Author's note: I decided that this chapter needed a serious rewrite, I wrote in a much better introduction to the story and changed a few sentences here and there.
Alf: under red skies
Chapter 1: An alien named Gordon
It is the dawning of a new day as the sun started to shine on a massive glimmering city, its skyscrapers towering high into the air, the tallest skyscraper being at the center of the city with a large dome on top of it and a spare reaching ever higher into the sky. Beneath the massive structures its citizen's hustle and bustle to start their day, hundreds of hover cars stream through the streets while other people simply walk along the sidewalks of the streets. Just on the outside of the city lays another large building with several huge air strip runway platforms floating above it, where assault fighter spaceships continuously taking off and landing from them.
It was the beginning of another day at orbit guard headquarters, a meeting was going to be held by the Admiral of the orbit guard and it was mandatory that all orbit guard personal be there. All the orbit guard personal was in the great hall sitting in rows of seats. Sergeant staff, the third in command of the orbit guard, started to take roll call. Skip and Rick, Gordon's two best friends, were sitting in the front row. They soon realized the meeting was about to start and Gordon had no shown up yet. Rick was getting increasingly worried, but Skip remained laid back and calm. Rhonda, who was up on the stage with the sergeant, soon noticed Gordon was still missing too and she too began to get worried, she knew what the serge would do to Gordon if he was ever late.
"Where's Gordon? He's going to be late and the serge…" Rick started to say.
"Relax ricko, don't get your fur all in a knot, he'll be here on time, he always does." Skip soon said.
Meanwhile, in a rural suburban neighborhood named East Velcro just outside of the city in an oddly shaped orange painted house.
"Gordon! Gordon Shumway! Get your lazy butt out of bed, you going to be late!"
Gordon could hear his mom calling from his room, but he choose to ignore it, he just didn't want to get out of bed, he was having one of those morning.
His mom soon stomped up the stairs to his room and stormed in slamming the door open and said "I'm not calling all you again, out of bed now mister!"
Gordon sluggishly crawled out from under the covers of his bed and looked at his alarm clock "don't worry mom, I still got…..5 minutes!" Gordon said in surprise as he grabbed his alarm clock.
Gordon quickly tried to get out bed, but fell out of his bed trying to do so. Gordon's mom just rolled her eyes and turned to leave his room.
Meanwhile, back at orbit guard headquarters, serge continued to take roll call, he was getting closer to calling out Gordon's name.
"I sure hope Gordon gets here on time." Rhonda said to herself while continuing to check off the list of names being called. The serge heard her and just let out a soft evil chuckle and then continued with roll call.
Meanwhile, back at Gordon's house…
Gordon quickly rummaged through his wardrobe trying to find his orbit guard outfit, throwing his cloths everywhere. Finally, he found his outfit, quickly put it on and rushed downstairs. When he got downstairs, his family was at the table having breakfast, his mom Flo, his dad Bob, his younger brother Curtis and his baby sister Augie. Gordon didn't have time to sit down for breakfast, so he just quickly rushed towards the door.
Then his mom said "Gordon, aren't you forgetting something?"
Then Gordon turned around and said "huh?...oh yeah."
He quickly grabbed some food from the table and then proceeded to leave.
"That is not what I meant, Gordon…"his mom said.
Gordon rolled his eyes, but turned back around to give mom a quick kiss on the cheek. Then just when he was about to leave again, he dad spoke out "son, did you fix the breaks on the car like I asked?"
Gordon stopped his in tracks and said "breaks? ummm…..no, but don't worry, I'll coast lightly."
"And don't forget to pick up the laundry while you're out." Gordon's mom said again.
"Alright, mom." Gordon said while rushing towards the door.
After that he was finally able to get out the door. Of course, what he told his dad was a lie about driving lightly; he would have to drive like a mad melmacian in order to get to the orbit guard headquarters on time. He quickly started up his hover car and speeded down his street on to the highway, weaving in and out of passing cars as he went. He soon saw a traffic jam up head, so he pressed the break paddle to slow down, but the car would not stop.
