Gail Pilgrim

Gail Anne Pilgrim is the captain of Starship Quicksilver and chancellor of The Pilgrim Space Academy. Formerly, she was an ambassador for The Galactic Union and a soldier in the Rebellion.

She is currently the legal guardian of Margaret Dale, and owns a cat named Zubar.

Early Life
Gail Pilgrim was born in the year 2175. She spent most of her childhood on board Starship Quicksilver, which at that time was owned by her father John Pilgrim.

Her mother, also named Gail Pilgrim, suffered from mental problems and was committed to a special facility on Planet Abassi when Gail was still very young. John Pilgrim didn't tell her the truth about her mother for many years, instead claiming that she had abandoned them both.

Gail inherited the ship from her father when he retired in 2196. At first she wasn't eager to follow in his footsteps, but she ultimately found that she couldn't bear to sell the ship.

As the captain of Quicksilver she spent most of her time ferrying cargo and passengers, though she had also been known to explore the frontier in search of valuable ore deposits. Despite her profession, she was not a member of the Guild of Merchant Space-Adventurers.

At the beginning of Space Pilgrim Episode I: Alpha Centauri, Sabina White mentions that Gail did not appear to have a criminal record.

The Yuri Yerzov Incident
In 2203, Gail was carrying three passengers from Union Space Station to Planet Adroa. One of these passengers was a priest named Yuri Yerzov, who turned out to be a mentally-unstable fanatic. Yerzov hijacked the ship, locked himself in the cockpit and attempted to fly it directly into Proxima Centauri.

Gail enlisted the help of the other two passengers (Sabina White and "The Colonel") to get inside the cockpit. Initially they attempted to use the cargo teleporter, but this did not go to plan and led to The Colonel being severely injured.

After discovering some bombs hidden inside Yerzov's locker, Gail was able to blast open the cockpit doors. She was then forced to shoot Yuri Yerzov, killing him.

Innes Station
Seeking medical assistance for The Colonel, Starship Quicksilver headed to the nearest space station with a medical facility, which turned out to be Innes Station.

While there, Gail and Sabina uncovered evidence that the station's administrator had been murdered by First Engineer Otto Nielson. Gail found herself imprisoned along with Daniel Godfrey, the science and medical officer. They were later rescued by Sabina, and the rebellious crew were imprisoned and charged with murder.

Following these events, Sabina decided to join Gail as the co-pilot of Starship Quicksilver.

Encounter with Midnight Echo
The next year, in 2204, Starship Quicksilver was ferrying several passengers to Planet Eiocha. These passengers included a robotics scientist named Doctor Enver Balik and a priestess named Amari Antar.

During the voyage, Quicksilver was approached and detained by the Jovian Astrolaw Commission starship Midnight Echo. Officers Cameron and Anapa boarded the ship, searching for the two previously named passengers who were believed to be working for the Rebellion. Doctor Balik was arrested and taken to Midnight Echo, while Amari hid in a secret area beneath the ship.

After deciding to side with the fugitives, Gail and Sabina launched a rescue effort to free Doctor Balik. Unfortunately, he was shot and killed by Officer Anapa during the escape attempt. Gail and Sabina did manage to escape back to their own ship, where they discovered what the J.A.C. had really been looking for all along - an extremely advanced android named Emet, who was the creation of Doctor Balik.

Life as a Fugitive
Now on the run from the J.A.C., Gail decided to take her crew to Planet Leto in the Delta Pavonis system. The planet was a safe haven for military veterans, including those from the Rebellion. It was also the place which her father John Pilgrim had chosen for his retirement.

After landing at Strata Space Port in Hope City, Gail Pilgrim began searching for her father. During her search, she was reunited with The Colonel, who was now a member of a group called The Veterans. Other members included Ashanti Okar and Jojo. Gail helped the Veterans to negotiate a truce between two rival criminal gangs in city, and also exposed corruption within its ruling corporation, Strata.

Meanwhile she learned that her father, together with Professor Karen Morant, had gone to a place called the Dusk Island Mines. The Colonel took a shuttle to deliver Emet and Amari back to the Rebellion, while Gail, Sabina, Ashanti and Jojo all headed to Dusk Island on a boat called The Explorer. Gail found her father and the professor in the mines, where they had discovered life forms native to Planet Leto which had nearly been obliterated by the terraforming process, in violation of galactic conservation laws.

Upon leaving the mines, the entire group was confronted and arrested by Officers Cameron and Anapa, who had finally caught up with them.

Incarceration
Gail, along with her comrades, was taken to Prison Station 13 to await trial for treason and murder. The trial turned out to be a sham, during which the J.A.C. fabricated evidence against her.

