Prologue

"It is forbidden for you to interfere in the matters of the universe. Your destiny is connected to Earth and its inhabitants. Live among them, learn where your abilities can be used, my son, and know that we will always be with you."

These were words my biological father and mother left to me as they sent me away. They were scared, yet hopeful, that sending me away would spare me from the destruction that awaited them. I later learned that I had travelled for months before passing through a Mass Relay and crashing on the only home I have ever known; Earth.

That seems so long ago now. It has now been just about two years since I revealed myself to the world, and therefore the galaxy. They have come to call me "The First Alien on Earth" and "Earth's Champion", but most know me simply as Superman.

I can't help but think back on my life now. I record this message inside the Fortress, because frankly, I don't know what I will find beyond Earth's Relay. I have served Earth faithfully and it will always be my home, but believe it is time for me to take to the stars and join the galaxy. There is so much life and conflict beyond Earth, and I know my father has forbidden me, but it is what I feel I must do.

I am Kal-El of Krypton, Clark Kent to those closest to me and I stand on the precipice of great change in the galaxy, hopefully for the better.

It all began over 2,000 years ago, in a time of change at the beginning of the Council Era. All seemed prosperous for the up and coming species, until a threat emerged from the deepest parts of the galaxy. They were an insectoid like species, calling themselves Rachni. The Rachni swarmed the galaxy in large numbers, sweeping aside all defenses led by the galaxy's forces. The Salarians saw no other choice but to uplift a warrior race to combat the Rachni. The mighty Krogan fought back the Rachni hordes, but the Rachni had a wide spread to their attack. They had sent troops to every corner of the galaxy, even those yet unknown to the council.

One exploratory group reached a system through a Mass Relay and found no habitable planets or anything worth scavenging. The group was commanded to continue their search, and so the small armada of ships travelled beyond the Relay's system in search of another. It took a few months until the Rachni ships picked up signs of a solar system. It was noted the system had a giant red star with one habitable planet. The red star reminded the Rachni of their now distant homeworld. This made them eager to take the planet for themselves, in what would be a swift and deadly strike.

The Rachni were wrong. The blue planet was populated by a proud warrior species who called themselves Kryptonians. The native race was not advanced, but what they lacked in technology they made up in spirit. After only a few years, the Kryptonians were victorious, eliminating the Rachni presence from their planet. Though the Rachni were gone, they left Krypton with unseen scar. From that day on, Krypton would be forever fearful of what lied beyond the skies. And so in the centuries that passed, Krypton formed a xenophobic culture, forever wary of what could be out there.

It did not hinder the planet however, over 2,100 years later the blue jewel thrived into one of the most technological races in the galaxy, without the influence of others. The once warrior race had evolved into great thinkers and scientists. Krypton still feared outside forces, never even questioning what was beyond their system and red giant star, Rao. There was a great peace on planet for many years, but forces started to gather demanding a change in Kryptonian politics. A radical group wanted the governing council to focus more on military than science. They campaigned that alien forces were going to attack and that Krypton should be more ready.

The struggle continued into 2156 IE (Independent Era). In a peaceful part of the main continent of Krypton, it was a day like any other. The red sun hung high in the sky and all seemed well. A renowned scientist sat in his lab atop a hill, lost in his work. He was always seen as an outsider among the others in the scientific community. The scientist often disobeyed Krypton law by monitoring the skies and tracking star movements. On this day, the scientist was checking solar levels of Rao through a crystalline scope. He was analyzing data from the star when something crossed his view in the scope.

The scientist focused on the object, which was falling fast. His eyes went wide seeing the object was on fire and hurling towards the hill in which his laboratory sat upon. The fireball crashed into the hillside, narrowly missing the lab. The impact shook the entire building. He sat back in his chair in disbelief. He quickly shook his head and leaped out of his chair. He started to gather equipment and ran to the door. On his way he yelled to his wife/lab assistant, "Lara! Are you ok?!"

The pair headed down the hill to the crash site. The area was deserted, the scientist preferred the seclusion. Which meant no one would know about the crash for some time, giving him time to examine it. The crash happened near the base of the hill, in a crystalline forest. The forest had stalks of crystals nearly eight feet tall.

It was nearly evening now, with daylight dwindling through the crystal stalks. The scientist and wife walked down the hill, reaching the site. The debris was mostly contained by the crystalline trees. The scientist slowly looked over the crash, and after seeing metal debris realized it was a small exploratory ship, holding no more than four or five full size adults.

