Losses

**Losses** is the thirty-first *TUGS: The Bigg City Chronicles* story and the first story of the Wartime trilogy.

## Plot

Captain Star recalls the attack on Pearl Harbor and President Franklin D. Roosevelt declaring war on Japan as a result, thus bringing the United States into the Second World War. Thomas and Andrea had already made the right decision to postpone the honeymoon and Lillie is stored at Lucky's Yard for safety. Lexi, Placido and Maeve come back to the Dock Railway to help with the extra work.

One night, Ten Cents has a nightmare about being caught up in an attack. The rest of the Stars are concerned, especially Hercules and Sunshine. Zip also shows concerns for her friend and when she overhears Hercules comforting Ten Cents, she wishes she had a big sibling as well.

The next morning, Captain Star decides to have Ten Cents work with Hercules for the time being and the two tugs go to escort a naval tramper out to sea. Meanwhile, Zorran and Zug set off to collect munitions for the naval base. Captain Zero then leaves for a meeting with the harbour master, unaware of an unwelcome visitor, lurking nearby.

Once Ten Cents and Hercules have seen the tramper off, they return to port and wonder if Ariel and Penny are alright.

Zorran and Zug have delivered the munitions safely and Jimbo clears them, but also informs that Admiral Cardona wants to speak to him. Whilst Zorran heads back for the Zero Dock, Zug goes to see Admiral Cardona. The admiral has a message from Captain Zero, saying he needs to collect an urgent delivery from the old quay. What Zug doesn't mean that someone has laid a trap for him.

Porter and Kirke have just finished shunting some munition boxcars off Zob's car floats. Once that's done, Top Hat and Zob set off back for their respective docks.

Zug arrives at the old quay, only for a larger tug to pounce on him. Poor Zug is terrified and he is escorted in a warehouse where a group of vessels and two humans are waiting for him; they are silhouetted so Zug can't see them in full. One of the humans goes to get a barrel, which confirms Zug's worst fears...

Back at the Star Dock, Captain Star does the number off system with his fleet without any issues and instructs them to await further instructions. Just as Captain Zero is about to get his fleet to number off, he notices that Zak, Zug and Zeus are missing. Zorran then explains that Admiral Cardona wanted to speak to Zug and Captain Zero goes to phone the naval base to check if Zug is alright. When Admiral Cardona explains about the urgent job, Captain Zero is shocked as he never gave such an order. Quickly, he hangs up and informs his fleet that Zug has gone missing. Zorran quickly organises a search party and instructs Captain Zero and Captain Star to stay at their docks in case of an attack. When the Stars are informed of this, Hercules agrees to help, saying that it was time to return the favour as the Z-Stacks helped to look for Sunshine when she was kidnapped. Zak and Zeus then show up and Zorran instructs Zob to keep an eye on them whilst looking for Zug.

The Stars and Z-Stacks meet up with the Salvage Fleet and Coast Guard team as well as Robin who is worried for her brother's safety. Billy Shoepack, Sea Rogue and O’Malley promise to look up river for him. Captain Lucky even contacts Sally Seaplane to see if she can search for Zug from the skies. Although Finbar is needed in case of fire, he promised to keep a lookout. Captain Zero also asks Mr. Lloyd and the engines to look for Zug.

Top Hat, Sunshine, Zebedee and Zip check the waste dump but neither Lord Stinker nor Jack have seen him. Placido can't find Zug either and Little Owl worries that this may have been what Zak, Zeus and Ursula Zero were planning. Pisces, Misty and Scorpio look out at sea but come across a ship waving the swastika. Quickly the three tugs turn back for port as the inevitable is about to happen.

Ten Cents and Hercules are searching by the old quay when the air raid sirens go off, striking terror into Ten Cents. Quickly, Hercules throws a towline and rushes into a warehouse where they both make an horrifying discovery...

Captain Zero rushes over to Captain Star's announcing house, which has a basement. The two captains waste no time in rushing downstairs and Captain Zero feels upset, due to Zug going missing and Bigg City being invaded. Captain Star sympathizes with him and hopes the tugs come out of this alive.

Sunshine, Top Hat, Zebedee and Zip are still looking for Zug when the enemy planes start bombing. Sunshine directs them to a warehouse and Pisces, Misty and Scorpio came up. However, a enemy bomber is aiming for Zip who is still looking for Zug. Quickly, Top Hat shoves Zip out of the way but fails to get out of the way himself and is struck in the wheelhouse, much to Sunshine's horror.

O.J., Grampus, Zorran and Zilly are still looking for Zug. O.J. doesn’t notice an enemy ship firing a torpedo at him, but Zilly does and charges forward in front of it. Poor Zilly is blown apart, much to Grampus' horror.

Over on the Dock Railway, a munitions boxcar has caught fire and there is a danger of the entire railway being blown up. Quickly, Kirke rushes the boxcar to the abandoned tunnel, despite Porter and Henney's protests. Kirke tells his crew to jump and they reluctantly obey. Once Kirke enters the tunnel, the munitions explode, causing the tunnel to collapse.

Sally is fighting enemy planes from the sky. Moonlight and Hail, who are sheltering nearby, cheer her on. Then, an enemy plane shoots at Sally and her left wing breaks off, causing the sea plane to crash into the ocean, smashing on impact. Hail is horrified and Moonlight is distraught.

Big Mac, Warrior and Stormy are trying to avoid the bombs. Then, Big Mac sees a bomb heading for a fuel barge, right next to Warrior. Big Mac pushes Warrior out of the way just the barge explodes.

