I'm posting the next few chapters all at once, 3 through chapter 5, which is that last I have completed so far. Enjoy. Who knows when I'll finish, as I'm more invested in my new Ahsoka story atm, and my investment in Supercorp has flagged since season 5.


Sprawling out on her bed Lena stares up at the ceiling, enjoying the mental quietness the plain wood inspires, something very welcome after the past three weeks.

Since arriving at Starbase Beta-15 Lena has had little to time to rest, fielding meeting after meeting and call after call, each time answering the same questions.

Questions she hadn't wanted to field, questions that bordered on accusations, questions that implied she was unfit for duty, questions about how she survived an attack by four opponents of superior strength when she's disabled.

The admirals had barely left her time to grieve, to process how she feels about this loss. Rubbing her temple Lena thinks back over her time with Roulette- Veronica, the love, the anger, the camaraderie and… she's sad, and regretful. Emotions she's unsure if she has time for.

She blinks and a single tear runs down her cheek. She gathers it on her hand and holds it up to the light. Roulette never cared much for sentimentality, reveling in her hard edge. Would she even want Lena to grieve?

"Don't grieve for the dead, fight for the living." Roulette's words flash through her mind, unsettling in their finality.

A loud ring bursts into the silence. Lena groans, a sound that can only mean another call from Spaceforce. She sits up, supporting her weight with telekinesis.

The app on her computer rings again, the caller ID flashing "Unknown". Unusual if it's official business, but she gets into her chair anyway, adjusts her uniform, and calls for the computer to answer the call.

The face that appears, distinctively bald, is the last person she expected to see, and immediately she flips the switch on her implant and rises from her chair, the camera immediately adjusting to follow her face.

"Lex."

He looks the same since last she saw him, and her heart leaps at seeing his face. Even with his betrayal, her brother was once her hero, and those feelings are hard to let go.

"Hey Sis. Long time no see. You seem to be doing well."

"No thanks to you." Her voice is hard, carrying the weight of four years estrangement.

Lena catches Lex sizing her up with a clinical and dispassionate eye. She holds herself still, resisting the urge to shift in place. Any discomfort on her part will be read as weakness and Lena is not going to let Lex see her as weak.

"Now that's no way to talk your older brother, let alone a superior officer. With anyone else that tone could get you into some serious trouble."

"But not with you?"

"Lena, little sister, you know I care for you too much to let you get in trouble."

"Let me? I can handle myself."

"I heard. You handled the Diasporans with aplomb. If I thought it was possible I'd say you're beginning to catch up. As it is, your ideas are still derivative. An anti-matter bomb is hardly new territory."

"Just because you thought of it first doesn't change the fact I made it work." Smug, she crosses her arms over her chest. "Face it Lex, I may not have many original ideas, but I succeeded where both you and father failed. Don't think I don't know why that's you tried to hold me back."

"Hold you back? Lena I simply didn't think you were ready. Clearly you proved me wrong, but to attribute such a base motive as jealousy to my actions… you wound me."

Every conversation with Lex is like this, a game of chess, move and countermove, and being unable to sense Lex's thoughts is testing her patience. It's like playing chess when she can't see his pieces.

"If you don't tell me why we're having this conversation don't think I won't hang up on you."

"I wanted to be the one to break the news to you. After a thorough review of your report Captain Sinclair's decision to promote you has been approved by the Admiralty Board. Congratulations Captain Luthor, the Venture is yours."

Lena grimaces. "What? I just graduated from the Command program. There's no way I can be the full-time captain."

"Normally that would be true, but I convinced the admirals to make an exception."

"Why would you do that?"

"You'll see soon enough." Lex smiles. "Don't disappoint me Lena, I have some very high expectations and I hope that you'll do your best to meet them."

She furrows her brow. "What are you going on about?"

"I'll talk to you soon sis." The call ends and she's greeted by a blank screen. Taking a deep breath Lena collapses into her chair, shuts off her implant and lets the tension rush from her body.

Lex is trying to maneuver her, to use her as a pawn in his galactic game of chess. He must be, even when he cared for her as a child he always had a selfish motive; that he's at it again makes her decidedly uncomfortable.

Especially when this particular move of his is only possible because someone died completely unexpectedly. If Lex thinks her being Captain will be useful to him, why try to prevent her graduation? Why wait until Roulette was dead, why not push for her to have her own command?

