This is the pilot of my original Defenders of the Earth story, also featured here under the title „This Is Their Story". Until now, only a few chapters were written, showing different scenes from my project, introducing some of my own characters. These Ocs will feature here as well. In the pilot, we only have Amy O'Connor and April Gordon, although Cathleen O'Connor is mentioned as well. It's the first time I've written something in a long, long time... I hope you enjoy it. It's just my take on the pilot as it would be in my version of the show. There will not be a written version of the whole project. But James, another well-known Defenders of the Earth writer, inspired me to write out the pilot with something he said, so... here we go.

"You want to go sightseeing?"

"You want to have lazy days at the beach?"

Both Gordon children looked in surprise at their mother. Dale Gordon ran her hand through her short, blonde hair and smiled at her 15 year old daughter and her 14 year old son.

"Well, you two are growing up so fast... I guess since your father and I have a few weeks off right now and you two are home for the holidays, why not do a normal family vacation? I wanted to suggest one last year, but your grandmother got sick - and the year before that, your father had to replace his colleague on an expedition last minute... but this year I'm sure we can have a normal family vacation."

"You talk as if we're everything but normal," her husband, Flash, said with a grin.

"I'd call us many things, but I'd never call us normal," his wife replied, smiling. "Anyway, what do you say? Sleeping in late, swimming in the ocean, taking long walks at the beach, buying souvenirs..."

"Sounds great," Rick agreed. "Is there anything interesting nearby, like a museum or maybe a library, or..."

"Uh," his sister, April, interrupted. She rolled her eyes. "I bet you've spend the whole term at your school's library. Don't you want to do anything else for a change?"

"Well, I did win a few prizes for several of my inventions, so I'd say my time at the library doing research was time well spend," Rick replied.
"Yeah, whatever." April turned to her mother. "That sounds great and all, Mom, and we could do that but... you did promise we could join you on an expedition someday, and..."

"We did, kiddo," her father agreed. "But we don't have any coming up right now. Besides, you know we'd never take you anywhere where it's not safe. So if one's coming up that you can take part in and it falls into the school holidays, you're welcome to join."

"But... I mean we as a family could go on an expedition?" April continued begging. "Just for one or two days, I mean. Going somewhere, do some exploring, maybe have a few flight lessons... After all, I want to be a space pilot one day. And after that, we can still go on our family vacation."

"Sure, we always have to do what you want..." Rick sighed but he, too, looked excited. While he didn't want to be space pilot, he did have plans to either go into research or work with the Space Center some other way.

"Well - I thought this would be a normal family vacation this year," Dale sighed.

"It still will be," her husband assured her. "But a few days in space do sound like a fun family bonding experience as well. Let me check if it's possible."

Dale couldn't hide a smile. She knew her husband loved action and adventure more than a quiet, lazy family vacation.

"Fine," she agreed. After all, if would be a family trip as well. "But nothing dangerous, okay?"

Both April and Rick cheered.

Flash grinned. "Well, nothing is set yet, I'll have to check with the Space Center first. There will have to be a ship available. Maybe we can go to one of the uninhabited Mongo Moons - that's not terribly exciting, but it should be safe. None of these trips ever had any complications."

"Mongo?" April asked in excitement. She already saw herself fighting the galaxy's greatest tyrant, Ming the Merciless.

"Not Mongo," her mother reminded her. "We'll stay as far away from Mongo as possible. One of the outer moons should be save. Let's see what your father can achieve."

Amy O'Connor was dreaming. Strangely, she knew exactly that it was a dream, even though it felt very real. Maybe that was because she was talking to someone she hadn't talked to in many years.

"Mandrake the Magician," her mother said, who looked so very much like Amy with her thick, long, dark wavy hair, pale skin, full red lips and blue eyes. "Mandrake the Magician."

"Where are you, Mom?" Amy asked. Sie tried to see her surroundings, but there was only darkness. And yet she could see her mother clearly. She still looked like the day Amy had last seen her.

"Mandrake," her mother repeated. "Mandrake the Magician."