"Note to self, fix the breaks!" Gordon said to himself
Unable to stop, he had to think fast to avoid the cars, he quickly turned his car to the right, turning it sideways and rode along the barrier of the highway missing the blockade of cars completely. Once he was pass the traffic jam, he got his car properly back on the highway, but he was not out the woods yet, he still had to race like crazy if he was going to make it on time. The orbit guard headquarters building soon came into view and he speeded towards the front entrance, but he still couldn't stop, so he ended up crashing through the hedge and barrier surrounding the building and was flying towards the side of the building, he knew what going to come next and braced himself for impact.
Meanwhile, inside the orbit guard headquarters, the roll call list finally got down to Gordon's name and the serge soon shouted it out.
"SHUMWAY!"
CRASH
Not a second later, as soon as the serge shouted his name out, his hover car crashed through the wall of the great hall, nearly scaring the hell out the serge and putting shocked faces on the rest of the crowd.
"See, I told you he would make it." Skip said to Rick still laid back as before.
"Shumway, what the hell do you think you're doing?! Look at what you did to the building!" serge pointed and shouted at Gordon.
"Hey, ease up; I made it on time didn't I?" Gordon said back.
The serge just growled at him.
Gordon soon noticed that Rhonda was staring at him, and soon said to her "guess I really know how to make an entrance."
"Right sure." Rhonda said sarcastically, but she smiled at him anyway.
"Watch yourself, Shumway! You're playing with death! Now get down here and clean up this mess, or you'll be scrumming toilets for a month!" the serge shouted at Gordon again.
"Is that a suggestion or an order, sir?" Gordon said again as he started to climb down from his car.
The serge let out a nasty growl at Gordon again.
Gordon flinched a bit and said "I'll take that as an order."
So Gordon reluctantly started cleaning up the debris on the floor. Then the Admiral appeared out from the door on the right and talked on to the stage, of course eyeing the huge mess that lay out before him. The serge quickly turned around and saw the Admiral coming.
"Orbit guards! Ten' hut!" the serge shouted.
All the orbit guard personal stood up from their seats and saluted in the presence of the Admiral.
"Presenting the Admiral of the orbit guard, Logan Strider." The serge said again.
"Sergeant Staff, may I ask why there is a huge hole in the wall and a car through it?" Admiral Logan said looking at the serge with stern eyes.
"It's private Shumway's fault! He's to blame!" the serge shouted while pointing at Gordon.
"Regardless, it's your responsibility to train all these privates to their best, so it would do good to keep them all in line." Admiral Logan said.
The serge just growled again, the Admiral always did put part of the blame on him whenever one of the privates messed up, especially when it came to Gordon.
Then the Admiral turned his attention towards the crowd, who all sat back down in their seats and then the Admiral began to speak.
"Orbit guards, the reason for this meeting is that I'm planning a new mission and I need new recruits to train to become orbit guard pilots. Anyone that wishes to volunteer may please step forward."
Once the serge heard that he gave off an evil grin and so shouted "Shumway! Front and center!"
"Yes, sir!" Gordon said appearing in front the serge.
"I know private Shumway would like to volunteer." The serge said to the Admiral with a sinister smile.
Admiral Logan turned and looked at Gordon with a raised eyebrow "hmm…good to see a young private so ambitious."
"Yeah, wait….what just happened?" Gordon said realized he just volunteered for something he didn't want to do.
Rhonda did notice what the serge had done and she thought it was kind of dirty trick to pull on Gordon.
Admiral Logan then turned back towards the crowd and said "anyone else?"
A few more orbit guard candidates did volunteer, even though they all knew becoming a pilot is a very risky job. After that, the Admiral spoke again "very well, I'm grateful for those that have volunteered, you will serve you planet well. All your training will start immediately."
With that, Admiral Logan turned away and started to walk off the stage again, but just as he was about to leave, Gordon followed him and asked "uhh…sir, may I ask what kind of mission a volunteered for?"
"One that you may risk your very life for." The Admiral said with his back still facing Gordon.
Gordon gulped a bit and said "uhh…no thanks, everyone in my family bruises easily."
Gordon quickly turned around and tried to leave, but was soon stopped as he bumped into the serge.
The serge loomed over him and said with the evil smile still on his face "oh no you don't, you're not going anywhere."
"Sergeant Staff will be supervising your special training." the Admiral said before leaving the stage and out the door of the great hall.
