtual Intelligence." Joker explained. "Alliance utilises some form of VI in almost any menial task they can at least semi automate."

"Then be unexpected." Kayo added as Alan twisted Thunderbird 3 back out of range of the turrets. Alan threw her a confused look before turning his attention back to his evasive moves. "Scott coined the term 'Alan Tracy crazy' for a reason."

Alan smirked to himself and launched a grapple claw at the largest piece of debris he could see - Kayo was secretly relieved he hadn't thought to go for any of the explosives - and turned back around just in time to see Joker finish off the one he'd damaged previously. "Time for some good old fashioned punching."

"We have these things called energy weapons, you might've heard of them. Large canons powerful enough to blow things up. They're pretty handy." Joker retorted as Alan charged Thunderbird 3 back towards the nearest turret, manoeuvring out of the shots it fired with quick flicks of his wrist before swinging the craft around to cave in half the turret with his boulder. "Ha! I'd love to see Garrus calibrate a hunk of rock!"

"Who's Garrus?" Alan laughed.

"Weapons expert, took it upon himself to calibrate and recalibrate our forward battery until it broke physics." Joker paused as he programmed in a new flight path. "He even outdid EDI."

"No offence, but how is that special?"

There was a loaded pause. "She's a specialist. Like prodigy specialist." Joker lied, well, technically it wasn't a lie. It just allowed the other people on the comm to establish their own reasons as to why she might be that special without actually admitting to anything illegal. "Anyway, if you cut across on the vector I'm sending you I can blindside them and take out that last turret."

"Vector received." Alan confirmed. "Executing now." One turret against two expert pilots was a foregone and quick conclusion. "Okay, if scans indicate we're clear I'm going to try and bring Thunderbird 3 in close enough to hook up our life support with the platform." Neither Kayo nor EDI had any reasons to contradict his plan so he manoeuvred into position.

Apart from the turrets the rest of the rescue operation was relatively straight forward. As Alan helped the engineer repair the platform - with helpful advice from EDI to speed up their work - as Joker and Kayo retrieved the mining charges that had escaped in the blast. Kayo took one of the spaceboards to carefully check them over for damage or initiated detonation sequences before she moved them into the cargo hold of the Normandy where Joker was shadowing her.

It didn't take long for the mining platform to be operational again and the Normandy had returned their lost explosives and Thunderbird 3 had detached. The turrets were a lost cause, but the Alliance had been alerted and they were sending specialists and replacements. "Not bad for a couple of hotshots whose egos egged each other into a race through the asteroid belt." Kayo joked as they all finished settling back into their respective seats.

"Yeah... about that." Alan rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess the Normandy does have some features that are better than Thunderbird 3's."

"One day I'm going to have to convince you to let me take Thunderbird 3 for a spin, those are some incredible manoeuvring jets you've got." Joker also conceded.

"Would you let me fly the Normandy?" Alan retorted.

Joker glanced to EDI. "Point taken." He admitted. "Co-pilots?"

"Sounds like a plan."