LOG: Day 10

PASSENGERS: 316

AUTHOR: AGENT ALEX DANVERS

[These logs serve as notice to those concerned with the passengers onboard the Exodus, a Hoshin frigate, formerly of the Kazark fleet. We were bound for Takron-Galtos on March 18, 2017 Earth Time. I hope these are never seen by those it is intended for, but if it is, may they provide the barest of closure to those who receive it.

This ship and its passengers were forcibly deported by a terrorist group called Cadmus. Thus, all but one of the people trapped aboard are off-worlders who had made earth their home. Most of those trapped aboard wish to return to Earth, as they have families and friends and lives waiting for them. Therefore, over the course of our journey home, no matter the duration, these logs will be used as a reference for those who do not make it home.

To my great regret, I must inform the families of 28 people of their passing. If their names were not attainable from their person, an image and description has been attached for identification purposes.

Upon reaching lightspeed, one of the cells containing 12 individuals collapsed, unable to handle the pressure from highspeed travel. 10 of those individuals appear to have died instantly. Of the two that survived, one past several days later. The last individual, K'lesr is injured but alive. I expect them to make a full recovery.

None of the cells contained any safety equipment to secure people during travel. As a result, a further 8 have died as a result of blunt force trauma when reaching lightspeed and the abrupt halting upon reaching our destination.

Finally, the remaining nine have died from unspecified causes. Without medical equipment it is impossible to be certain, but it is my belief that the atmosphere of this galaxy was toxic to their species. They died over the course of days, with increasing illness rather than injury.

I offer my sincerest apologies and deepest regrets to the families and friends of those lost. I know that it is a hollow offering, but I promise that myself, and the remaining members of this ship, will return home and give you the closure you rightly deserve.]

Lucy had torn apart the lab. Lucy, an entire team of DEO agents, the NCPD science division and anyone who owed her a favor had torn apart the lab. And they had nothing to show for it.

If loathing didn't boil in her heart at the very thought of the women, Lucy would be impressed by Lilian Luthor's ability. Though they'd been on the scene less than twenty minutes, the facility had been stripped. The files wiped beyond even Winn's ability. Anything paper shredded and burned. All but the dead personal evacuated, including the elder Danvers and Lillian herself.

Every nook and cranny of the industrial building had been investigated, but nothing had upended a lead on where that ship had gone, let alone how to get it back. They didn't even have a good grasp of what kind of ship they were looking for.

Now, 48 hours later, Lucy stood alone in conference room C surrounded by the scraps of evidence they had left. Which is to say, almost nothing. The all but blank hard drives Winn had extracted, fistfuls of shredded paper discovered floating along the tarmac, and the personnel files of those found dead.

Not enough to build a case, her legal mind helpfully added. Though, if she were honest with herself, if Lucy got her hands on Lillian Luthor, she would not live to see her day in court.

"Director Lane," she suppressed a flinch at Vasquez's voice behind her. "Ma'am, I think you should call it a night."

"I'm fine Agent."

"With all due respect Ma'am, no you aren't."

"Excuse me?" Finally turning, Lucy raised a single eyebrow, spine painfully straight, hands linking at her tailbone.

"Lucy- Director, we have everything under control here. Director J'onzz is back from the field," had he managed to find Kara? "And you haven't taken any R&R in several days. As your 2IC it's my job to-"

"As my second in command your job is to listen to myself and Director J'onzz," and the deputy director.

"Lucy, you're my friend and I'm worried about you," the Agents face twisted, pity shining in her eyes. "You have to go home and-"

"I can't go home!" Lucy twisted her hands behind her back, where no one could see the weakness. She couldn't go home. They'd just started to move in together, giving up the pretense that they could spend nights apart. Yeah, they all had their own apartments, but only Al- one of them had renewed her lease. Hers was up the next month, Maggie's in July.

She didn't even know what clothes were left at her pathetic one bedroom, I have no intention of staying in this city for more than a month, let alone spend any time away from work, apartment. She had tried to remember – what clothes hadn't organically migrated into their shared closet? Did she even have a change of underwear at her place? Could she bare to go back to her house, knowing that their place was only blocks away?

But what was her other option? Go back to that stupidly open plan apartment? With the much too large windows and glorious bed and evidence of their tangled lives laying around, waiting to rip her heart open? No. She would stay and work and work until they had some lead, something to hold on to.

Vasquez seemed to sense a lost battle, bowing out of the room with a frown. Lucy knew she should apologize to her friend – Vas was more than just her second and didn't deserve this – but right now doing anything but staring at the contents of this room was too much.

She was thumbing through the photos from the scene when there was another knock. Though she had not felt the passage of time, the room was bathed in the red glow of dawn. She also didn't have the energy to stand, so she must have missed yet another meal.

"Luce," this voice was softer. No official undercurrent. Yet she didn't even look up. "Can I come in?"

