The Gamilon Pilot

The Gamilon Pilot

At Gamilon Headquarters, Desslok is, um, taking a bath.  According to the narrator, is doing out of sheer spite.  Because you can't do that on Earth.  Then Gamilon General Lysis arrives and Desslok gets dressed to meet him.  They reenact "The Triumph of the Will" and salute each other, then Desslok awards him some medal while Lysis mentions the Star Force, and asks to be the one to crush the Star Force.  Desslok decides he deserves some sport.

Wildstar and his fighter squadron are scouting ahead of the Argo.  Wildstar picks up a UFO, and he hassles Conroy about procedure--then they see a Gamilon fleet.  They open fire on the Gamilon ships and destroy a few.  Wildstar reigns Conroy in from pursuing the fleeing fighters, and then Wildstar sends the Black Tigers back to the Argo while he and Conroy go to capture a damaged Gamilon fighter.  They attach towlines and drag it back to the Argo--and the Gamilon pilot stirs in the cockpit.  It will be the first Gamilon ever captured.

In the hangar, crewmembers are clustered around the captured ship.  Sandor congratulates Conroy, and the doctor ships the captive off to sickbay.  Sandor goes to take a look at the Gamilon fighter. 

Wildstar and Conroy rush through the mess line to get food and wonder about the Gamilon pilot.  Does he have a family.  IQ 9 is decontaminating the prisoner, and Wildstar and Conroy come across most of the bridge crew coming to watch the . . . autopsy?  Interrogation?  Examination?

The Gamilon is wheeled into the room and the doctor works on reviving him.  The crowd gets a little rowdy.  The doctor takes off the helmet to reveal a blue humanoid.  The crew is shocked at the resemblance to humans.  IQ 9 analyzes him.  So the Gamilons are basically human.  And Wildstar starts to lose it.  He rushes down to the sickbay and ***AAAUUUGH HULU COMMERCIALS!!!***

OK.  Derek is in the examination room, rushing toward the table, and the doctor freaks out.  The Gamilon pilot comes to, fear in his eyes . . .

And we flash back to a young Derek Wildstar and his mother, waiting for his older brother Alex.  They're in Japan.  On the surface of the Earth.  Before the planet bombs have driven everyone underground.  Over dinner, the family discusses the planet bombs and Derek sneaks off.  He is mad that they didn't go to the movies instead of picking up Alex at the bus station.  Then he cries. 

We see a panorama of Tokyo, and Derek can't sleep while Alex is snoring--and planet bombs hit Japan (well, they're calling it "Great Island," but it's pretty obviously Japan).  Planet bombs rain down on Mount Fuji and a reporter reports that the volcano is erupting.  Derek's family watches the news, and Alex gets mobilized. 

Planet bombs rain down on earth and we see footage that is imitated in Golion, Dairugger, and Macross (that whole "cities crumbling in flames" thing).  The since we're not even a year past Japan's tsunami/start of their nuclear crisis, the scenes of the struggling survivors are particularly chilling right now.

Derek goes to visit Alex at his base.  He calls sushi rolls chocolate cake, and discuss Alex's two space battles, and the worsening of the bombing.  The family is moving to an underground city.  And it turns out, Derek was something of a pacifist.

Derek is taking the 4:00 bus, and his father tells his mother he has all the necessary permits to move.  The Wildstar parents reminisce about the trees and the bus stop and Derek doesn't get off the next bus--and a bomb hits the bus stop.  Derek was on a later bus, damaged in the explosion.  He wanders throguh the devastation to find the charred remains of the bus stop.

Now we're in the present and I know some stuff got cut, and then Derek starts punching the Gamilon--then he sees that they're both weeping.

Avatar interrogates the pilot, but Gamilons have their memories erased before going into battle.  Avatar has the Gamilon plane repaired, and tells him to send the Gamilon back.

As the Gamilon is boarding his fighter, Derek gives him a bag of food.  Um, was there a lot of stuff cut here?  The Gamilon launches.  I think I'm going to call him Sandu.  In memory of the Drule pilot.  There are only 305 days left.