Admiral William Wilson was the commander of the Pegasus Station.
History[]
Wilson was born a pilgrim in 2498.131, but hid that fact from the Confederation while growing up.
Wilson was commissioned to the Academy (2622.07). During the Pilgrim War (2631-2635) he served as a battleship comander, displaying remarkable imagination.
In 2649 he became an Admiral and 2 years later he lost his wife, Arete Wilson. Geoffrey Tolwyn suspected that Wilson went through a hard time, and there were rumors of a drinking problem. Even in later years, if someone mentioned her, would bring him a bad mood. Also Tolwyn noticed that Wilson had lost the spark of inspiration and imagination and was best suited to the role of a base commander[1]. He ended up in the Pegasus Station, the headquarters of the Vega Fleet HQ in the Ulysses Corridor.
Tryin to destroy the NavCom
Wilson was present when the Kilrathi attacked the Station, with Dralthis overwhelming and bombard the installation. Wilson, learning that the invaders breached the station and headed towards command and control, realised they are after the NavCom A.I.. The invaders had overwritten the self-destruct codes and Wilson attempted to break the sealed window with a rifle.
Failing to do so, and knowing that the NavCom would soon fall in Kilrathi hands, he recorded a message that the Kilrathi were about to gain access to the coordinates to the Sol Sector, and launched a drone to any Confederation ships. Moments later, the Kilrathi broke into the command center.[2]
However, this had been all a ruse, he actually had planned for the NAVCOM AI to fall into the hands of the Kilrathi, and helped them plan the invasion. Every action action he made up to that point was to convince those around him that he actively trying to defend the station, and make his death look convincing. He however did not die, and after everyone else was killed in the control room, he joined the Kilrathi on board the KIS Grist'Ar'roc. All in a plan to ally with the Kilrathi and allow the Pilgrims under Amity Aristee to rise to power again and conquer earth. Jay Sansky was an accomplice and sent him and the Kilrathi data of their location and plans to return to Earth, so that the ship could be ambushed before it returned to earth.
Wilson was stationed on the Kilrathi ConCom in charge of the NAVCOM Ai. After the Confed Marine boarding party from the claw Tiger Claw cleared out the ship, he was discovered by Blair and Gerald wearing a space suit and carrying a Kilrathi pistol. He held out a hand in truce to Blair since he was a Pilgrim, while ignoring Gerald's taunts. He tried to convince Blair to kill Gerald. Blair pulled out his Pilgrim blade, and Gerald his fighting knife. But it was Gerald who lunged at Blair first. After a short time as Gerald kept on trying to kill Blair, while Wilson taunted them from the shadows. Blair damaged Gerald's suit. After a while Blair got the upper hand, and Wilson commanded Blair to finish his commander off. Blair was about to comply, but remembered his duty, and threw the blade at Wilson hitting him the chest. Blair offered a hand to Gerald, and Gerald accepted it. Gerald asked what his motive was, Wilson explained he was a Pilgrim and he was doing it for his people. He pulled a concussion grenade. Blair and Gerald barely made it out of the room before it exploded.
Character[]
Geoffrey Tolwyn considered Wilson an average officer, lacking the creativity and enthusiasm of earlier years, unsuitable for fleet command, but needed to reinforce the front. Although not very popular among his men, he was keeping discipline. Also, he was very blunt with the Press and the Confederation Senate.
Interests of Wilson included fishing and smoking a pipe (Sirian Red). He was very fond of golf which boosted his morale, although he was pathetic at the game.
Wilson also was private about his personal beliefs.
Much of everything about him in his records were built on a lie and persona he had created to hide his identity as Pilgrim, in a Confederation that was prejudiced to his kind. Perhaps he believed it at one time when he fought against Pilgrims during the wars, but that changed and he slowly began to sympathize with the Pilgrims and was convinced by Amity to assist their cause.
Behind the scenes[]
Wilson's betrayal and return was apparently filmed but cut from the film. Images of the scene appear on an action figure "Pilgrim traitor". Which is an figure of Wilson in red kilrathi battle armor.
The Handbook lists his birthdate in 2498, this is assumed to be a mistake as it would make him 150 years old. While he is a pilgrim and longitivity perhaps not uncommon for that race, this fact is unknown by the Confederation. It is unknown what standard life expectancy is in Confeseration. But presumably does not have the medical advances seen in the Tri-System the extreme artificial extensions of life including the ability to replace a person's body.
However according to Star*Soldier notes this is explained by advanced Confederation medicine. It's also the same reason Grunt from WC Academy or Doomsday to still be active in 2701.
- "Hector Paz" - Grunt from Wing Commander Academy. This is where I try to explain that medicine in the 28th century means that it's ordinary for humans to live longer... I've done that for a few reasons, not the last of which being that I wanted to sue some pilots who were flying in the 2650s (Doomsday, in particular). There are also a few other examples of very old humans in Wing Commander, including Admiral Wilson in the movie (presumably a result of an earlier script).
Of course access to this medicine would likely depend on which planet or organization you belong too. A third rate border planet probably has shorter lifespan than those closer to Earth, or the major colony worlds.