Sergeant staff just gave out an evil snicker while Gordon gave the expression of "oh crap."
"I look forward to it." Gordon said in dismay.
The reason why trying to become an orbit guard pilot was risky was because it was probably one of the most dangerous jobs a melmacian could have, aerial combat engagement was not something to taken lightly and not one for the faint of heart, one tiny screw up could send you to an early grave. Plus the tests required to take to pass for a pilot were often very stressful and brutal, only a select few of melmacians got high enough scores to be considered pilots.
Sergeant staff escorted Gordon and the rest of the orbit guard candidates to part of the orbit guard building that did the special training for pilots. As Gordon walked on, he soon saw some other candidates that went thought the tests previously and failed and they looked pretty badly beaten up, Gordon started to get really nervous. But surprisingly, once Gordon started on the tests, it did fairly well and passed all tests with the minimal requirements, the bad weather flight test and the high pressure flight test, up until the final test, the flight simulator test. This test simulated if the pilot was in an actual aerial combat situation. The candidates before Gordon went first and they all pasted with fairly high scores to be considered pilots. Finally, it came down to Gordon's turn.
"Alright, Shumway, you're up!" the serge said.
Gordon sighed and processed to climb up into the simulator cockpit. Once he got inside the cockpit, he was like a kid taking an exam that he did not study for. He was utterly lost and confused by how many buttons, dials and switches that were on the console. It was a requirement for all orbit guard privates to know all the ins and outs of the cockpit in an orbit guard ship once you join the orbit guard, but Gordon seemed to have suddenly forgotten it all. The serge started to stare at him angrily; he would have to think of something quick. He soon saw a big switch to the right of the console; he hoped that was the start button to start up the engine. He flipped the switch, sure enough it was, the simulator cockpit started made the noise as if the ship's engine was starting up. Gordon breathed a small sign of relief, but he was still in trouble. The simulator screens around the cockpit began to come on as the cockpit ascended as if it was taking off from a runway. Gordon grabbed the double joystick steering controls, no really sure of what to do next. Soon enough the targets appeared on the screen, usually crude graphics of enemy ships that flew around the screens to simulate actual combat. Gordon tried his best to shoot at the targets, but turned out his aim was terrible; he barely hit any of the targets while he was taking a lot of hits from the enemy ships. Gordon knew he was doing poorly, and he just wanted the simulation to end so badly. Finally, the simulation ended and the cockpit started to descend again and his score was soon displayed on the screen, 60%. Gordon cinched a bit, he knew he has done badly, but not that bad. You needed a score of at least 85% or better in order to be considered a pilot, Gordon was far from that. Some the other orbit guard personal still in the simulator area gasped a bit, no one had gotten a score that bad before. Gordon was both relieved and embarrassed, relieved that there was no possible why he would be a pilot now, but embarrassed everyone saw how bad he was, especially with Rhonda, who had been watching him too. Gordon always did have the hots for her and tried to think of ways to impress her, but that she saw how awful he was as a pilot, she might think less of him. Gordon somberly climbed down from the simulator cockpit, knowing he was going to get a lot of wrath from the serge.
"What the hell was that?! Pathetic! I expected a lot better from you then that!" he serge shouted.
"Sorry, sir." Gordon just said while trying not to look up at him.
"You can forget about being a pilot, matter of fact you'll be lucky to be kept on maintenance crew!" the serge shouted again.
"Yes, sir." Gordon simply said.
After that, Gordon just walked away with his head hung low. Rhonda looked back at him as he walked away feeling sorry for him.
All of a sudden, the alarm sounded throughout the orbit guard headquarters, any melmacian knew what that meant; enemy aircraft have been spotted in the area.
"Orbit guard pilots! Suit up, and get to the runway!" the serge shouted to the new recruits.
"Yes, sir!" they all said, saluted and then ran off.
Soon all the orbit guard pilots suited up and gathered out on the runway to get a quick briefing from the orbit guard Captain Cadfield on the situation. Meanwhile, the maintenance crew was called out to give a quick check up on all the ships to make sure they were ready for flight.
"Orbit guards, listen up! Larson's squadron has been spotted over the dire straits and is heading this way. No doubt he probably has another diabolical plan to take over melmac; our mission is to intercept his ships before they get to the headquarters. Now move out and good luck men!" said the captain.