While Gail was locked up in solitary confinement, Sabina managed to coordinate with the Rebellion to orchestrate a successful prison break and get them back to Starship Quicksilver. She had been forced to enlist the help of an inmate named Tarjae, who then attempted to hijack Quicksilver - but this attempt was foiled by Gail.

The Second Galactic War
After rendezvousing with the Rebellion at Celestalis Aero-City, Gail and her crew took part in organising a direct assault on J.A.C. Headquarters.

Gail Pilgrim, Sabina White and Emet each teleported into a different area of the headquarters and successfully sabotaged their defenses. The ensuing assault, later named The Battle of Callisto, was a resounding victory for the Rebellion and sparked off the Second Galactic War.

Gail continued to serve as a soldier throughout this conflict, and she came to be recognised as a war hero. The war ended in 2206 when the Galactic Council agreed to alter its constitution and reform as the Galactic Union.

After the War
Gail was a key figure in the early development of the Galactic Union. Her main contribution was the establishment of the Pilgrim Space Academy in 2209, which would train the first generation of Space Wardens - a new interstellar law-enforcement organisation intended to replace the J.A.C.

The academy would be built on Planet Abassi, but first Gail had to play a role in resolving the Syndicate Wars - a conflict between various criminal enterprises in Aegina City. She reluctantly sided with a man named Masaki Abe to help him defeat his enemies. Having done this, Gail was named the planet's ambassador to the Galactic Union. During this time, she also solved a diplomatic meltdown on Planet Khnum.

Over the following years, Gail saw her old crew fall apart, with the sudden departures of Sabina White, Jojo and Ashanti Okar.

The Emergence of Fractus
In 2214, while in the Epsilon Eridani system, the crew of Starship Quicksilver answered a distress call from Latona Station. Gail and The Colonel boarded the station and were able to rescue a single survivor, Margaret Dale (or "Maggie").

After learning that Maggie's mother had been on the station, Gail brought her back to the academy and enlisted her in classes. Soon after, the academy was the target of a terrorist bombing and Gail was briefly admitted to hospital.

Sabina White unexpectedly arrived on Planet Abassi, and revealed to Gail that she was part of a research project connected to Latona Station (see: Project Triarch). Together they traveled to Sabina's current place of work, Polus Station, but found that it had already been attacked and its crew had been slaughtered. By diffusing a bomb, they were at least able to prevent the destruction of Polus and salvage some research materials.

Back on Abassi, Gail learned from her contact Masaki Abe the name of the organisation responsible for these attacks: Fractus. She also began to suspect that a member of academy's faculty might be involved. After gathering them all together in the gymnasium, she exposed former cadet Kathy Brown as a traitor. At that moment, Kathy's comrades from Fractus burst in and took the entire faculty hostage. Fortunately, they were rescued by the ingenuity of Maggie and her new friend Diane Romero.

Kathy Brown was placed under arrest, and shortly afterwards Gail became Maggie's official legal guardian.

Union Space Station
The following year, Gail and Sabina traveled to a prison facility on Planet Daksha at the request of Kathy Brown. While they were there, Kathy suggested they might discover something important if they were to investigate Union Space Station.

Gail decided to pursue this lead, and they went directly to Union Station. While there, she and Sabina uncovered evidence of corruption in the regime of Commander Straka, the head of the local Space Wardens. They were arrested by Straka and his men, who attempted to execute them, but they were rescued fortuitously by Admiral Delacour and Sergey Antov.

After this incident, Gail was disturbed to learn that Admiral Delacour and Leila Barret, the current president of the Galactic Union, were both keen to cover up any evidence of Straka's corruption.

The Galactic Union Summit
Two weeks later, Gail Pilgrim attended the Galactic Union's summit on Planet Venus, along with students and faculty from the academy.

After receiving a cryptic warning, she learned that one of the ambassadors may in fact be an agent of Fractus. Her investigations uncovered that Ambassador Bandar Alam was actually a Fractus operative named Dalstrom. Dalstrom attempted to take Gail hostage and escape, but she was suddenly rescued by Jojo, whom she hadn't seen nor heard from in seven years. Jojo swiftly disappeared, and Dalstrom was arrested by the Space Wardens.

When she was called to give a speech in front of the representatives at the summit, Gail could not help but tell them all about Straka's corruption. After she had done this, she was immediately arrested by Admiral Delacour for violating the Official Galactic Secrets Act. Before being imprisoned, she asked Sabina to take care of Maggie.

