PERSONAL LOG: 5IC K'LESR (#6)
[Extract for the Public Domain]
"… so we decided that it would be easier to navigate around the galaxy, given the reputation of the-" K'lesr's report to their wife was cut off by the ship literally shuddering. Looking around, confused, they started to stand, leaving only their upper thighs and the waist visible.
They took a step towards the left, leaving themselves barely in frame, but audio was still being picked up. There was shouting, and the groaning of protesting metal. The ship gave another shudder, and K'lesr suddenly vanished out of frame, boots thundering towards the voices.
For the next five minutes, no one returned. All that was being recorded was the sounds of shouting, the engines screaming and metal caving somewhere nearby. Gunfire began abruptly, followed immediately by chaotic and frantic screams. The whole frame shook with another collision, the camera tilting slightly.
Then a man ran into frame. Clearly alien and dressed in the black uniform of the Exodus crew. He stumbled into the center of the room, tumbling onto his knees. He was covered in grit, blood already dripping down his temple, but he turned to face the direction he came, his jaw firm against whatever was coming.
"Yui verr maqar sas uis oreqa!" He shouted, defiance in his every word, which did nothing to prevent the blast of green that slammed into his chest, slamming him flat on his back. From the corner of the frame, another man entered. He was too large to be human, arms too long and head too wide. Not to mention the horns protruding from his chin.
He walked over to the fallen man, pressing his foot down on his chest. He coughed up blood in response, a shuddering breath escaping from his purple lips.
The giant seemed to laugh, a horrible empty sound. Before raising his gun again, aiming directly between the fallen man's eyes.
"Hey, ugly!" Another shout from out of frame drew the giant's attention. Looking up, he turned his body, drawing his gun up.
He never did get to fire, because the axe thrown from out of frame embedded itself in his chest, nearly lifting him off his feet and landing him flat on his back. He did manage to raise his head and look down at the offending wound with wide eyes, but little else. Blood had begun to drip down his chin as a third figure ran into frame.
Alex Danvers, dressed in only white breast binding and the black tac pants from the day before, completely ignored the downed giant, sliding to her knees beside the first man. She wasn't even wearing shoes. Pressing her fingers against his shoulder, she muttered something unintelligible over the sounds of battle in the background.
"Le'ra, dude, you gotta work with me here…" she muttered, barely picked up by the footage, pressing her hand against the open wound in his chest. Meanwhile, the invader started to cough blood, weakly trying to grab at the axe rooted in his chest cavity – something Alex's eyes zeroed in on quick.
"Don't you even fucking," reaching out, she grabbed at the handle of her weapon, lifting one foot to rest on the ground, she leveraged it out of the alien with a jerk. Something exploded behind them, but Alex didn't spare it a glance. Instead, she pulled back, and with one quick movement, put the sharp end between the giant's eyes. Blood exploded upwards, splattering her face and chest and decorating the clean binding with green.
"Okay," she huffed. "You're probably going to die," she yanked the weapon out again. "But you're definitely not dying here," she lent down once again, keeping the axe in one hand, she shoved an arm underneath the first fallen man. Pulling him upright with a grunt, supporting more than most of his weight, she dragged the man out the right side of the frame.
When the visual clicked off, all that remained was the giant horned man, a pool of dark green blood gathering around his skull.
LOG: Day 475
PASSENGERS: 139
AUTHOR: DR ALEX DANVERS, GL
The visual clicked in on again with Alex already seated, looking directly into the camera's lens. Her mouth was set in a hard line, jaw clenched, eyes narrow, hands clasped together with white fingers.
"I asked K'lesr if we could use the end of his entry for these logs," her voice was calm, contrary to all the body language she was screaming. "If these are supposed to record our authentic experience, then I guess that scene is exactly the right thing to include. Though," a pause, but her eyes did not shift. "I personally hope that no one from my life before ever has to see that. See me like that."
Her eyes hardened impossibly more. "We were boarded by a raiding party. They were looking for loot, and probably fuel given our isolated position. Their entire crew boarded at once, though we successfully eliminated them. Fortunately, since the last attack, we had systems in place and procedures, so none of the vulnerable were seriously injured. The extensive training that me and Lyron have been enforcing seems to be effective, as only a dozen lives were lost in what was a full-scale attack."
Her expression did not shift, but her eyes softened ever so subtly. "Not all that died were members of the original crew, therefore I'm not be able to provide closure to their families. However, they continue to live in our memories," her voice trailed off, eyes finally dragged downwards. Breathing in once, twice, she looked back at the camera. "To the families of those who were not able to return to Earth, I extend to you my deepest sympathy for your loss."
A deep breath, then switching gears.
"In regard to a status update – the raid only delayed us by a handful of days, which places us firmly at 34% through our journey. We were also able to board the raiders vessel, which provided us enough fuel and resources to skip the next galaxy altogether, if there are no export jobs worth stopping for. Plus, Ella informs me that the tech onboard should be useful in upgrading our engines."
