CCTV FOOTAGE

Bridge: Camera #2

Day: 1,146

Light: 6

The Exodus bridge was located at the front of the ship, where it narrowed to provide the pilot with almost 180 degrees of vantage point. Setback, behind and slightly below the pilot's raised end platform were half a dozen other seats, normally for the leadership and navigation teams. They were set in a semi-circle, all facing the pilots back, and giving them a relatively good view, of whatever was happening in front of the ship.

Set behind these remaining seats was the central console, and behind that, the space usually reserved for high ranking meetings, allowing for about fifty of the crew to gather at once and discuss strategic matters without being subjected to the publicity of the mess hall.

The entire room was sleek and silver and emotionless, just the way Lyron liked it. And today, it was also mostly empty, baring the pilot who was currently at his lazily chair spinning around and around like a child left alone in his parent's office too long. Bored, as he had set the coordinates, and nothing about the trip required anymore more than the auto pilot could handle.

This made it all the more shocking when the hold bridge suddenly lurched.

Scho'ty managed to catch himself on the corner of his console, shaking his head to clear the spins as he glanced around. For a moment, nothing else happened. And then, the entire navigation panel lit up a violent red.

At once the ships warning mechanisms kicked in. A buzzing siren started to sound, and lights started to flicker, both in a particular pattern (morse code to the trained observer).

Wide eyed, Scho'ty jumped to his feet and pulled up the holographic navigation tool, shifting through settings until he pulled up the breach system.

The camera was set high and wide enough that the image could be seen: BOARDED, DHORIANS (EXTREME CAUTION, SPECIAL INTEREST)

Immediately under that was the diagnosis for where they had entered (hacking the docking and proximity system) and how many had entered (nine and still climbing).

"Rhich," the pilot muttered, spinning away from his chair and jumping the full height of his platform. His hand had just reached for the axe which rested in a metal loop at his belt when the bridge was invaded.

Three very tall and very bug like creatures on two legs scurried in, swarming the pilot until he was left wheezing on the ground. A hand wrapped around his now injured stomach, he glared up at the creature that remained looming over him, while the others went straight to their central console.

"Wmsi vi ithie zsih?" he growled, teeth gleaming pink with his own blood.

The too long creature tilted its head, lowering their (it's?) body to crouch by the now injured man. They sniffed at the air around him with an almost three-inch triangular nose, its purple skin wrinkling.

"I do not speak your language, foul creature," the intoning was melodic though still stilted. "We learnt many English to board the ship called Exodus."

"What do you want?" Scho'ty snarled back (with as much force as his bad accent allowed), dragging himself an inch away from the bug like eyes fixed on him.

"We come from Dhor, in the Antares star system," it intoned back, tilting his head further, before raising back to its full six feet, steepling its six, four-inch fingers. "We seek only the deaths that belong to us. If you tell us what we must see, you will be spared."

"Our brothers' approach," the creature working the console informed, still typing rapid code.

From the corner of the frame, the room was quickly swarmed. At least ten crew stumbled in, all in various stages of injury. They were led at gun point by several more of the bug like creatures, who waved their weapons around angrily until the now-prisoners were arranged in a loose semi-circle around the central console, on their knees with their hands behind their head.

After a moment of just the angry breathing of the somewhat battered crew, the tallest of the aliens, who had helped attack Scho'ty, took center stage.

"Be at peace - We do not wish to harm you," they intoned, hands clasped behind their bowed back. "All we seek, are the deaths that are mine. If you hand over the Mosteel hidden in the bowels of this vessel, we will be gone from your lives."

They were met by what can only be described as furious silence.

"I cannot access their emergency logs, or the internal scanning protocols," the typing bug intoned, finally turning to face the rest of the room.

"No concern of mine. One of these… creatures knows where she is hidden, and they will tell me what they see."

"No," snarled one of the larger men – almost entirely human, though his forehead was too high and strange lines of thick ridges ran along pale face. "We won't."