"Jor-El, please be careful" pleaded Lara, holding to her husband's arm. The scientist nodded and slowly approached what looked to be a door to the shuttle. He ran his hand across the smooth metal and then hit it with the palm of his hand to see if anyone was inside. There was nothing but silence, until a few moments later when the door attempted to open, going only halfway up. Jor-El placed his hands on the bottom of the door and strained to lift it up. It was up enough for him to peer through.

Jor-El saw nothing but darkness and red alert lights blinking. He slowly put one foot inside, watching closely for whatever was inside. Suddenly something grabbed his ankle, causing him to jump back into Lara behind him.

"What was it?" asked Lara helping her husband back to his feet.

"I'm not sure" he replied as he knelt down in front of the doorway. On instinct he held out his hand through the doorway when something reached out and grabbed it. The first thing Jor-El noticed was that the hand was a dark purple pigment. He grabbed the hand back and carefully began to pull it out of the ship doorway.

Jor-El and Lara both held their breath seeing the figure laid out in front of them. Its dark skin seemed to be blue and shined purple under the red sun. Its features were feminine, but with strange frills across her head. She wore tight clothing, looking almost military style.

Jor-El and Lara both knelt down around her. Jor-El held her head up and looked her over. She was bleeding from her torso and several other wounds. The blood was dark and purple. Jor-El looked to his wife as she nodded back with sympathetic eyes. The scientist looked back down to the alien and was amazed to see that she started to speak.

She spoke slowly, taking hard breaths in between words. Jor-El didn't recognize the strange language and so quickly reached into his equipment bag hung around him. He grabbed a small crystal that was rectangular with a sharp end. Jor-El swiped his thumb on a smooth edge of the device causing the pointy end to glow with a yellow hue.

He lowered the device near the alien's mouth to record what she was saying, hoping to translate it later. The blue alien continued to speak, coughing up purple blood in between breaths. As she spoke, she gestured to her ship and then slowly held onto Jor-El's hand. Her last words were softer as she slowly closed her eyes and went limp in the scientist's arms.

The scientist and his wife looked despairingly at the dead alien. Jor-El swiped the crystal, stopping the recording. Authorities still had no idea about the crash and so Jor-El and Lara were able to remove the other four bodies from inside the wreckage and bury them in an honorable manner. Jor-El assigned drones to move the ship debris to his main laboratory for further study. The crash site now looked like an ordinary meteor had impacted the crystal forest.

A few days after the incident, representatives of the council came by Jor-El's estate questioning the crash. The scientist stated that is was merely a meteor and that there wasn't even anything left to study. The authorities went over the site with scanners and found nothing. They had no reason to doubt Jor-El; after all he was one of the most renowned scientists on the planet. The representatives bid him well and went on their way.

A year had passed, making it 2157IE, the last galactic year Krypton will see and much had changed. The civil unrest had reached a boiling point and a war broke out. The Civil War waged in parts all over the world, but Jor-El's lab remained far enough from the cities to be uninvolved.

In the past year, much had change for the House of El as well. Lara had given birth to their first son. He was their jewel, with a spitting image of his father. The boy was born on one of the starriest nights Jor-El or Lara had ever seen on Krypton and so named him Kal-El, the star child. Jor-El had never been happier, but was also constantly thinking how the war could affect his family.

In the years' time, Jor-El had cracked the alien language that he recorded from the dead explorer. On the day that he finally had deciphered what she had said he called in Lara, who was holding the young infant in her arms.

"…we came from the system next to this one….something attacked our ship…captain ordered full evac. Don't even know if you can understand…*cough*…we've been traveling for so long…you look so different, but and yet still Asari…tell…I love her…"

"They were explorers, sent by a great council" Jor-El told his wife, having gathered such information from what files were left on the ships systems.

"She called herself, an Asari?" Lara asked calming the gurgling baby.

"Yes" sighed the scientist as he bowed his head and said under his breath, "Rest easy, young Asari".

Jor-El had become paranoid in the last few months, fearing this Civil War would tear Krypton apart. He had begun measuring seismic activity and monitoring how Krypton's weapons were impacting the planet. Jor-El feared the worst. He pleaded the council to stop this war, but none headed his warnings. Eventually he got fed up with the politics and secluded himself in his lab. He worked for weeks on end, tinkering with the left over materials from Asari's ship. He had never experimented with propulsion systems and space exploration and so had much to learn.