"Yes, sir!" all the orbit guard pilots said and started to run to their ships.
Meanwhile, Gordon was doing final prepping and cleaning on one of the ships, then he saw Rhonda coming out on to the runway and coming towards him. He really did not want to see her after the simulator test embarrassment.
"Rhonda!" Gordon said
Thinking quickly, he quickly grabbed the pilot helmet sitting the cockpit seat of the ship and put it on, the least he could try to do was redeem himself a little bit in her eyes by at least pretending to be a pilot. He casually leaded back resting one hand of the ship trying to look cool.
Rhonda soon approached and said "hi Gordon, sorry to hear the serge crewed you out at the flight simulator test."
"Ah, don't worry about it, the serge let me off easy later on. He might consider me a pilot after all." Gordon said.
"Are you sure? Your score was too low to be considered a pilot." Rhonda said skeptically
"Well, that's what he said." Gordon said realized his pretending was not going over so well.
"Wait, you're not serious about flying are you?" Rhonda said.
"Ah, they might keep as a backup pilot in case one of then gets sick or something." Gordon said again.
Before the two could say anything more, the captain came up to them and said "Fulkerson! What are you doing? Stop wasting time, were moving out!"
At first Gordon was a bit confused, but then he soon realized the captain must have mistaken him for someone else because he was wearing a helmet.
"Wait, I'm not…"Gordon started to say.
But before Gordon could say anything more, the captain shouted back at him "No excuses! Now get moving!"
"But I'm not Fulkerson!" Gordon tried to say, but it was too late, the captain already walked off and proceeded to his ship.
Gordon really had no choice now; he had to play the part of the other pilot. Gordon reluctantly climbed into the cockpit of the ship and closed the hatch ready to take off. Rhonda couldn't really do anything either, too late to stop the captain now; she just shook her head and said to herself "oh Gordon, what have you got yourself into now." She soon had to clear the runway and the ships were ready to take off.
The captain's ship took off first towards the sky and then the rest of the orbit guard fleet soon followed; soon it began Gordon's turn to take off.
"Okay, I can do this; it's just like the flight simulator. How hard can it be?" Gordon said.
He remembered the big switch on the right being the start button, so he switched that and soon enough the engine start to rave up. Then Gordon tried his best to remember how to take off, He grabbed the double joystick controls and slowly started to push it forward, the ship started to roll down the runway. Then when the ship reached the end of the runway, he pulled the joysticks up and back and the ship lifted itself off the runway. He take off was a little shaky, but he did it, he was pleased with himself he at least got this far. He then caught up with the rest of the orbit guard fleet; he figured he would be okay on just winging it, as long as he didn't have to shot at anything.
Not far off, a huge sleek looking black ship slowly started to appear out of the clouds along with a small fleet of fighter ships following behind. Inside the huge ship's bridge stood the most loathed and feared enemy of melmac, Larson petty. He stood at the head of the bridge while his midget assistant was at the helm and driving the ship forward.
"Sir, were approaching orbit guard airspace." said his assistant
"Good, tell all the squadron fighters to prepare for engagement, no doubt we will run into some orbit guard ships." said Larson.
"Yes sir. All fighters prepare for enemy engagement." said his assistant over the ships intercom.
After that, all the fighter ships started to fly a little bit a head of Larson's ship.
"This time for sure I will wipe out all of orbit guard forces and that stinking Admiral Logan for kicking me out and take my rightful place as Admiral." Larson said with an evil smile.
Meanwhile, up ahead, the orbit guard squadron was racing through the clouds, making their way to Larson's last known location. They soon spotted Larson's ship and his fighter squadron through the clouds. Gordon soon saw them too and was now realizing he had bitten off more than he could crew, no doubt they going to fight and he knew nothing about aerial combat.
"Dear mom, tell everyone goodbye for me, tell Curtis he can have my cats of all worlds poster. Oh yeah, P.S. tell dad I won't be able to fix the breaks." Gordon said to himself as if he was making out his will just before his death.
Then the captain soon spoke over the intercom "alright listen up, I'll go after Larson's ship while the rest of you take down his squadron fighters, remember be prepared for anything."
Gordon gulped a bit; he was so not ready for this.
