Chapter 3

Of all the differences between Krypton on Earth; culture, architecture, flora and fauna, one of the things that really set the two planets apart was their stars. Krypton's Rao was a Red Dwarf, comparatively dim when put up against Earth's Sol or, in fact, most others stars that habitable worlds orbited. It was a strange phenomenon and, while not entirely impossible, it was so unlikely for life to have evolved under those circumstances that it fascinated most of the other races in the galaxy.

To kryptonians of course, their star was so deeply tied into their religion that they never questioned it. Prior to their discovery of the mass relays and their introduction to other species in the galaxy, they had never considered the improbability of it all, they had no evidence to suggest as much. Once the other races had made it clear that life around a red dwarf was so astronomically uncommon however, most kryptonians put it down to a blessing from Rao. An interesting dichotomy, Lena had always thought, that a civilisation that prided itself on being a technocracy was so driven by religious dogma. It had once been explained to her by a salarian scientist who claimed that, to kryptonians, "religion is science". She had never put much stock in that explanation though.

By a curious quirk of atmospheric pressure, the red light of Rao landed on Krypton as more of a deep orange than anything else. While it wasn't as clean as the yellow/white light that Sol bathed the Earth in, it still made the days remarkably light, and created some fascinating colours that were reflected from Krypton's twin moons.

The other, rather advantageous, difference Lena noted between Sol and Rao, was that Krypton's proximity to its star lead to much warmer nights than those on Earth. Even with Rao having been firmly set below the horizon several hours before Lena and Kara stepped out of the building that housed the campus labs, the air was marred only by a slight breeze coming in from the west. Beyond that, the night was pleasantly warm. Taking the opportunity to enjoy the mild weather systems Krypton presented, Lena shed her leather jacket and draped it on top the messenger bag she had slung over her.

The immediate expose of her uncovered skin to the breeze sent a small run of goosebumps along her right arm up to the point where the short sleeve of her t-shirt offered protection. Lena rolled her shoulders and flexed her arms to fight off the reaction.

In the corner of one eye, Lena caught Kara stumble slightly over her own feet at the exact same time. She didn't address it, didn't so much as mention that she caught the stumble, but she couldn't ignore her own body's reaction when Kara's gaze rested on her exposed biceps for a few seconds too long before the two of them started walking again.

Before they had left the labs Kara had stuffed her remaining snacks into her bag, and then placed the bag in a cabinet that she sealed with a biometric lock. It seemed an awfully long way to go to hide the fact that she enjoyed human snack foods more than she did those that were available on Krypton. The whole thing was counter-intuitive to Lena, after all the point of mingling with other species in the galaxy was to share their cultures, foods, resources, and ideas. If a society didn't want that well…they could always follow the batarians and isolate themselves.

Krypton didn't do that, they were a Council Race, at the centre of galactic politics. Why it would have been such a travesty for people to find out Kara Zor-El enjoyed human snacks was beyond her. Then again, Lena was a soldier at worst and an engineer at best, not a social anthropologist, it wasn't exactly her area of study.

"I spent some time on Earth as a teenager," Kara suddenly decided to offer by way of explanation while they walked. "That's why I like your snacks so much."

Lena allowed a smile to crawl across her lips. During her time in training Lena had heard the rumours that, after discovering that humans and kryptonians were virtually indistinguishable on looks alone, the Council and sent kryptonians to Earth in order to judge their suitability for an introduction to galactic society. If her initial guess about Kara from her robes had been correct, and she was in fact from a family with some kind of standing, then it wouldn't be unreasonable to suspect that someone in her family could have been part of those teams sent to Earth.

That could certainly account for some of her familiarity with human culture. On top of the snacks, Kara had been willing to walk into a training gym that was mostly occupied by humans, with a handful of turian and asari, something that no kryptonian would usually do.

"My aunt went there on a diplomatic mission before I was born, she suggested that it would be good for me to experience other cultures before I joined the science guild in full." Kara continued.

"That must have been…educational." Lena wasn't entirely sure how else to put it.

Kara glanced at her curiously for a moment. "It was. I learnt a great deal during my time there. It's a strange thing, to spend time around a people identical to your own and yet so inexplicably different at the same time."

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Lena confessed.

"I suppose you would," There was a warm smile on Kara's lips as she said it. "My time on Earth was the reason I elected to come to Argo for my further studies. Of all the schools on Krypton, this is the one that has the most diverse population. Many of our other institutions are too tied up in tradition to allow non-kryptonians to attend."

That was something Lena had already been aware of. When the Alliance had offered her a doctoral qualification she had leapt at the opportunity, but had been sure to do her research first. Krypton was perhaps the most advanced civilisation in the galactic community or, at the least, the most open about their advances. For all the genius of salarian science, they tended to be a rather secretive people, and the asari absolutely had a complex when it came to keeping their discoveries to themselves. Krypton had no hesitations in showing off their scientific prowess to the rest of the galaxy. Despite that, their blinded loyalty to tradition meant that very few of Krypton's university-equivalent institutions offered places to non-kryptonian students. The University of Argo, as it had become known, had been specially chosen a few decades after kryptonians first made contact with the other species in the galaxy to host places for non-kryptonian students as a show of good faith.

