Chapter 3

Kara slowly trudged away from her unit to set about her plan, but it was excruciating work, with each slow and deliberate step she took she could feel a shooting pain cross her body, but with the image of her dying CO and the faces of her unit committed to memory she persevered. As she marched along she was reminded of her mother's last words to her that she would have great powers and she would accomplish extraordinary things on this earth. Kara contemplated this and she thought 'all I've had since coming to earth was pain and suffering, I accomplished nothing and I failed my parent's last request that I go to earth to take care of my cousin Kal-El.' The more she regarded her losses and grief the more she thought why did her parents not allow her to die with them and join them on their final journey to the light of Rao, she wondered why her cousin left her with a family she never fully felt part of, she wondered about all the what ifs her life could have been and slowly it shifted to Lucy and what her life could be.

As Kara continued to walk she slowly shook away her brooding thoughts and focused on her task at hand. The plan that Kara wanted to enact was created thanks to Lucy's ingenuity. Lucy's idea was that if she were in this position or even just plainly stranded with her unit she would as the officer in charge keep her unit hidden while she created a diversion with the flares, with the aim of taking any heat of her team and alerting the base that they were in need of assistance. So this is exactly what Kara was doing, once she determined she had enough distance from her team's location she sent the first flare off and continued to walk further and further away sending off more flares at an evenly spaced rate. Kara knew that the international distress signal was done in sets of three but she didn't want to alert any agitators in the area that they were in distress. After the fifth flare was fired Kara felt the fatigue kick in and her vision started to go dark before she passed out Kara had two people flutter through her mind the first was Alex her older sister and best friend the second was Major Lucy Lane the girl she was majorly crushing on.

Kara collapsed gracelessly face first on the sand, lying like this for the second time in a day she could feel a cold darkness creep around her even though it was one of the hottest days and in the middle of a dessert no less. The cold seeped into her bones and she was reminded of the cold, unforgiving, deep and empty darkness that was the phantom zone where she had spent 24 years of her life in a pod. It was an overwhelming feeling and for a moment she was confused thinking she was back in the pocket-sized suffocating pod that was her prison for what felt like eternity, so she listened but instead of the sound of her pod all she could hear was silence and it roared in her ears deafening all other senses.

Back in the operations tent on base Lucy was slowly being filled in on the events that led the General to believe that there was a troops in contact situation. Lucy learned that Kara's unit should have arrived back to base over an hour before based on an estimate that included all possible contingencies, and according to regulations if they could not make it to base for that time they should have called it in but instead they were faced with radio silence. The silence and the unknowns created an atmosphere where people felt unnerved and concerned so Lucy took this moment to address the group "Attention! I know we are all worried about the possibility that some of our own are out there in danger especially with the incoming reports of an explosion that happened earlier today but for the sake of our friends and fellow soldiers we much push past our fears and emotions to provide them the best chance of survival in a worst case scenario situation." Before Lucy let the officers get back to work she turned to and addressed her father "General do you have anything to add?" General Lane looked inspected the group before settling his disproving gaze on Lucy shaking his head and ordering them back to work.

It had been about half an hour since Lucy had walked into the operations tent and a decision had been made to send out two units to bring the missing unit home. After this was decided it came down to General Lane's decision to determine the unit commanders. Before he could think through who he was going to send out, Lucy stepped towards him and in an uncharacteristic move she begged her father to let her lead one team. "General, I know you probably have two leaders in mind who are more than qualified to find them, but please sir let me lead one team to find my friends, let me help bring them home." The General was taken aback as a look of surprise fluttered across his brow but as he regarded his daughter, he saw her for the first time in a while. So with a nod and small smile he agreed "Alright, Major go gear up you leave in 10."

As Lucy and her team were driving off base they saw on the horizon a streak of smoke and red that pierced the sky. A ray of crimson in stark contrast against the lingering mellow purple, blue of the sunset. Lucy sat in the truck staring at the sky caught up in her worry that she almost missed the second flare that illuminated the ever darkening sky not five minutes later. The confusing part about the second flare was that compared to the position of the first flare it was moving farther and deeper into the village, it wasn't until the third moving flare five minutes later did Lucy realize that it was her own idea of a distress signal that was being illuminated in front of her very own eyes. The only thought going through Lucy's mind was 'out of all the self-sacrificing, idiotic verging on suicidal things a soldier could do in battle was being done this very moment by Kara and that it was all Lucy's fault for coming up with the damn idea'.

As they were nearing the village Lucy drove back her thoughts she picked up the radio to communicate the plan of action with the other teams' officer Captain Reyes. "Captain Reyes, we need to re-invent our plan after those flares. I know what they mean so the new plan is divide and conquer. You will head to the outskirt of the village search for the wreckage once you find that move in towards the village until you find the unit. I'm going to head to the location of the last flare and pick up Captain Danvers who is responsible for this distress signal." Captain Reyes' response was immediate "Understood Major, radio if you need back up we will do the same. Over"