Lena sighs. Trying to figure Lex out without being able to sense his thoughts has always been a waste of time. All she can do is hope that she plays a better game of chess than he does.

Lena looks around her room and notices the walls starting to close in on her, threatening to crush her with the pressure of her new responsibilities. Logically she knows it's all in her head, but she's never been good at just telling off her anxiety.

She grabs her tablet from off her desk and sets her chair's auto-drive to take her to the turbolift.

The tablet flashes with a new memo from Spaceforce Command that reflects what Lex just told her. She closes it without reading to the end, muting the notifications as more memos flood her inbox.

This is not what she needs right now, all this official business only grates at her; a constant stream of orders, directives, and missives- every one tainted by Roulette's death and her brother's meddling.

She takes a deep breath, whatever her brother wants, whatever her Captain may have wanted, worrying about how her grief would affect Roulette is not what Lena needs.

What she needs is someone to talk to.

"Marina." The Venture's computer beeps in response. "Where is Commander Perec?"

"Commander Perec is in Security Depot 1."

Lena hovers off the turbolift and down the halls of deck nine, stopping when she reaches the door marked "Security Depot 1". She presses her hand on the glowing panel beside the door.

"Security Authorization Confirmed, Captain Lena Luthor." The computer chirps in response.

The door slides open and Luke looks up from his desk at the center of the room. All around him weapon's lockers and monitors display various security feeds.

"Captain." His tone is formal, clearly addressing her as a superior rather than as a friend.

"At ease Commander. Please."

Luke smiles at her as she approaches. "What can I do for you Lena?"

She grimaces. "I just got off a call with Lex."

"That would explain it then."

"Explain what?"

"Why you look like your cat died."

"Lex is the worst yes, but it's not just that he called, but why he did. I got promoted. I'm going to be the Venture's full time Captain."

"That's all?" Luke's voice has a teasing edge.

"It's a big all. And Lex felt it was important to tell me himself."

"Is he trying to unsettle you?"

"I don't know. Possibly." Lena buries her face in her hands. "It's not just that. I didn't want this job at Roulette- Veronica's expense, but now I have it. What am I supposed to do? I always expected that she'd be around when this happened. With her gone, the idea of being Captain feels almost wrong."

Luke awkwardly shuffles onto his knees to get closer to her and offers a hand.

"Give it time. Eventually it will feel less strange to sit in her chair."

"Will it feel less strange that she's dead?" Lena takes his hand and holds tight.

"I don't know. That'll be up to you" Luke looks around the office. "Do you want to get out of here? This isn't usually where I like to have these conversations."

"No."

"Ok."

"You really think I can do this?"

Luke brushes his thumb against the back of her hand. "Absolutely. I always knew you were cut out for command, and you've proved it time and again."

She lets out a heavy sigh. "Lex doesn't think so. He says he pushed for me to get this command, and he expects great things, but he's always waiting for me to fail. I can't even save my crew without help from some enemy war hero."

"Hey, it wasn't Flamebird that saved us, we got out of there alive thanks to your quick thinking."

"That's nice of you to say Luke, but it's not true." Lena's hands ball into fists. "I was almost gone when she appeared. She moved so quickly and with such strength, yet I can rarely stand without extreme pain, let alone punch out an alien trying to kill me."

"You didn't need physical strength to end the war, your Kryptonite did that. And you don't need physical strength to be a good Captain."

Luke's words hit right at home, breaking through the tension clouding her mind.

"You just have to know the crew, how to lead them, and how to keep your head in a crisis. And that's who you are, that's always come so easily to you. You have nothing to worry about."

"Luke… I still have duties to perform today, I don't have time for tears." Lena smiles at Luke, a soft small smile between old friends.

Luke furrows his brow, rubs his forehead with his hands, and standing, turns away from her, the energy of the thoughts he's hiding teasing at the edges of her mind.

"Since we agreed I won't read you, you're going to have to tell me what's got you acting so shifty."

Luke walks towards the far wall covered in screens. "Have you had a chance to look through all the Captain's memos and advances?"

"No."

Luke hides his concern well, only Lena's abilities telling her that he's thinking about something that's really upset him.