Then, the attack stops with the enemies either killed or arrested. Warrior is worried that Big Mac may been killed but to his and Stormy's relief, Big Mac survives the attack, the worst damage being a cracked funnel. The happiness is short-lived however as Zebedee, Zip, Sunshine, Pisces, Misty and Scorpio come up with Top Hat's remains - the railway tug's wheelhouse having been completely destroyed. Then O.J., Zorran and Grampus show up with Zilly's remains on a barge. Ember, Robin, Zob, Zak and Zeus show up and learn the bad news about Top Hat and Zilly. Hail and Moonlight come up to inform the group about Sally's death. Zob informs them that Jack and Lord Stinker are alright but Mr. Krieger was crushed to death when his announcing house was destroyed. Ember confirms that Captain Lucky and Lillie are alright. Then the Coast Guard team shows up and Davy Jones informs the tugs about Kirke and the tunnel. Quickly, the group rushes off to the Railhead.

Unfortunately, they're too late. Kirke has been crushed to death. Porter and Henney are saddened at losing their brother. Everyone is devastated by the losses that have occured. Then, just as Mr. Lloyd goes to arrange a funeral service for Kirke, Ten Cents and Hercules show up - and Big Mac notices that they've found Zug. This gives a brief glimmer of hope - which is sadly short-lived as Ten Cents and Hercules sadly reveal that Zug has been murdered via a forced Final Firing. Sunshine, Zip and Robin are heartbroken at this with Zebedee also saddened, although Zak and Zeus are secretly pleased. Zorran then informs Ten Cents and Hercules about the other losses. Moonlight goes to tell Sally's owners about her death, the remaining Stars and Z-Stacks head back to inform Captain Star and Captain Zero, Stormy, Hail and Robin go to recover Sally's remains and PIsces, Misty, Scorpio and Ember stay to clear up the mess. Placido, meanwhile, begins to sense a connection between Zug's death and the attack.

Captain Zero's announcing house has been destroyed in the attack but Captain Star lets him and the Z-Stacks stay at the Star Dock until it is rebuilt. Then the remaining Stars and Z-Stacks arrive back and both captains are relieved at first until they get to the number off and they notice neither Zug or Top Hat have called it. It's then that Captain Star and Captain Zero learn the bad news and both are devastated. They both agree to hold funeral services for Top Hat, Zug and Zilly and ask Captain Lucky to do the scrapping process so that Burke and Blair don't taint their 'burials'.

Captain Star then gets a phone call from the retirement home to say that his mother was killed in the attack. Then Captain Lucky and Andrea slip in and inform them that Captain Lucky's parents are dead. Captain Lucky learns about Top Hat, Zug, Zilly, Kirke, Sally and Mr. Krieger dying as well as the four are embraced in a hug. Thomas informs the tugs about this and they decide to hold a joint funeral for them.

Big Mac is repaired in time for the funeral, which takes place a week after the attack. The mourners all recall memories of the fallen. Once the service is complete, the fallen vehicles are then cut up for scrap whilst O.J. and Warrior escort Captain Star's mother, Captain Lucky's parents and Mr. Krieger up to Uptown to be buried.

One positive from the horrible situation is that Sally's owners, who had declared bankrupt, used the last of their money to buy Lord Stinker and Jack so they are saved from any potential scrap dealers. Also, Kirke's crew come at the waste dump.

## Characters

* Captain Star
* Ten Cents
* Big Mac
* O.J.
* Top Hat (death)
* Warrior
* Hercules
* Sunshine
* Grampus
* Captain Zero
* Zorran
* Zebedee
* Zak
* Zug (death)
* Zip
* Zeus
* Zob
* Zilly (death)
* Pisces
* Misty
* Scorpio
* Ember
* Stormy
* Hail
* Moonlight
* Robin
* Sea Rogue
* O'Malley
* Billy Shoepack
* Lillie Lightship (does not speak)
* Sally Seaplane (death)
* Jacob Burke and Ebenezer Blair
* Corona
* Finbar (does not speak)
* Peeper Pipes (does not speak)
* Davy Jones
* Cappy (does not speak)
* Snowy (does not speak)
* Jimbo
* Lord Stinker
* Jack the Grappler
* Captain Lucky
* Admiral Cardona
* Mr. Frederick Lloyd
* Mr. Krieger (does not speak; death)
* Puffa
* Little Owl
* Porter
* Henney
* Kirke (death)
* Placido
* Lexi
* Maeve

## Voices

### Official

* Simon Nash as Ten Cents
* Sean Barrett as Big Mac, Hercules, Zebedee, Sea Rogue, Blair and Captain Zero
* Ian James Corlett as O.J.
* John Baddeley as Top Hat and Puffa
* Chris Tulloch as Zorran
* Shaun Prendergrast as Zak
* Nigel Anthony as Zug and Davy Jones
* Lee Cornes as Grampus
* JoAnne Good as Sally Seaplane
* David Menkin as Porter
* Lucy Montgomery as Lexi

### Fan chosen

* Peter Dickson as Captain Star
* Jeff Bennett as Warrior
* Michelle Creber as Sunshine
* Tara Strong as Zip and Misty
* Richard White as Zeus
* Christian Bale as Zob
* Matt Frewer as Zilly
* Catherine Cavadini as Pisces
* E.G. Daily as Scorpio
* Ali Milner as Ember
* Nicole Sullivan as Stormy
* Katie Leigh as Hail
* Shaun Prendergrast as Moonlight
* Julie Nathanson as Robin
* Jennifer Hale as Corona
* Chris Evans as Jimbo
* Lenore Zann as Little Owl and Captain Lucky
* Phyllis Smith as Henney
* Alan Tudyk as Kirke
* Peter New as Placido
* Cristina Pucelli as Maeve
* Paul Dobson as Mr. Lloyd
* Dawnn Lewis as Ursula Zero
* J.K. Simmons as Mr. Broke
* Javier Bardem as Admiral Cardona