"Ah," the alien did not smile, though their eyes fixed on Lyron with such a widening, that excitement was clear. "The leader reveals himself. Thank you, this saves me much time."

And with that, they flicked a six fingered hand at the direction of the alien still standing over the pilot. They pulled out a three tonged device, which was carefully placed on the leader's head. For a moment, nothing happened, and Lyron's shoulders relaxed just slightly even with his hands still behind his head.

Then, with no warning, he started to scream. The high pitch, horrible sound of a man dying. Every member of the crew in the room reacted, all trying to get to their feet and help, but for the guns which were suddenly thrust in their faces once more.

Though Lyron remained upright on his knees, his back bowed as his spine contracted and his eyes rolled into his head. His body convulsed once, twice, then finally slumped, the strings holding his body in the air cut and he crashed to the ground, motionless.

A collective breath was drawn by the crew, and one member finally just shoved past the guns, stumbling the few feet between herself and the fallen leader.

"What did you do?" She snarled, her eyes were fixed on the dead, hands hovering uncertainly as she sought for an injury to heal.

"Something much more sophisticated than your lesser minds can handle," the alien intoned back, eyes evaluating the doctors stuttered movements. "He is gone, you should not waste your remaining time on him."

"I do not wish to harm you," turning back to the crew at large, it steepled it's fingers once more. "Tell where I can see the Mosteel leader, and my kin will leave your abode."

The room remained in tense silence, fear and fury mixing to create a concoction of energy which seemed to have no effect on the alien invaders.

"Bré Bjorn is last daughter of Bjorn Litra, and I will have her life before I leave your ship in peace. Tell me where I can see her or suffer the consequences."

The doctor finally abandoned her hovering over the dead man, kneeling lopsidedly with a biotic hand braced on one knee, she looked up at the unaffected leader with fury spitting from her tongue. "Over my dead body."

"Oh," suddenly the aliens attention returned to the women. He tilted his head and crouched so they were approximately eye level – the beady nature of their eyes giving her no pause. "You are a leader too, no?" Tilting a head and tapping his fingers against each other. "Just not like he. You lead without power – that is a strange position indeed."

"No matter," standing again, it leered down at one Alex Danvers with no ounce of emotion. "You know where I wish to look, and you will tell me, or suffer."

A grim, slightly manic expression crossed the humans face, fear escaping her as she growled back – "I didn't see nothin.'"

"You did not see nothing?" it tilted its head again, unwinding the sentence in its head. "That it is strange turn of phrase," straightening again, it turned to the one who had killed Lyron, who lingered just to Alex's right.

"Brother, ensure she cannot see nothing again." Nodding, emotionless, it stepped forward and wrapped one massive fingered hand around Alex's skull, jerking it to the side so that one eye was tilted towards the ceiling.

She did not go quietly, immediately starting to struggle, wrapping an arm around the aliens and trying to throw off its balance. Before headway could be made, a second, then a third were upon her, each grabbing a shoulder and limb, forcing her body to remain in its knelt position, the other maintaining her head tilt.

The entire crew started to shift, shouting (in various languages) about stop it, you don't have to do this – some were even brave enough to get off a knee. But they all quickly had further weapons aimed towards them, forcing them bitingly back to their positions, even as they watched their lead doctor struggle.

"I do not wish to harm you," the leader repeated, not even watching as the restraining creature reached into his pocket for an odd shaped instrument, scooped like a spoon but deeper, with a sharp edging. "Lead me to Bré Bjorn," he raised his voice just slightly as Alex started to scream. "And you will not suffer."

Even though they all knew it was coming, no one was really prepared. It wasn't even until the weekend before that reality really hit them square in the face. It had been stupid, and in hindsight Lucy felt guilty about her role.

Game night was going as smoothly as it had the last month – all the Superfriends gathered around Kara's coffee table, watching Lena Luther increasingly dominate a game of monopoly. Drinks had been had, empty pizza boxes scattered – even Winn seemed more like his old self. He'd even been throwing horrible shade at the CEO.