"Is there something I should be worried about?"

"Not really. Just... look through them today and come find me later."

"Fine. Be mysterious. I'll go do that then." She shrugs. "Thanks for the chat."

"Anytime Captain." Luke looks back at her and then turns back to the monitors, dutifully checking that everything is as it should be.

Leaving the security office to head to her duties, Lena can't help but feel that everything is not as it should be.

Her clock flashes 19:30 when Lena finally sets down the tablet she's been staring out for what must be hours, the words "Cultural Exchange and Officer Transfer Program" looming large across the screen.

This is not the news she expected right after a promotion, losing one of her most trusted people? The worst part is the orders aren't new, just modified. According to the memo, Roulette had received the transfer orders before the graduation and rather than informing Lena, her executive officer, she sat on them. Had they really lost that much trust, that her Captain hadn't seen fit to inform her of such a monumental change to ship's operations? Had Lena ever really known her Captain?

To make matters worse there is supposed to be a ceremony in her honor, tonight. But having lost a captain and with these transfer orders, Lena can't think of what there is to celebrate. The universe must be punishing her for being a Luthor; Lena is not a fan of its sense of humor.

The ringing door chime interrupts her thoughts.

"Who is it?"

"Me."

Lena's mouth curls in a smile. "Come in."

Jess walks into Lena's room, eyes taking in her full figure. "Of course you're still in uniform."

A sheepish look in her eyes, Lena looks down at her clothes, decidedly not party attire. In contrast Jess's dress uniform with its accents highlighting her korean ancestry is almost … exciting .

"I can wear what I want. It is my party."

"Hah." Jess walks past Lena "It might be in your honor, but it's our party. We're the ones getting you as a captain. The woman who single-handedly ended the war with Krypton, and after saving our lives during the Diasporan attack, I think this crew would follow you anywhere."

"Ugh. The last thing I need is five-hundred people willing to throw their lives away for me."

"Here." Jess hands her a dress uniform she was sure hadn't been in her closet. "Put this on."

"Where did you get that? I could've sworn I didn't have a captain's dress here."

"Oh you didn't."

It's only when Lena notices the garment bag lying open on her bed that she realizes Jess must've brought it with her.

"Jess. I only just got the promotion today, how do you have this?"

Jess takes back the dress clothes and sits back on Lena's bed, watching as Lena pulls off her regular uniform. "I have authorization and I figured that you'd be too preoccupied."

With her clothes pooled at her feet, Lena glances up at herself in the mirror, nearly naked, her skin looking like armor keeping the rest of her body intact. Not as indestructible as the Kryptonian woman's red and blue armor certainly, her bruised neck acts as a reminder of that, but it keeps her alive. "You know who Flamebird is."

"Is that a question or a statement?"

"Both."

Jess sits up, propping herself with her hands. "Kara Zor-El, the strongest Kryptonian warrior, won the Battle of Kalaxtross single-handedly. She's the daughter of Adjudicator Alura In-Ze and Scientist Zor-El, both members of the Kryptonian High Command. Supposedly she hates humans."

Lena takes the new uniform from Jess and slips into it. "Why would she be out here? And why save my life?"

"Beats me, boss. Maybe she's trying to trick you into a life debt. You know, she saves your life, you owe her a big favor. Could be she wants to seduce the woman who defeated her people. Destroy her through betraying your love."

Shocked, Lena turns back to Jess, only to see the twinkle in her eye that means she's teasing.

"You always do that. You tease me everytime I even talk to a beautiful woman. Jess, she really could be dangerous."

"All I'm hearing is that she's beautiful."

Lena's eyes go wide in embarrassment.

"Shut up and just make sure this is on right."

"Fine, fine." Jess rises from the bed to adjust Lena's uniform, straightening out the gold trim so that every inch is visible.

"Yeah. It looks good." She tucks the zipper out of site, and brushes some dust off her shoulders.

"I'm serious Jess. How can I successfully captain a starship, be a role model for the crew, when I have to rely on my life being saved by someone who by all rights should want me dead?"

"Come on Lena, I know you don't have that low of an opinion of yourself. Needing help while under attack from an unknown enemy isn't something you should be ashamed of. If anything you should be honored that someone like Flamebird thinks you're worth saving."

