The Gold Paladin

The Last Stand

Commander Sam Holt, commander in the Galaxy Garrison and father of Katie 'Pidge' Holt and Matthew Holt, had returned to Earth. But the days were blurred in his mind, filling with nothing but faded faces and strange feelings.

Soon, he opened his eyes, his vision blurry and only the white ceiling in his view. It took a few minutes for his vision to clear up, finding himself in an isolated room laying in a makeshift bed. As he looked around, a familiar person came through the door.

It was his superior in the Garrison, Admiral Sanda. Her skin was fair and her gray stern eyes matched her head of short gray hair. She stood in the doorway, her facial expression still and commanding.

"Admiral Sanda, how long have I--?" Sam asked, surprised to see her so soon.

"It's been about a week since you landed." She answered, "Sorry, we've had you under for most of the time."

"A week?" Sam repeated.

"We had to run tests. You spent years in an alien environment." She glanced away from him, "Look, Sam, the joint chiefs are eager to hear what you have to tell us."

Sam stood up from the bed, "Tell the chiefs I'll debrief then when I'm ready. There's someone I need to see first."

Admiral Sanda nodded, "I understand. Follow me. She's waiting for you."

🦁🦁🦁~~~~🦁🦁🦁

Sam followed the Admiral down the halls through the Garrison. A few minutes later, they came to a door leading out to a large waiting room. Sam took in deep breath as the doors opened, revealing a woman sitting in one of the chairs, looking down at her hands in worry.

They walked through the door, and the woman looked up. Sam couldn't help but smile seeing his wife, Colleen, looking at him with tears of joy in her eyes.

"Sam." She gasped, tears falling down her cheeks from her eyes. Colleen immediately ran up to Sam and hugged him close to her

"Colleen, I've missed you so much." Sam said to her.

"I thought you were dead." Colleen cried as she squeezed him tighter, "I thought I'd never see you again."

"You're squeezing me pretty tight." Sam wheezed but smiled, "Being abducted by aliens didn't kill me, but I think you might."

Colleen pulled away to look at him straight in the eyes and wiped away her tears.

"Aliens?" She repeated questioningly.

"On the Kerberos mission." Sam said, "Matt, Shiro and I were taken by hostile aliens."

"So Matt is with you?"

He shook his head, "No, but he's alive and safe. So is Katie. They're together. Last time I saw them, they were just outside the planet Olkarion. They saved me."

Sam turned towards Admiral Sanda who had been watching the reunion.

"There was a device and a box in my pod, a transmitter. Where is it? I can use it to contact my children and the other Paladins, I mean, cadets and someone who can help us." Sam said.

However, Admiral Sanda stood firm with a stern frown on her face.

"I'm afraid we can't allow you to broadcast yet." She said, "We need more information before you start sending messages into deep space. Any contact with alien species needs to be run through the appropriate channels. We need to be sure you're not putting Earth in danger, Sam."

"I don't care about your channels. I want to talk to my children." Colleen yelled.

"And you will, soon." The Admiral said, "We just wanna debrief you first."