But then Lucy's phone went off. She'd left it on the side table to charge.

James, ever the responsible adult, had taken the upper ground on the couch for the duration of the game, so he was closest. Glancing at Lucy questioningly, she grinned back. "Maggie's right here big guy, nothing to scar you for life coming into that phone. Read it to me, would ya?"

And James had laughed – because he really was happy for his ex, and Maggie was great. He'd laughed because he and Lucy had finally gotten to a good place. That Lucy had gotten to a good enough place to be making sex jokes. Sex jokes that Kara cringed at, just as she had when Alex was still around, as if they were also her sisters. So he laughed all the way up until it died in his throat, seeing that it wasn't a text on the Directors phone.

"James?" Winn, too perceptive as of recently.

"Ah, it's a reminder."

"And?" Lucy asked, still considering whether or not to simply mortgage her entire empire at this point. She was tempted, more inclined to spend the rest of the game trying to distract Maggie, who was coming a very distant second.

He hesitated so long that suddenly all eyes were on him.

"Alex's birthday is next week." Ah.

So, the next few days were rough. Before this Kara seemed to have finally been coming out of her hostile and withdrawn persona. She seemed to have finally realized that being an alien didn't make her any less Kara Danvers – pretending to be only Kara Zor-El didn't make her care any less about being Alex's sister.

What followed was a week of definite backslide.

Aside from keeping her weekly lunch date with Lena (where she was so out of it, she crunched right through her fork), and movie night with Lucy and Maggie (where she let them choose an action movie and left right after), she had patrolled and worked.

Which is why, on the Sunday marking Alex's 28th birthday, Lucy and Maggie arranged leave and insisted Kara join them.

All three gave themselves the day. They laid around Alex's apartment, talking about their missing person. Good and bad stories were shared, laughter tumbling into crying. Movies were put on that no one paid attention to. It was soft and quiet and hard – but they did it together – honoring the last request Alex had ever had. Take care of each other.

It was only that night, when they all settled in to sleep, that Kara actually let go.

"Lucy?" Her voice shook, just around the edges, tucked as she was between the couple, but eyes fixed above. "Do you ever dream about your mom?"

Feeling her heart ache with decades old wounds, she gave it the proper consideration it deserved, sensing that this was going somewhere specific. "Maybe, in the beginning," she caught eyes with Maggie as she continued. "But I was really young when she died – I don't really know what I know from memory, or just stories Louis told me." And those were few and far between.

"The past couple of months…." her eyes were already glassy. "The past couple of months, when I dream, I see... I see Alex," the words seemed to weigh on her chest, hands whitening where they held the linen. "With my mom."

Maggie's breath caught, locking eyes with Lucy's for a moment as they processed that. Lucy reacted first, gently uncurling the superhero's fingers. Knowing she wouldn't hurt her even in this state, Lucy locked their fingers together.

"What happens?"

"I…" Maggie caught a tear. "I'm standing in this field, and when I look up, I see Krypton's moon… and I can feel Rao's heat on my back as I walk…" her lips tremble, but she never takes her eyes of the ceiling. "Everything is soft and warm and peaceful and then… then I feel a hand around my wrist – it's-" tears openly fell, but neither moved to interrupt, letting the women get everything out.

"It's Alex and she just smiles and presses a hand to my cheek. It's safe and she… she tugs me into a hug… and…" a sob escapes, forcing Kara to just breath for a second. Lucy squeezes her hand. "Then I must hear something because I turn and I can see my mom, in the distance, just waiting for me… and when I reach out to her… I… I-"

No more words were possible, as the Kryptonian's ability to speak dissolves into tears. And her sisters held her the entire night.