"Why?" Lena pulls her hair back into a tight ponytail, holding it there with a silver headband.

"You have to have heard the rumors. That since the war ended she's been appearing throughout Alliance and Kryptonian space, saving lives when needed. Calling herself a defender of peace."

"Honestly, no. I've left the weird obsession with soldiers turned superheros to Lex."

"That's just it. Your brother's anti-kryptonian views, your and Lionel's work on Kryptonite. There's no love lost between the House of El and the Luthors. So why save you, unless she's decided you're worth it?"

"It doesn't matter. I don't need a hero Jess, I don't want one. I have you, Eli, and Luke. That's all I need."

"Okay."

Lena takes the opportunity granted by the pause in conversation to change the subject.

"You don't think it's wrong for me to be Captain do you? I mean, since Roulette's death made it possible."

Jess grabs Lena and turns her so that they are face to face. "Not at all. It's what you've been working for. Now you can finally prove yourself to anyone who doubts you. You are gonna be a great Captain, and no matter what L-Corp has always got your back. "

"Hmph." Lena hugs Jess tight. "Thank you for believing in me."

The two women pull apart and Jess gives Lena another glance over.

"No chair tonight?"

"You know I never give speeches in the chair."

Jess links her arm in with Lena's and smiles at her. "You can always lean on me if you need to."

Lena is taken aback by the gathering's upbeat vibe, the lounge adorned with streamers and other decorations, smiles on the faces of those milling around and laughter filling the room. Luke and Eli stand over by the refreshments, chatting through bites of food. From her table in the corner, nose buried in a book, Ensign Mercy Graves catches Lena's eye.

"Captain's here!" Her voice echoes through the crowd.

All eyes turning to her, Lena leans over to Jess. "When did this become a fun party?"

"Try and enjoy it. Soon enough we'll be back in your room, lights down, and just L-Corp to keep you company." Jess says before disappearing in the direction of the drinks.

Lena begins making her way through the crowd toward the raised platform where she's expected to give a speech. The thoughts of the officers and crew press in on her, dulled slightly by her implant; however, Lena senses much less sadness that she expected, their spoken condolences for the lost of Roulette never penetrating deeper than their surface thoughts.

She nods and smiles at them, returning each with a thank you. At the opposite end of the room, Lena stops under a banner emblazoned with the Alliance's insignia. With the lack of a formal atmosphere, Lena runs through her speech, wondering if it is still appropriate. Lena almost doesn't notice Eli practically pushing a glass of red wine into her hand.

"Captain, you look like you need to loosen up. This is a party, have fun."

Lena takes the glass, shooting Eli a disapproving glance.

"Is this your doing?"

"What? It's not every day one of your best friends becomes Captain. We couldn't ask for anyone better to take Roulette's place."

Lena frowns. "I'm not taking anyone's place Eli."

"Right. Sorry. I'll, uh, leave you to your speech Captain."

"You know you can still call me Lena right?"

"Yes Captain Lena, of course." Eli attempts to wink at her before turning away.

Lena sighs and takes a sip from her glass, letting the velvety liquid roll over her tongue. Eli disappears in the crowd only to appear a moment later amongst a group of junior officers, like him all waiting for her to say something. She glances over at Jess and Luke, both chatting with Commander Hesiod. Despite their pact she can sense Luke's mounting apprehension, competing for her attention with the crews eagerness for her speech.

Lena takes a breath and taps her glass, all eyes turn to her.

"Esteemed crew of the ESF Venture, thank you for being here tonight. Spaceforce is a promise, a promise that we will strive for something better, a better world and better versions of ourselves. Captain Veronica Sinclair believed in that promise, and she believed in your ability to to fulfill it.

As many of you know I was recruited into Spaceforce by Veronica Sinclair. Lauded for tactics that always seemed like a gamble, she earned herself the callsign Roulette. She never let protocol or regulations stop her from doing what she thought needed to be done to save Alliance lives. And she saved so many, each and every one of us owes our lives to Roulette.

I know I do. Roulette found me as a scared child and introduced me to Spaceforce. I learned from her leadership and devotion to humanity how to honor life, to look past the Luthor name I was born with and become a scientist worthy of being her number one.