Once the ships got closer to Larson's fleet, the captain soon yelled over the intercom again "engage!"
And with that all the ships started speeded forward, of course Gordon was a bit hesitant, the captain soon spotted this.
"Fulkerson! Stop lagging behind, engage the enemy!" the captain shouted over Gordon's intercom
Gordon had no choice; he had to go through with this. So he speeded off with the other ships.
Meanwhile, back on Larson's ship.
"So they like to make the first move, very well then. All fighters attack!" Larson shouted over his ship's intercom.
Sure enough Larson's squadron fighters speeded forward; soon the two fleets meet and engaged in the fury of combat. Gordon was soon lost in the chaos; all he could do to avoid getting hit was to keep dodging gunfire and ships. This was far different from what he experienced in the flight simulator, turns out the real thing was a lot scarier. No way was he going be able to shoot at anything; he could not pick out clear target in this mess.
Meanwhile, the captain was engaging with Larson's ship, they were dueling in a constant game of chicken, and charging at each other while firing off shots and then dodging each other at the last moment, only to swing their ships back around and do it again. Neither one of them doing much damaged to their ships and neither one of them backing down.
Finally, Gordon spotted a clear target, one of Larson's fighter ships had zoomed right in front of him and was too preoccupied pursuing another orbit guard ship to notice him. Gordon figured with the fighter ship so close there was no way he could possibly miss, so he fired off a few shots anyway. But as soon as he did, the fighter ship made a sharp turn to the left and he ended up shooting the other orbit guard ship instead. This was the one instance he was glad he had bad aim; he only managed to clip one of the other ship's wings. Soon the other obit guard ship dodged out of the way too.
"Hey, just who's side are you on, buddy?!" Gordon heard the other pilot yell over his intercom.
Gordon hid his face with his hand in embarrassment. Soon enough the squadron fighter he tried to shoot at earlier was pursuing him now and was firing shots at him. Gordon had to think of something fast to lose this guy. Unfortunately, he was not the greatest at flying either, so that was going to be near impossible. Suddenly the fighter ship managed to clip one the wings of his ship, it took quite a bit of damage and was giving off a lot of smoke, he had to think of something quick or he was done for. Then suddenly Gordon stirred his ship straight up, not really caring where he was going, he just wanted to get rid of the other ship on his tail. What he didn't realize was he was heading straight for the captain's and Larson's ship engaging in battle, until it was too late. The captain and Larson's ships were just about to hit each other again when suddenly Gordon's ship came speeding past in between them. Gordon was able to dodge the shots the two ships were firing at each other, but the other fighter ship was not so lucky and was soon caught in the crossfire and exploded.
"Are you out of your mind, pilot?! I almost hit you!" the captain yelled over the intercom to Gordon's ship.
"What the hell just happened?! Who was that?!" Larson shouted.
"I don't know, but I think that orbit guard pilot just made us shoot one of our own." His assistant said in a shy voice.
Larson growled and then shouted over the ship's intercom "fighters three and four get after that damaged ship!"
Immediately two ships brought away from the battle and became pursuing Gordon's ship. Great, Gordon had two fighters tailing him now, there was no way he could dodge both of them, he was in a panic now and in a desperate move he swung back around to make another close pass over the captain's ship hoping the captain would help him out. Unbeknownst to him, he got so close this time that the smoke he was giving off from his damaged wing fogged up the captain's glass to his cockpit to the point he couldn't see.
"You're out of line, pilot! That stupid move you just did fogged up my windows, I'm flying blind now!" shouted the captain over Gordon's intercom.
"Dam." Gordon said to himself.
While inside Larson's ship, he soon saw what had just happened and soon said with an evil grin
"Wait, this may work in my favor. Start to execute plan alpha."
"Yes, sir." said his assistant.
The assistant helmsman quickly swung the ship around until facing the rear of the captain's ship. Once he did that, he fired a huge harpoon gun attached at the bottom the ship; once the harpoon was fired it embedded itself in the side of the captain's ship. Then Larson's ship started to drag along the captain's ship by the cable attached to the harpoon.
"Now I got you right where I want you." Larson said with an evil chuckle.