That had made it an irresistible choice to Lena. From the off, she had known that she was going to insist that the Alliance allowed her to complete her xenotechnology certification off-world, after all where better to learn about alien technology than on alien worlds? Settling on Krypton had been an instinctive choice. She had already been fascinated by their similarities to humans, and with their technology, there was no better place for her to go. When she had learnt about the university in Argo, it's dedication to being an institution where all species could share technology, she knew it was the place she needed to be.

"I chose to come here for the same reasons, I suppose," Lena told her as they walked. "There's an…openness here. Sharing the galaxy with so many others is still new to humans, there's so little of…this," Lena gestured around them with one hand to try and make her point. "Back on Earth you could almost be forgiven for forgetting that there's other civilisations out here sometimes."

"You came here to learn," Kara said, with a tone that seemed to Lena to boarder on impressed. "Not just your education, but to learn about the galaxy." There was something in her words, something that Lena couldn't entirely place at first. Then, Kara continued. "It's an admirable trait, one not shared by many humans. Not one shared by many species at all actually."

Kara was certainly shaping up to be something different. Not only was she clearly a fan of human culture, but she carried herself in a way that seemed so different from the other kryptonians that Lena had come to know over her time living in Argo City. The way she spoke then though, Lena could feel the weight in her words. The disappointment with her own people that she wasn't allowed to express in any way that mattered. She wasn't even sure if Kara had intended to give so much away, it seemed unlikely that she would be so willing with a virtual stranger, but she had done all the same.

Lena understood it. When she had been in training, she had regularly railed against the way that the Alliance did things. Disagreed with their diplomacy tactics and the way that they approached the wider galaxy with unending suspicion. She knew there were people in the ranks who shared her views, and maybe if she was willing to pursue a career as an officer it was something she could change. Like Kara though, Lena was part of a system that had no desire to change.

"This an old saying on Earth, you're only human. We use it to explain away mistakes we make without any reason," Lena began tentatively. "After spending some time out here, I think it's more like you're only mortal. Every species in the universe seems to share the same fear of the unknown, the same fundamental weaknesses."

There was that look again. Kara fixing her with a gaze as though she were the most fascinating thing in the universe, like she were some mesmerising deep space phenomenon that occurred only once every millennia. Against her will, Lena squirmed a little under the look, feeling equal parts flattered and as though she were a test subject under a microscope. Though, somehow, the latter didn't seem to be wholly unappealing if Kara was the one studying her.

"You're a very unique human, Lena Kieran." And that smile again, the one that sent heat through Lena's body that outshone close proximity to a plasma grenade.

Flexing her body to wring out the tension that had pooled in her body from that smile, Lena caught Kara's unabashed gaze lingering over her muscles once again. "And you're a very fascinating kryptonian, Kara Zor-El."

Lena was absolutely positive there was no way she was imagining the blush that crept up Kara's neck and cheeks at that. If that was the reaction she was getting just from flexing her muscles in a t-shirt, Lena was going to have to invest in some more tank tops.

The two slipped into a companionable silence at that, neither entirely willing to break the spell that had come down between them. The gentle hum of the city at night whirred away in the background, and the warmth of the night receded slightly, forcing Lena to shrug her jacket back on, much to her great disappointment. It wasn't long at all before they came to a bone-white tower building, causing Kara to drift to a stop at the stairs leading up to the entrance. In the few seconds before she spoke, Lena studied the building intently. It wasn't anything spectacular, grandiose as all kryptonian architecture was but still a build that had been put there for housing students to the school.

"Thank you, for accompanying me," There was a soft smile gracing her lips as she said it. "I hope your own journey home won't be too long now."

Lena glanced over her shoulder in the direction she would be heading in. "Nah, just a few minutes extra. Nothing I can't handle." She looked back to Kara, and flashed a smile of her own.

"That's good. Goodnight, Lena." She inclined her head again in the same gesture as she had back in the labs.

Before Lena could answer, Kara had turned around and started towards the doors to the building. She couldn't leave it there, she had already gotten lucky enough to stumble across Kara again after seeing her at the gym, there was no way Lena was going to just let her walk away without at least attempting to spend more time with her. Lena moved to step forward, and those same nerves that had made her pause at first seeing Kara flared up again. She steeled herself, pictured that it wasn't a gorgeous kryptonian she was trying to approach, but a machine gun nest, and took the step.

"Kara!"

The kryptonian turned on her heel immediately.

"Would you…would you like to get a drink? Sometime? With me?"

Real smooth, Lena.

Kara's lips split with a grin and Lena felt her knees go weak at the sight of it. Without saying a word, Kara brought up her omni-tool, casting orange light and long shadows around them both. A few button taps later and she held the device out towards Lena, and her own omni-tool bleeped in acknowledgment. Lena glanced down, saw a string of numbers and letters flashing up in a message box, and grinned.

"Call me, sometime." Kara beamed at her, then turned again, and disappeared into the building.

If Lena had skipped with joy a little while walking home, well, no one was around to see it.

CODEX ENTRIES

Salarian: A warm-blooded amphibious race. Salarians have an aptitude for research and espionage. They are constantly experimenting and inventing, and it is generally accepted that they always know more than they are letting on.

Citadel Council: The governing body of the Citadel, composed of representatives from the four member species. While they have no official power over the governments of other species, their decisions shape and create galactic law.

Batarian: A race of four-eyed bipeds, the batarians are a disreputable species that chose to isolate itself from the rest of the galaxy.