Silence. Honesty, Lucy was half convinced if she opened her mouth ash would tumble from her throat. She couldn't even look away from the photo before her – the empty tarmac where the ship had originally been docked.

After a pause, the door closed. Slowly, as if she was an injured animal (which she supposed she was), the person approached until she was standing beside her, a hand braced on the back of the chair.

"Hey," impossibly soft. Lucy had always wondered how she could do that with her voice – she'd seen her use it with their girlfriend so many times it was surreal to feel it directed at her. "What are you lookin' at?"

Lucy remained frozen; eyes fixed on the tarmac. It had been taken that night, so it was horribly lit, but you could still see the cracked concrete where the ship's door had crushed the ground.

The smallest of exhales, and then she felt the other person crouch, placing one hand on her knee, and the other on the chairs arm, not turning her but prepared to.

"Luce, sweetie," she'd never called her that before. "You haven't slept in days; we're worried about you." Still nothing, but Lucy could feel it all cracking around the edges. The corners of her mind crumbling the more Maggie pressed. "Please just… come home with me, okay? We can start fresh tomorrow, I promise."

Her breath escaped her in a shudder, fingers denting photographs edges. Her eyes burned but she wouldn't close them, couldn't blink away the tears - that would be weakness.

"Lucy," Maggie's voice wavered, and other women's pain punctured another hole in her defenses. "Please. You're scaring me."

"I," Lucy choked out, "I'm- I-" but opening her mouth was a mistake. Words couldn't escape but her breath started to. Breathing became short and uneven, Lucy's vision blurring completely, the illusion of not crying fleeing her.

"Wow, hey, hey," Maggie was already shifting, turning Lucy's chair so that she was practically crouched between her legs, hand on either thigh. The photograph was abandoned as Lucy's hands palms against her temples – hard – trying to regulate anything. She hunched forward, hiding her face as best she could while Maggie tightened her grip. "I'm here, okay? Just focus on me."

But there was no focusing. She was spinning top out of control, tumbling over itself until it vanished, never to be seen again. She thought Maggie was still talking but it wasn't penetrating over her own breathing and spiraling thoughts. She wasn't connected to the earth anymore – she was unanchored and unravelling.

Seconds turned to minutes – and minutes might have turned into hours – because next thing she knew the room was pitch black. The sun had set, and Maggie hadn't moved to turn on a light. Suddenly, she could tune in, realizing it was her own voice filling the space.

"- there's just too much to do and I can't even bring myself to leave this room. There is paperwork and filing and I need to provide directions for everyone waiting out there and no one is even manning the dessert base, but I can't go out there. I can't even open the folder to start making the phone calls – I have to call all those families.

"Oh god - I have to call hundreds of people and explain this, talk about what happened and reassure them and I have nothing to reassure them about – we don't know anything and Lillian's gone and I don't even know how to begin to find them and Kara hasn't checked in – or maybe she has but I can't go out there and I just-" finally her words choked off into sobs, Maggie's fingers in her hair, pressing Lucy's face against her chest, the only thing holding her together as she rambled and disintegrated.

It took whole minutes for her to realize that Maggie was humming, just softly, under her breath, while gently rocking them, just barely, back and forth. The motion, the sound, the vibration of her chest, seemed to finally regulate Lucy's heart. That, or she just ran out of steam – burned out from the lack of… everything.

Eventually, Lucy pried her hands off her own skull, the pain from the pressure she was creating now registered. Carefully she transferred her grip to the plaid clad arm that was tucked against her, as Lucy tried to match her breathing to the steady beat of Maggie's heart.

"There you go," Maggie murmured, lips pressed into her hair. "That's better."

They allowed themselves this moment. Where they sat silently in conference room C, while everyone outside was still frantically working. They allowed themselves this moment of calm, where it was just two people who loved one and other (even though the words hadn't been uttered) and were hurting so deeply that nothing would never describe.

"Okay," Maggie loosened her grip slowly, waiting in case Lucy objected, until she could lean back and look into her partners eyes. "So, you're gonna come home with me."

"No, Mags, I-"

Maggie tipped her head, regaining eye contact as Lucy's frantic eyes sought out the objects scattered behind them. "No, Lucy. You need a hot meal, a shower and some sleep. You'll be no good to anyone otherwise. So, I'm gonna take you home and look after you, then tomorrow I will help you sort all of this out," she inclined her head towards the table, but didn't break eye contact.

"Help me?"

"The science division is perfectly capable of making some of those calls – most of the missing alien's were going through us first. Me and my guys already made contact with a lot of those families during our investigation, so it's probably better coming from us anyway," her voice sounded calm and reasonable, as if the task she just assigned herself wasn't so horrific.

"Kara did check in, and spent last night at our place," Maggie pressed a palm against Lucy's check at the new wave of tears. "She is still out on patrol now, but I will make sure to check in on her."

"Winn-"

"Winn is alright. J'onn sent him home hours ago, and James took him back to his place instead. Everything is under control – you can come home for one night, I promise." And Lucy chose to believe her.