I am not, however, claiming that we always got along or that we agreed on everything. I am saying that she always inspired me, and it is partially thanks to her unusual methods I was able to develop the Kryptonite that allowed us to fight the Kryptonians to a cease-fire.

I stand here today because, true to her callsign, our brave captain gave her life in a desperate gamble to keep her crew alive. Roulette's sacrifice will not be forgotten, and even as we begin a new era aboard the Venture she will always be with us."

Applause and shouts breaks out from the crowd washing through Lena.

Once the noise has died down she continues.

"Now that repairs are complete, Spaceforce Command has given us our next assignment. We have the honor of being a testing ground for a new 'cultural exchange' program between the Alliance & Krypton. This means we will be rendezvousing with the Kryptonian vessel Flower of Heaven, in order to make an exchange of officers and crew.

The names of those transferring will be announced in the next few days. As it is, I think it is important we are prepared to have individuals aboard who we may have fought against, who are responsible for lost Alliance lives.

"I know this is a big change, one that follows right on the heels of losing our captain. Our family is changing, instead you'll be exploring an alien culture on an alien vessel with an alien captain. It will be difficult, but you're all Spaceforce officers, you've trained for this kind of challenge. We may think we've learned everything about the Kryptonians we need to know; however, as scientists and explorers we cannot truly know something or someone by simply fighting them. We have have to study it, by living alongside them in an era of peace.

We all lost loved ones in the war, and that pain is still fresh for many of us. I will not lie to you, this won't be easy. I want you to remember that Captain Sinclair believed in you, and I believe in you. Join me in boldly going where none of us have gone before."

As she finishes speaking Lena feels the room shift towards an inquisitive mood, each person wondering if they're being transferred. Luke jumps up on the platform behind her, holding his glass high. "Let's hear it for Captain Lena Luthor! Long may she reign."

Lena groans as Luke's eyes meet hers, cheering her on along with the crew. She turns her back on him to look for the rest of L-corp.

The musicians resume their playing, this time an upbeat pop song to warm the mood of the room again. Lena finds her way over to where Jess and Eli have perched at a table in one of the less crowded areas of the lounge.

"They're taking this better than expected." Lena slides into the booth, motioning to the crew. She takes another sip from her drink, waiting until Luke sits down to continue. "This really is all too much. First we lose Sinclair, now I'm supposed to give you up and get some Kryptonian in your place? How am I supposed to captain this ship without you?"

"You've managed without me before. And you'll have Jess and Eli to lean on, you're not going to be alone." Luke smiles at her.

"Yeah, you'll still be around people you know, even if the situation isn't exactly comfortable." Jess's hand rests on hers, the familiar touch comforting.

Lena turns to Luke. "Is this what you were being weird about earlier? How did you know?"

"I overheard a conversation in her ready room back when Sinclair first got the orders. It ... obviously wasn't my place to tell you."

"For some reason she felt the same way."

Luke chuckles. "She'd have waited to the last minute to tell anyone, the woman was paranoid about security. It'll be good for us, I think. The Venture has the most human dense crew of all SpaceForce vessels, the Martians, Daxamites, and Saturnians need someone who isn't human to look up to."

"I know, I was planning on requesting Commander Imra Ardeen be transferred here, but there's already so much bad blood between us and the Kryptonians, having her and them aboard would be a recipe for disaster."

"Hopefully we'll get someone who's easy to get along with and hasn't killed too many Alliance citizens." Jess smirks at Lena. "Maybe it'll be Flamebird, I heard she used to serve aboard the Flower of Heaven. " The suggestive tone in her voice sends fire into Lena's cheeks.

"Jess! Enough."

"Am I missing something?" Eli looks back and forth between the two women. "Lena, why are you pink?

"It's nothing. Jess just has an overactive imagination and assumes I'm one of those women who'd fall for someone just because they saved my life."

"I wouldn't. Especially if it was Flamebird." Eli says harshly.

"Right, Eli. I'm sorry." Jess looks chastened. "Your parents."

"I just don't understand why she'd save you when she let my parents die." Eli mumbles into his glass. "What makes you so special?"

"Nothing. Believe me, I don't understand it any better than you do." Lena smiles sadly.

"It's not likely to be Flamebird anyway." Luke offers. "Kara Zor-El's been on leave from active service since before the war ended, rumor is that she's effectively been dishonorably discharged but Kryptonian High Command won't come out and say it publicly because of her parents."