The captain knew something bad was going on, but he still could see exactly what it was happening. He could still see though the radar on his ship, but there was no possible way the judge the distance and direction of Larson's ship without seeing it with his own eyes.
"Orbit guards! I think I'm in trouble, indeed of assistant!" the captain said.
But his plea for help was futile, all the other orbit guard pilots were too busy fighting off Larson's fighter ships, including Gordon who still being pursued by two fighter ships, because of his ship's damaged wing, it became harder for him to keep the ship stabilized.
Larson's ship was dragging the captain's ship towards another small group of his fighters lying in wait in cloud cover not far off.
Meanwhile, back at the orbit guard headquarters, sergeant staff and the rest of central command in the control room were surveying the battle and they could see things were not going well. The serge became furious.
"I don't know who that pilot is, but he is jeopardizing the mission!" the serge shouted.
Rhonda was standing by the serge and saw what was happening too, she knew it was Gordon who was in that ship.
"Gordon is in trouble, I got to do something." said Rhonda whispered to herself.
She knew what she needed to do, but she rather do it unnoticed; she knew the serge would protest. While the serge was to preoccupied watching the battle on the display screens, she quietly snuck away from the central control room, and then ran to put on a pilot uniform and then ran to the hanger bay while there was a spare orbit guard ship lying in wait. She started up the ship, steered it towards the runway and then took off. She raced through the sky towards the battle; she had to help out the captain first, and then go help Gordon. She soon quickly got to the location of the battle. She soon saw the captain's ship being dragged along with Larson's ship by a harpoon, she quickly fired off some shots from her ship, and she was able to get an accurate enough shot to cut the cable that had attached the two ships together. She soon saw the captain's cockpit was covered up be soot, she had to figure out a way to wash it away. One of the storage compartments in the ship was carrying water to keep the ship engines from overheating; she figured that was the best option she had to clean the captain's ship. She quickly positioned her ship directly above the captain's ship and opened the storage compartment to dump the water; the water splashed on the captain's ship and soon washed away the soot on the captain's cockpit windows.
Soon the captain could see out of his cockpit again and saw the pilot that helped him. He did not recognize the ship; it was not part of the original fleet he took off with.
"Whoever you are, thank you." said the captain.
Rhonda had just enough time left to help Gordon out and then return to orbit guard headquarters.
Meanwhile, back on Larson's ship, Larson soon saw the ship that helped free the captain and shouted "now who the hell is that?!"
"I don't know, sir. That ship just appeared out of nowhere." said his assistant.
"Well, get after it!" Larson yelled.
The helmsman did as he was told and steered the ship to go after the mystery pilot. Rhonda knew Larson's ship was following her now, but right now the more important thing was she had to find Gordon. She soon spotted Gordon's damaged ship being pursuing by the two fighter ships, she raced up behind them and started to fire off shots which in turn made the two fighter ships break away from their pursuit. Then Rhonda flew up right next to Gordon's ship, Gordon soon noticed he was not be followed by the two fighter ships anymore and soon spotted the ship to his right, he got a brief glimpse of who was inside the cockpit, the pilot looked to be female, but Gordon did not recognize the pilot because she was wearing a helmet. He saw the unknown pilot wink at him from the cockpit.
Rhonda soon spoke over Gordon's intercom "stay calm and follow me."
Gordon did recognize that voice, but at the moment he couldn't quite pick it out.
Gordon did as he was told and followed his mystery pilot. Rhonda soon swung back around and started helping out the other orbit guard pilots by taking down Larson's fighter ships.
"Just follow everything I do." Rhonda said again to Gordon.
Which he did, he followed her every move and only fired off shots from his ship when she did, surprisingly by doing this his aim got a lot better, at least he was able to hit the enemy ships this time. But it was nothing compared the phantom pilot he was following, the pilot was able take down Larson's fighter ships within just a few shots, whoever ever the pilot was, was really good. Rhonda and Gordon started taking down the fighters ships one by one.
"Sir, those two ships are taking down our squadron fighters!" said the helmsman assistant.
"Dam! Hurry up and get after them!" Larson shouted.
The helmsman steered to ship to pursue the two ships, once Rhonda saw the Larson was following her again, she turned her ship around again and raced off, Gordon soon followed her. Larson was soon following close behind and firing off shots from his own ship.