The Elivagar Rebellion
Gail was held prisoner by Admiral Delacour, first at his private resident on Planet Mars and then on his personal leisure cruiser, Starship Ilsa.

She was finally taken to the Upsilon Andromedae star system, on the edge of known space, where it was revealed that President Barret had a special assignment which could earn Gail her freedom. A mining fleet named Elivagar had gone rogue, and with the help of her trusted agent Sergey Antov, Gail was tasked with resolving this diplomatic crisis.

While onboard the Elivagar flagship, she encountered a group of mercenaries led by Captain Vance. Shortly afterwards, Jojo appeared on the ship and it was soon revealed that he was there to assassinate Vance, who was a member of Fractus.

After the assassination attempt was unsuccessful, Gail and her comrades were imprisoned while Vance and his men took control of the fleet. He destroyed the Starship Ilsa and shut down the life support systems on the Elivagar flagship before departing with the other ships, leaving Gail and the others behind. Fortunately, they were able to escape and lead the remaining crew to the life pods.

Carlos Romero
Once rescued by the G.U.S. Nyland, Gail received some good news: all charges against her were being dropped on the condition of her stepping down from her role as ambassador. In exchange, she would be permitted to remain as chancellor of the Pilgrim Space Academy.

However, upon returning to Starship Quicksilver, she was dismayed to learn that Maggie had run off in search of her mother Marion Dale, who she believed was still alive. Jojo volunteered to track her down, while Gail returned to the academy.

Back on Abassi, Gail helped Diane Romero to track down her father Carlos, who had gone missing during a visit to Aegina City. He was eventually found to have taken refuge among a luddite cult called the Silver Masks, believing that Masaki Abe wanted him dead. When this was proven false, he agreed to work for Masaki.

The Reunion
Shortly after arriving back at the academy Gail learned that, as a condition of her reinstatement, a new vice chancellor had been appointed - former Galactic Union ambassador Vera Vansen.

As preparations got underway for a reunion of the class of 2212, the academy became a target for terrorism once again, when a bomb was planted in the locker of cadet May Martinez. Fortunately, she was saved at the last moment by Kenrick Morse.

That night, there was an armed assault at the girls dormitories targeting Martinez. She and Diane Romero were able to escape into the tunnels below. Gail pursued them, and discovered that the assailants were Agent Williams and Agent Murphy - two Space Wardens who had been attending the reunion. A gunfight ensued, and with the help of Vera Vansen, both of the traitors were shot and killed.

Rescuing Maggie
While at Aegina Hospital, Sabina White revealed a shocking secret to Gail - she had learned that Maggie appeared to have some manner of telepathic abilities. At that moment, Jojo returned to Abassi with news regarding the girl. He believed she may have boarded a starship bound for Yamaichi City in the Sun Systems.

Gail flew to the Sun Systems on Starship Quicksilver, along with Jojo, Sabina and Sergey Antov. During the voyage she discovered that Diane Romero and Kenrick Morse had also stowed away on the ship, wanting to play their part in the search for Maggie.

At Yamaichi City, Gail was reunited with her old comrade Ashanti Okar, who was now working as a bounty hunter. She agreed to join the search for Maggie.

After retracing the girl's steps, Gail learned that she may have gone to an abandoned facility on Shiryō Island. Upon their arrival at this facility, the rescue party found themselves confronted by Captain Vance and other members of Fractus. With the assistance of Diane Romero, Gail managed to sneak inside the facility, where they found that Maggie was being held captive by her mother Marion Dale.

Marion revealed to Gail that she was one of the founding members of Fractus, before shooting and killing Diane. After releasing a frightening telepathic projection, Maggie pursued her mother and pushed her over a railing, causing her to fall to her death.

Gail witnessed the aftermath of this, but decided that neither of them should ever reveal the truth about what Maggie had done: "It looks to me like she fell."

Personality
Gail is generally known for her optimistic and charismatic personality, often making jokes and bad puns even while facing potentially deadly situations.

Taking lives is not something that comes easily to her, and the killing of Yuri Yerzov disturbed her greatly for many years afterwards. Historically, she has generally tried to "do the right thing" even if it's not necessarily in her own best interests.

She is not entirely comfortable with the fame she has accumulated over the years.

Appears In

 * Space Pilgrim Episode I: Alpha Centauri
 * Space Pilgrim Episode II: Epsilon Indi
 * Space Pilgrim Episode III: Delta Pavonis
 * Space Pilgrim Episode IV: Sol
 * Space Pilgrim Academy: Year 1
 * Space Pilgrim Academy: Year 2
 * Space Pilgrim Academy: Year 3
 * Space Pilgrim Academy: Reunion