"I know this won't be easy for you, to have them on board, but this is partly why we have to do this, to get over the anger and the hate that has been festering ever since the war."

"If you say so Captain." Eli cross arms over his chest.

"Who's the Flower of Heaven 's captain?" Lena asks.

"H'El, Kara Zor-El's older brother. He's ruthless. You remember the Battle of Zantos?"

"Yeah, SpaceForce lost an entire fleet in one day. Would have lost more if I hadn't got the Kr100 working."

"H'El was the fleet commander there. You think Val-Zod and Dru-Zod were bad, this guy's worse. If he had any say, he's gonna make sure we get someone it'll be impossible to get along with."

Lena scrunches her brow, resting her head in her hands. "Alright. We're not going to accomplish anything by hiding in the corner, so go celebrate, party, do whatever it is you need to do before we head out. Just try not to think too hard about this."

"About what? The hordes of Kryptonian soldiers we're expected to open our doors too? Yeah, I'll definitely not be thinking about that." Eli walks away from the table, his anger intense enough to block out Lena's sense of the rest of the crew present.

"He's not going to cause trouble I hope."

"Not your problem anymore Mr. Perec. I'm serious you two, go enjoy yourselves. Let me do the worrying."

Luke makes a gruff sound as he rises from the table. Jess slides out after him, giving Lena a kiss on the cheek.

"Not a chance Captain."

Lena sits alone in the booth, watching L-Corp mingle with the rest of the crew. They're all good people. Saying goodbye to any of them would be hard.

Lena looks out through one of the Venture's many viewports at the battle raging around her. The great Kryptonian warships with their groaning engines firing into a sea of SpaceForce vessels that in turn explode into flames and are snuffed out by the nothingness of space.

A shift, the ships transform, the Kryptonian ships becoming the single massive Diasporan vessel and the Spaceforce fleet becoming Sinclair's shuttle. Through the vacuum of space Lena hears a despairing cry as the shuttle explodes.

Another shift, and a familiar hand rests on her shoulder, comforting in the way a memory is.

"This is how it ends for us." Lionel's voice is small, as if coming from far away.

"It can't be." Lena's brow knits in confusion. "I stopped them, I won the war."

"Yes Daughter, I know. My brilliant Lena, you finished what I couldn't, you created a weapon that made it possible to kill them. And you think they won't take revenge? Don't be foolish. Be more like your brother."

"Father." Lena turns to look at Lionel, his face distorted, stuck in the agonizing moment of his death. A shift, and the Venture disappears, a red sun glares down at Lena and her father, illuminating a field of bodies that stretches as far as she can see. Amongst the bodies she sees the ruins of a building that is at once the Luthor Science Academy and what looks like the Kryptonian Science Command. Lionel morphs, his clothes change to a white suit and his hair disappears, and in a flash he looks ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty years younger and then Lex is the one standing before her.

"Sis. You have a choice. Either destroy them, or they will destroy us. You know this peace is tenuous at best. Once they start boarding our ships, once they have our confidence, they'll slide the knife in. They can't be trusted."

"What can I do?" Lena's voice comes unbidden, the question escaping despite herself.

"Sweet sister. You'll know when the time comes." Lex smiles before vanishing along with the red-sun soaked field and she's aboard the Venture again struggling for breath as the Diasporan hand around her throat squeezes harder. The hand changes from grey to one encased in armour, extending from the blue and red clad figure of Flamebird. Her blue eyes turn bright red and release a scorching heat that consumes Lena.

Lena's eyes open into darkness, her breath comes in ragged gasps before she realizes that it was only another dream. Here aboard her ship she is safe, her kryptonite capable of protecting her from any ill-intentioned Kryptonians. Resting on her arms she sits up on her bed.

"Marina, low lights. And make me some orange spice tea."

The computer beeps in affirmative, Lena slips into her chair as the lights slowly turn on. She moves over to the replicator and retrieves the newly steaming cup of tea. After a few sips her nerves begin to calm down and she's able to separate her dream from reality.

Anchored in her chair, warmed through by her tea, the images of her dream, her father, brother, and flamebird vanish into the night, only Sinclair's death remaining fresh in her mind and it's not long before she is wondering why this particular nightmare seemed so pressing.