LOG: Day 1,150

PASSENGERS: 140

AUTHOR: Captain Alex Danvers

When the log flicked on, it was a changed location. Gone was the plain, two entrance, four square meter room that logs and personal messages had been taking place over the last three years. Instead, eye-patched Alex Danvers sat awkwardly on the bridge, sitting at the only non-pilot seat with an information console. The Captains seat.

"Hello," she started, then immediately frowned at her opening. "I regret to inform those who are listening that there has been a change in command aboard the Exodus 2.0."

"Four cycles ago we were boarded by a species called Dhorians. They are one of four technologically advanced spacefaring races native to the Antares system. They used their superior tech to hack our system and force the ship to grant them docking access."

"They were looking for a Mosteel named Bré Bjorn – one of the original Exodus crew. With her permission, I tell you that she was sent away by her father when they started to lose ground in their war – she fled to Earth in the hopes of a better life, free from violence. It was only bad luck that landed her on Cadmus' list of abductees."

A pause, a deep breath, then again.

"We believe she was spotted helping unload some exported stock we were trading for in the last galaxy. It is likely someone sold that information to the Dhorians, given the price on her family's head is high. But I am happy to say that she is alive. She, and her son, followed our protocols and were able to remain secure in their designated space."

"Unfortunately, several people died in an effort to defend against the Dhorians – including our captain and leader Lyron of Starhaven."

Flexing her good hand, Alex paused, gathering her scattered, despondent thoughts.

"Lyron was a good man," she tilted her head and granted herself the chance to smile just a little. "Mostly. Me and him did not see eye to eye on many things, but I don't think I'd still be alive today, if it were not for him. Actually –"

She tilted her head, eye wandering away from the lens. "I know that I would not be alive if it were not for him."

"When we landed in Takron-Galtos, he filled the power vacuum. He gave us order and structure and a direction– and even if I didn't always agree with how he did that… He died trying to protect a member of this crew, and I will always remember him as a hero," she tightened her jaw against tears. "So, I extend my deepest sympathies to his wife, and daughter. I promise you, when I bring this ship home, I will personally ensure that you know how brave he was, and that he loved you both, so, so much."

A pause, a moment of silence, then she pushed on to the second half of the update.

"We survived the Dhorians attack due to the incredible work of our bio-mechanic Dryl, our technician Ella, and our chemical expert Leeroy. They synthesized a substance, based on a reconstruction of Dhor atmosphere, which was poisonous to only them, and reversed the air filtration system, pumping the gas into the entire ship. In particular, I want to commend Ella, who ignored the Exodus' species-specific warning, as her race has been subject to eradication by Dhorians for centuries."

"While the gas it did not kill them all, it drove them off and gave us time to escape into a time warped galaxy. Which brings me to my next point."

She smiled sadly, her only visible eye pinching downwards as she pressed her lips together.

"According to Scotty," he had finally just told her to use an English version as her vocal cords were just too unsophisticated, "before the attack we were approximately 78% through our journey. In fact, we were starting to find planets who were trading in Earth goods, and I had a conversation in Russian last month. Unfortunately, we had to take evasive measures, and have been forced to take a more complex route."

"Though the warp means that almost no time will pass in the surrounding galaxies, it will take us several months to safely loop back into a direct course. For some, this is a relief. I know that I prefer my family not spend time worrying about my fate during this part of the excursion. However, this galaxy also has its threats."

Her tone took on a more serious edge. "Raiders wander this system – many of whom trade in people, not goods. We know this to be as a way of stocking Warworld, which rotates around this sun."

"Warworld is a mobile weaponized satellite, but over the last few decades it's operated as a center for slave trade and involuntary fight clubs. Our intel indicates that the ringmaster, Mongul, is currently running some kind of competition, which has resulted in increased kidnapping. We must continue cautiously, but I do not take my station lightly."

"I was voted into my position; I am only here because the crew wills me to be. And I know that there are those on board who do not trust me, or my judgement. I understand – my position here has always been complicated. But I can assure you, I will do everything in my power, to bring this ship home. I'm done, Darla." And it flickered off.