"Who is that?" Amy asked, confused. She never learned what had happened to her mother after she had disappeared. She had so many questions but the only thing her mother kept repeating was that name.

"Mandrake the Magician," was the only answer she got.

Amy then woke up and sat up in bed. She realized she was thirsty and was sweating all over. When she climbed out of the bed, her legs were shaking. She stumbled and nearly fell over a bunch of stuff her foster sister had left on the floor. The other girl now also woke up.

"What are you doing?" she complained.

"Just getting some water," Amy replied. "Go back to sleep. I just had a nightmare."

She didn't expect her foster sister to care. The girls weren't particulary close. Amy had changed foster families a couple of times ever since her mother had disappeared. Some had been nice and decent enough. But some were just horrible.

"You're such a freak," her sister laughed, repeating what she had heard from her parents without really thinking about it.

"I dreamt about my mom," Amy said. She knew Laurel didn't care but she felt like she just had to talk with somebody right now.

"Well, she probably left you for good reason," the other girl replied. "You're so weird. Everyone says so."

Suddenly, Amy didn't feel like talking anymore. Instead, she left the room to get herself a glass of water. Mandrake the Magician, she wondered. Who was that?

Far away, in Central City, Mandrake awoke as well. Once again his former love, Cathleen, had shown up in his dreams. The first few times he had dismissed it. He had recently thought about old times a lot, when his good friend Lothar and his son LJ had moved in with him. So no wonder Cathleen had been on his mind. But these dreams just kept coming. Maybe they did mean something? However, Cathleen had been just there, standing across the street, or walking somewhere alongside with him where he could see her but still too far away to interact with her. He knew she had powers that could influence dreams - was she doing that? But why? They haven't had contact in many years.

Deciding he couldn't fall asleep now anyway, Mandrake got up and went downstairs into the huge kitchen. To his surprise, Lothar was also up, getting some water.

"I hope I didn't wake you," Lothar said.

"Don't worry, old friend. I was asleep, which... is precisely the problem," Mandrake said and reached for a glass and the water bottle.

"Bad dreams?"

"Not bad, just - unusual. I've been seeing a familar face lately."

To his surprise, Lothar just nodded. "Cathleen, I guess?"

"Now that was a quick guess." Mandrake raised his eyebrows.

"No guessing," Lothar sighed, leaning against the kitchen counter. "I've seen her too. Just standing there, watching me. I first thought that's old memories coming back, seeing the two of us recently reunited. And she was part of us for a long time."

"That was my first thought too," Mandrake agreed. He had always suspected Lothar too had feelings for the beautiful and mysterious Cathleen. They had never openly talked about it though and Mandrake would not bring it up now. She was gone, had disappeared from their lives and had chosen neither of them in the end. "But these dreams just keep coming, and I'm afraid they might mean something."
"You mean she send them."

"Yes... but why?"

Lothar sighed. "That's so typical... sending a cryptic dream nobody understands instead of just calling or sending a letter. Or just stopping by. It's been more than 13 years. We're all different people now. No hard feelings. I wish she would stop messing around. It was intriguing when we were young, but I don't have the patience for it now."

"When did she ever made it easy," Mandrake chuckled. "Well, if it is her we might need to wait until she gives us some more information."
"Or we could try to find out where she is," Lothar suggested. "I don't want to spend the next months of my life dreaming of Cathleen O'Connor. I suggest we try to find out more. If she wants to be found, we will find something. If she doesn't, well - then I guess we'll have to wait and see."

"You know you can't force her to do it your way," Mandrake warned. "That never ends well."

"I'm not playing her games anymore," Lothar said. "I might wait for a few more days, but that's it."

He was too old to play Cathleen's games. He now had a son and a life of his own and responsibilities he couldn't just drop just because Cathleen O'Connor once more decided the world had to revolve around her.

Note: I gave Dale short blonde hair, because while I know now that the blonde lady we've been in the original pilot is not Dale the blonde hair still felt right because both kids also have blonde hair. But I wanted to distinguish her from Sheila who also has long blonde hair.