The tablet in her hand isn't telling her anything new, yet the act of reading it over again feels comforting. Today she's losing her first officer and longest friend, and the Flower of Heaven hasn't even done her the courtesy of naming who their sending over as a replacement. All the tablet tells her is they're some war hero.

Lena sighs, shifting in the Captain's chair, wondering how long before sitting there stops feeling wrong and she can actually enjoy being Captain.

All around her the crew rush to finish last minute preparations, the bridge much louder and busier than usual. At her right, Luke sits on the edge of the executive officer's chair, his head resting on steepled hands.

"Eli, please tell me we're in the right place."

"Captain, readings indicate that we are at the correct coordinates. Maybe we got lucky and they've decided not to show?"

Lena smiles a smile that doesn't reach her eyes. "Mercy, check your sensors again, there's no reason for us to be the only ship out here."

"Checking… Captain, I am getting something this time. A capital-class vessel approaching from the direction of the Kryptonian border." The martian's voice is tight, masking the turmoil Lena senses from her. "ID tags check out, it is the Flower of Heaven, rendezvous should be complete in ten minutes."

"Finally. Eli, keep the engines primed, Mercy watch them for any signs of trouble." She turns to Luke. "You're with me. Let's go greet our guests."

Luke takes a look around the bridge, nods at Lena, and follows her to the turbolift.

The turbolift doors open onto a hallway on deck 13, and Lena and Luke walk to the transporter room in companionable silence. Her chest feels almost heavy, like there's a weight pressing down on her.

"You know, for someone who can sense others feelings and emotions, you really suck at hiding what's going on in your head."

"Oh? Then what am I thinking Mr. Perec?"

"You're wondering if Spaceforce made the right call, doing this so soon after the war."

Lena puts her arm out in front of the door, stopping before going in. "We have to give this a chance right? If Spaceforce believes we can make peace, I believe we owe it to those who've died to try. That's not me being naive is it?"

"You already know the answer. If you believe in it, it must be right. For as long as I've known you, your instincts have always led you in the right direction." The corner of Luke's mouth turns, not quite completing a smile. "You don't need to tell you the answer, you never have."

"Yeah." Lena lowers her arms and straightens her uniform. "Thanks. Now, let's go meet this mystery officer."

The doors whirr open as they step into the transporter room. Lena waits by the control console, staring at the transporter pad where her new commander will arrive. The minutes go by slowly as her transporter technician coordinates with the Flower of Heaven to ensure everyone arrives in one piece.

"We're ready ma'am."

"Thank you Chief McConnell. Bring them over". McConnell's hands fly over the console and on the transporter pad orange and blue particles fill the the space where the Kryptonians will appear. In the few seconds it takes for the particles to assume a humanoid shape Lena runs through the very few kinds of person her new officer could be: driven, ruthless, efficient, savage: honestly her knowledge of how Kryptonians act outside war zones is limited, something she'll have to remedy.

The transportation process completes revealing two Kryptonians, one wearing the Kryptonian's black uniform with a Captain's insignia and the emblem of the House of El, the other in a similar black jumpsuit bearing only the s-shaped emblem.

"You must be Captain Lena Luthor." The husky voice pulls her focus to the first and larger of the two arrivals.

"Yes." Lena shakes the offered hand. "Welcome aboard the ESF Venture Captain H'El. This is my first officer Commander Luke Perec, who'll be transferring to your command; we've eagerly awaited your arrival."

"No doubt. It is unfortunate that Captain Sinclair perished before this meeting, I was looking forward to that encounter. Her tactics during the war were very unorthodox for a SpaceForce officer."

"Yes, she certainly had her own way of doing things." Lena glances away from H'El to the second arrival, a figure with long blond hair and broad shoulders, who has remained unmoving since appearing on the transporter pad.

"Forgive my rudeness. Allow me to introduce your new first officer." H'El gestures for his companion to step forward.

It is in her psychic mind that Lena first makes the connection as the officer walks towards her and their eyes meet.

" Commander Kara Zor-El." H'El's emphasis barely registers before Lena's own recognition can form.

Kara's eyes remain fixated on her, a piercing gaze that forces Lena to stifle her surprise and meet in kind.

She blinks.

"It's You."