Jor-El was able to construct a ship using the Asari's materials and combining them with kryptonian technology. At first he wanted to build a ship big enough for his entire family, but had too few parts. He then decided that it would just be Lara and young Kal-El, but with the parts available, he would be endangering them both. With much heart ache, he realized there was only one answer. Combining Kryptonian crystal technology and what was left over from the Asari's ship, Jor-El successfully made a ship large enough for one, tiny passenger: his son.

Seismic activity was growing more intense every day. The war was getting closer to his family home. Jor-El knew there was not much time. In the last days, he had decoded the Asari's navigations systems and communication channels. There was so much to learn and go over in such little time. He read of other races called "Salarians and Turians" and how recently these Turians had engaged a new species in war, one who called themselves Humans.

Jor-El monitored transmissions from the Turians about the new found race and was amazed to find that the Humans looked nearly identical to Kryptonians. The resemblance was uncanny. The Turians were thorough in their reports, noting that humans belonged to a system with a yellow sun on a planet they call Earth.

Jor-El was deep in thought as his whole estate shook from the blast of a powerful weapon, not far. The scientist looked at his readings of Krypton and the escalation of the war; they only had hours to prepare.

"But we know nothing about these humans, how do we know he will be safe?" cried Lara, holding young Kal-El wrapped in a blanket.

It had taken some convincing from Jor-El, but in the end Lara knew there was only one way to save their son and it was to send him away. She was devastated at first, but beside her husband, she knew they were doing the right thing.

"He will look like them, he will need that advantage to survive" Jor-El replied, trying to remain strong in front of his wife.

"But he will not be one of them"

"No, but from the readings of the Turians, this Earth will sustain Kal-El, and I believe their yellow sun will make him different."

"How?" asked Lara.

"Our physiology here makes us rely on Rao for sustenance because of the low amount of energy it gives off to plant and animal life. On Earth he will be getting an abundant amount of solar energy and I believe it will make him…strong, fast, virtually invulnerable-"

"And alone" Lara interrupted.

"No…no, he will never be alone". In the last moments, Jor-El and Lara hugged their tiny son one last time. With tears in their eyes, they placed Kal-El inside the ship, designed to protect and sustain him on his journey. Jor-El and Lara embraced each other as the hybrid ship closed itself and began powering up. Inside the cradle of the ship, Jor-El's voice spoke to the scared infant.

"Go forth my son, travel safely among the stars and find a good home on Earth. With you I have sent all the knowledge of Krypton in hopes you will never forget your special heritage. Know that we will always be with you, my son."

The ship rose off the ground, automatically plotting a course using its known navigation systems. With the route charted, the ship's engines ignited and disappeared into the sky.

Jor-El and Lara looked into each other's eyes as the entire ground started to shake with more intensity. Their eyes swelled with tears as the hugged once more with smiles on their faces. In the very next instant, Krypton collapsed in on itself and detonated into cosmic dust, leaving only empty space where it used to be.

Baby Kal-El lay in the ship, unaware of the fate that just befell his entire race. The ship flew into the unknown of space along the course his father had plotted.

After rocketing out of Krypton's system it came to the system adjacent and made way directly towards what that Asari called a Mass Relay. Jor-El had figured it was a type of propulsion enhancer, making flights between stars exponentially faster. The tiny ship made the necessary calculations and headed into the Mass Relay.

Bathed in blue energy, the ship accelerated in a blur for several minutes until abruptly slowing down in a new system. Immediately after decelerating, hundreds of much larger ships came into view of the ships sensors, no doubt the human's war vessels readying for deployment. The tiny ship's systems began automated evasive actions, swooping and diving between the ships.

Thanks to the crystals that lined the outer portions of the ship, the vessel was able to remain completely undetected by any radar system. Kal-El's ship moved beyond the warships and made a direct approach to the third planet from the yellow sun, Earth.

The ship entered Earth's orbit and began necessary measures for Kal-El's protection. While the ship cut through the atmosphere of the planet, it began to scan for the safest populated locations to land. After several hundred possible locations were found, the ship's central system deemed a continent on the western hemisphere suitable. The smooth crystalline ship now soared above the clouds of the continent and pinpointed a location to land. Initial scans labeled the location as a part of Kansas in the United States.

Lowering to the ground faster and faster, the ship was soon travelling over cornfields and prepped for landing. The crash may have seemed rough, but inside baby Kal-El felt nothing as the ship collided with the ground. Cooling systems engaged, lowering the temperature of the ship on the outside after entering orbit. A quick scan of the area picked up two humans, one male and one female were in the vicinity and already heading towards the ship. As the couple got closer, the ship's systems opened the canopy, revealing baby Kal-El to the Earth.