"Great, now we got Larson following us." said Gordon.
"We want that; get his attention to buy the captain more time." Rhonda said over Gordon's intercom.
Meanwhile, back at orbit guard headquarters, the serge and central command were stilling watching the scene unfold.
"Sir, an unidentified ship just entered the battle zone." said one the of the central command personal to the serge.
"Is it Larson's?!" said the serge
"No, looks to be an orbit guard ship, but it is not part of the squadron that left with the captain." said the central command officer.
"Who is it then?!" the serge shouted.
"Don't know, but whoever it is, is on our side, that pilot just helped free the captain and is now assisting that damaged ship." said the central command officer.
"Well, I don't care what that pilot is doing! Whoever that person is, is an unauthorized pilot in restricted orbit guard airspace!" the serge shouted.
Meanwhile, back in the battle zone, Larson was still pursuing the two ships. Rhonda soon noticed the fuel to her ship was low, if she did not break away now, she might not be able to return to headquarters. She had no choice, as quick as a flash she broke away from the chase and disappeared through the clouds, she hoped what she did would be enough to save Gordon and the mission.
"Sir, one the ships just broke away." said the assistant helmsman.
"Never mind that one; we'll go after it later, right now take down the one in front of us." Larson said.
"Yes sir." said the assistant helmsman.
Gordon soon noticed that his mystery pilot was no longer with him. Great, he was alone again with Larson chasing after him and had no idea what to do. He figured this was the end for him now.
Suddenly he heard an explosion from behind him and he looked back to see what it was, he could see Larson's ship was on fire, his ship must of taken a hit, but who had done it? Then he soon saw the captain's ship appear right behind Larson's, the captain must of snuck up behind him and Larson was too occupied in chasing after Gordon he didn't know he was there, the plan had actually worked. After firing off a few more shots at Larson's ship, the captain flew up beside Gordon and then took off again, Gordon got the hint he should follow the captain, so he did and the captain lead him away from Larson's burning ship.
Meanwhile, inside Larson's ship…
"Sir, the ship as taken on massive damage, its power is down to 30%! If we take another hit like that, we'll crash!" the assistant helmsman said.
Larson slammed his fist on the ship's console and shouted "dam! Curse you orbit guard! Fine, tell the squadron fighters to make a full retreat!"
Soon after, Larson's squadron fighters soon broke away from the battle and followed Larson's burning ship, eventually disappearing into the clouds.
"Captain, Larson and his squadron are retreating, should we continuing pursuing them?" said one the orbit guard pilots to the captain.
"No, I think he got the message, let's head home. Besides I got a bone to pick with a certain pilot." said the captain.
Gordon didn't like the sound of that.
Soon the captain and the other guard pilots turned around and headed back to orbit guard headquarters. Soon they all landed safely back on the runway, Gordon was the last to land and his landing was very shaky because of his ship's damaged wing. Gordon knew all eyes were on him now. After his ship landed and parked it next to the rest of the ships, the captain and the rest of the orbit guard started to crowd around Gordon's ship, all of them were curious to just who exactly was in that ship. Soon the serge stepped out on the runway too and joined the others, ready to give this reckless pilot an ear full on his rage. Soon Gordon opened the cockpit hatch and ready to climb out of the ship, but of course he was a bit hesitant as everyone was staring at him like a flock of vultures ready to tear him apart. But he knew he had to face the music sooner or later, so he slowly took off his helmet.
"Gordon!" both the captain and the serge shouted at once in surprise.
All the other orbit guard pilots gasped in surprise too.
"Shumway, what the hell do you think you're doing in that ship?! Get down here now!" shouted the serge.
Gordon did as he was told and climb down out the ship, ready to receive whatever punishment the serge had in store for him.
"That has got to be the most irresponsible thing…" the captain started to say.
"Stand down, captain. I'll take it from here." said the serge interrupting the captain. The captain then stood aside.
"As the captain said, that has got to be the most irresponsible thing you have done! You almost cost us the mission!" the serge shouted at Gordon.
Gordon just hung his head low, he had no words to back him up, he knew what he had done was wrong.
"I've had it with you, this is the last straw! I have a good mind to kick you out of the orbit guard right now!" the serge continued to shout at Gordon.
