Title. One of my own was: A fighter pilot was closing in on a cecaelian abomination, then the next thing I knew is that he became a stellar governor on the other side of their empire... Nice save.
:D I have a soft spot in my heart for fighter pilots.
Because of the fact that fighters are effectively destroyed when they land (implementation detail), it meant that their pilots had a miserable life. They either flew off to their quick death in the arms of a giant space monster, or if they were lucky enough to survive their mission, they were unceremoniously terminated because the paperwork required to keep them alive was too cumbersome.
So I created the previously so detested "Flight Trainer" job that they could retire into. But this resulted in troves of old fighter pilots simply getting in the way of the people with real jobs.
Now they go back to "Reserve pilot" after they complete their mission, and are quickly dispatched on new mission. Sure they are still likely to be eaten by those space monsters, but at least now they have a fighting chance to prove their worth!
Who knows what will happen to them in the future :)