Another pause. Long enough to suggest the transmission was over, and Alex was just frozen, staring down the lens of the camera. Then she moved, her eyebrows crinkling, head ducking. She scratched at the back of her neck before looking back up, though no longer maintaining eye contact.
"Due to my actions during the last battle… and some of the losses we suffered, Lyron saw fit to promote me. I now act as a ground leader, which places me directly in the chain of command," she tugged at the black uniform absently, fingers tucking under the diagonal hem where the pieces of fabric joined. "I did not want this position. I don't deserve this position. But now that I have it, I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure this team comes home safely. Those that remain, anyway."
"Darla - I'm done."
Kara really couldn't get on board with the level of caution about the stupid bounty on her life. It's not like a bunch of rogue aliens posed much risk to the girl of steel. The laser eye patch guy managed all of two minutes of public endangerment. But honestly, the look on Winn's face when she talked about taking them out one by one was enough to give her pause.
He'd been handling the Alex thing differently to the rest of them; Lucy shut down, then exploded; Maggie has emersed herself in supporting everyone else; J'onn was functioning on willpower and work alone. Even Kara had to admit that she was leaning away from her human side, trying to focus on being Supergirl, because being Kara Danvers sucked right now.
But Winn… Winn came to work, did his job and left. He didn't laugh or smile or make stupid jokes and comments. He got orders, he followed them. The only breaks in his routine were the five times a day something reminded him of Alex, and he had to go into containment and breathe alone for a minute.
So, when she suggested going after the hunters one by one, Lucy brought up public safety and J'onn had talked about giving the DEO a chance to get ahead. But it was actually the blind panic in Winn's eyes that had her agreeing.
So, that's how she found herself half-heartedly playing board games with James and Winn. James had turned off the news and not budged (he'd gotten better at enforcing mental health rules recently) so Kara was left to stew in her thoughts. Which would have been bad enough if she hadn't heard Mon-El's heartbeat ascending the stairs.
Signing and straightening her jacket, she was opening the door before he had the chance to let himself in.
"What are you doing here?"
"Can I… come in?" She truly considered just closing the door in his face, but there was an intergalactic manhunt going on, and he was technically a DEO asset. So, she moved out of the way and made sure not to crush her own door when she closed it.
"So? Speak," she crossed her arms, ignoring the uncomfortable looks from her friends.
"I was just questioning some suspects."
"Who?" She was not giving him an inch of hospitality.
"My parents."
"You think your parents ordered the bounty on me?"
"Well, they say they didn't, but I'm not so sure," he started towards the fridge while she processed that – that was bad. By the time she looked back at him, she had to watch in vague shock as he flicked the lid off a beer. "But I've been thinking of solutions to our problem!"
"I'm sorry, our problem?"
"Yeah! And I think we should run for our lives," he actually smiled a little, taking a sip. "So there's this planet that a Durlan emissary told me about when I was a kid. It's got water, and a yellow sun-"
"Stop," she stepped over and snatched the bottle out of his hands, ignoring his exclamation. Slamming it on the table, she turned back to him. "What part of, I can't be with you, was unclear to you? And even if that was unclear, what makes you think that I would run away from my family?"
"Well, you know," even he seemed to realize that this was going differently than he pictured in his head. Glancing at the other guys at the apartment seemed to indicate they were in fact going horribly. "I thought, 'cause you don't really have a lot of family left here, it would be easier to just be somewhere safe?"
Suddenly there was a roaring in Kara's ears, which had nothing to do with her super hearing. In her peripheral vision she saw Winn's head drop and James move to comfort him.
Narrowing her eyes, she advanced a step. "I don't really have a lot of family left here?"
His eyes widened but she didn't even give him a chance to backtrack – ice saturated her tone. "Blood doesn't make a family Mon-El – and if you haven't learnt that by now, you never will. And even if me and you were this functional couple and I had nothing tying me to Earth… Just forget about us for one second. Do you even understand the second chance you've been given?"
She took a deep breath, trying to hold on the shreds of her rational thought. "You thought you were the last Daxamite and you're not. Your people are alive. Your parents… your family are alive. They need you. They love you. And… you're just going to throw that chance away? For me? A broken girl who broke up with you?"
Taking another breath, she tried to soften her tone again. "My parents are dead, and my sister is missing. Do you know what most of us would give to have the chance you do? Why are you fighting this so hard?"
"Kara," he glanced at the guys, looking uncomfortably at the other men in the room. "I love you."
"But I can't love you," pinching her nose, she wished she'd had Maggie or Lucy over as well – she needed different backup. "If your parents placed the bounty, they're putting innocent people in danger. If you actually want to be a hero Mon-El, you'll talk to them, and give them what they want - You're a prince, so start acting like it."