Rhonda soon appeared on the runway and pushed her way through the crowd, she knew Gordon was getting a load of wrath from the serge and would most likely demise him from the orbit guard. She had to say something in order to save Gordon from being kicked out.
Rhonda soon ran up to the serge and said "sir, may I please speak."
"What is it private Rhonda?" the serge said, his attention turned on her.
"Sir, I saw the whole thing myself too, while Gordon did screw up a bit, he did help distract Larson long enough for the captain to take him down.' Rhonda said.
"Even so, that does not excuse him from his actions!" the serge shouted again.
"But sir, in a way he did save the mission." Rhonda soon said again.
"Not without nearly costing the life of the captain first! So regardless of what you say, he has to be punished!" the serge shouted again.
"That's enough, sergeant." A voice soon spoke out.
Everyone turned and saw it was Admiral Logan who spoke as he walked on to the runway. Everyone stood up straight and saluted as he walked passed them; he soon stopped in front of Gordon and looked down on him with a stern face.
"Sir, this private…" the serge started to say.
"I know, I heard everything." said the Admiral interrupting the serge.
The serge then kept his mouth shut and stood aside to let the Admiral speak.
For a few moments, the Admiral just continued to stare at Gordon, Gordon tried to best to continue to look at the Admiral with a straight face. He dare not look down, that was considered an insult to the admiral, and he really didn't want to add that to his already long list of crimes.
Finally the Admiral spoke out "impersonating a pilot, damaging orbit guard property and endangering the lives of the other orbit guard pilots, all of these are considered crimes against the orbit guard and would result be discharged…"
Gordon sighed; he knew what was coming next.
"But, your actions in the end did help assistant the captain in taking down Larson and his squadron and for that you should be least awarded for your efforts." The Admiral soon spoke again.
Everyone, including Gordon, was awestruck at what the Admiral had said
"But sir…!" the serge started to speak.
"No more objections, sergeant, in the end he did help save the mission. Even though he is not a pilot, he still stood firm in the face of battle." The Admiral said to the serge.
Gordon blushed a little bit, he knew that was not the whole truth, but no way was he going argue that with the Admiral.
Then the Admiral turned his attention back to Gordon and said "but take note private, ever do something like this again and I will be forced to discharge you."
"Yes sir" Gordon simply said confirming her understood.
Sometime later, a small ceremony was held in the great hall of orbit guard headquarters to give Gordon his reward for his efforts. Admiral Logan, Captain Cadfield and sergeant staff along with Rhonda was there, along with of the entire orbit guard personal. Even his family ended up attending the ceremony.
The captain stepped towards Gordon with a medal in his hand and soon said "for showing bravery in the face of battle and helping the orbit guard fleet against Larson petty I present to you the Melmac medal of merit."
After the captain finished speaking, he pinned the medal on Gordon's chest.
Then Rhonda soon walked up towards and said "congrats, Gordon."
"Thanks, but really half this medal goes to that phantom pilot that helped me, I wonder who she really was?" said Gordon
"Well, I will give you a hint." Rhonda said and then winked at him.
Gordon was puzzled as to what she meant. Rhonda winked at him again, but he still didn't get it.
"Is something wrong with your eye?" Gordon soon said.
"Nevermind." Rhonda replied.
Rhonda figured she would tell him who she really was someday, but now was not the right time.
"Oh, by the way, thanks for sticking up for me." said Gordon.
"But it was really the Admiral that stuck up for you in the end." said Rhonda.
"Yeah, I wonder how he knew." said Gordon again.
"I told him what happened. I knew you would be devastated if you were ever kicked out the orbit guard." said Rhonda.
"You did? Well, thanks again, I guess I owe you one." said Gordon.
"Hey, why don't we get out of here and go for a catsunday?" said Rhonda
"Sounds like a good idea to me." said Gordon.
Gordon and Rhonda soon left the stage together, but before Gordon could leave the stage, it was soon stopped by the serge.
"You're lucky this time, Gordon, but I'll be keeping an eye on you." said the serge pointing a finger in his face.
After the serge said that, he again moved aside to let Gordon pass. Gordon just breathed a heavy sigh and proceeded to walk off the stage.
Gordon soon rejoined up with Rhonda and they joined arms together as they both walked out of the great hall.