CHAPTER 4: First Mission

The underground passage was dark as Kara walked through it confidently with quick steps. She couldn't see anything, as her eyes hadn't adjusted yet, but the way was carved into her memory.

For the past two years, she had been coming to this secret facility to train for her missions. Kara had become an agent for the Kryptonian secret organization called "SKIS" – which meant "eye" in Kryptonese.

SKIS had been created to observe the suspicious activities in the galaxy, and to detect any kind of harm which would have stayed hidden to other normal and diplomatic methods – such as monitoring programs by Enforcers (Kryptonian military units that were legally situated on some other planets, providing safety and order, with the consent of the governing power in those regions.)

In other words, SKIS was Krypton's third eye, where Enforcers could not be

Kara Zor-El had clearly announced her devotion and determination on the day of her interview. After just one week, one of the army liaisons approached with an offer for her, to serve as an agent in an organization.

Kara pondered on the offer, eventually accepting it. This was her chance to finally play a more active role in revealing the truth and seeking justice for the victims of the underground networks of criminals and smugglers – like the alien trafficking.

In her wild dreams, Kara saw a day when she would find a way to exonerate her aunt Astra and set her free.

Through the past two years, Kara had learned to speak in some of the popular tongues of the galaxy, had trained in martial arts with the best fighters in their army, and had been on three missions – under the supervision of a higher ranked agent.

Every one of Kara's superiors were satisfied with her progress. Her parents though, were still uneasy. They wouldn't complain, but she read worry in their faces. They had accepted her way and she was grateful for their understanding.

Kara was wondering when her training would be over in these days, until she received an alarm for a meeting on her spy beacon.

Funnily enough, her aunt had given her a very similar gadget years ago to contact her. The one her mother confiscated right before she sentenced her own sister, to spend her days in the cold and dark space of the Phantom Zone forever.

Kara had turned off the alarm and rushed to the meeting.

As she was getting closer to the room she was summoned to, Kara wondered if they were going to send her on another mission with another superior agent. She flashed her badge to the door, waiting as the high tech device in front of her did a complete body scan before letting her in with a robotic voice. "S52, access granted".

There were three people waiting for her, and Kara's eyes widened as she saw both of her superiors she worked under in her time in SKIS, sitting in the room. Of course these weren't the highest people in the organization (as the directors' identities had been remained secret from first rankers such as herself.)

There was also a woman sitting on the last chair to the left. She had shoulder length brown hair and brown sharp eyes, looking at Kara with a warm smile on her face. She was Alex Chy-Lee – a more experienced agent who had worked with Kara since her first day at SKIS.

Every initiate in SKIS were assigned to a more experienced agent. Alex was the person who taught Kara the most important skills and lessons, and although she was only three year older than Kara, she was one of the best agents.

Alex was her mentor and her best friend. They had completed two short missions together, and mostly, it was out on missions assigned to Alex, that Kara had learned the most from over the past two years.

About seven months ago, Alex informed Kara that she was going on a special mission – one Kara hadn't obtained enough clearance to be allowed to know the details. Alex explained, she wasn't sure when she would be back, and during that time, Kara missed her greatly, sometimes worrying about her safety. But she also believed in Alex deeply. They had said goodbye, and after all that time, suddenly she was sitting right in frony of her, making Kara's heart swell to see her fovourite agent in one piece.

Kara saluted and stood still for a moment before a man waved his hand to her, and she took the only empty seat in front of the others. The man sitting directly in front of her was Major Dar-An. Major looked at the hologram device in his hands that was projecting the details of her profile for a while, before speaking.

"Kara Zor-El, congratulations. You have successfully completed your phase of training."

Kara felt her heart soar with happiness. She didn't expect to be fully accepted into SKIS at all, though she was hoping for it, to be honest. She nodded firmly and enthusiastically at him. Major tapped at the hologram, changing it to another page, while opening his fingers on the small cubic hologram to enlarge it, and then he put the cube on the table.

Now everyone could see the 3D contents clearly. The woman sitting next to Major Dar-An leaned forward – she had blond short hair and a long nose, wearing a brown uniform and the signs on her chest that showed she was a Lieutenant. Lieutenant Lora-Di.

Unlike the army and all the other departments in the society – where everyone's uniform had their family logo printed on their left shoulder over their heart – in this organization, no one wore their family symbol. She knew who these people were, but she had sworn to never disclose any kind of knowledge to outsiders.

"Today you will receive your first assignment. Your first mission." Lieutenant Lora Di-Kan looked at Kara with an expression that meant business.

Kara tried to look equally serious while inside she was vibrating with joy. "Yes ma'am."

Kara threw a glance at Alex quickly, and saw the brunette looking at her smugly. She then returned her attention to the hologram and waited to be briefed.

Lieutenant Lora pointed to a picture on the hologram. "During last year, we have received Intel on one of the intergalactic mobs known as the Beasts, working on something on planet Daxam. "

The pictures changed as she spoke, showing different faces from different races. The pictures had relatively good quality and were obviously taken with superior technology to avoid blowing their taker's cover. Kara tried to memorize their faces. She was good with faces and her photographic memory was one her advantages that made her good at her job.

The pictures moved to some locations. The last one, a hangar. Kara saw some damaged spaceships in it. It must have been an old abandoned hangar or one used to repair ships, the perfect place to land and go unnoticed. To prove her speculations right, the Lieutenant continued.

"This is one of the hangers they use to commute to Daxam. This particular one is located in their capital city, Telos. We also have knowledge of some meetings between the Beasts and some of the royalties and elites, which makes it a potential threat and we need to know what exactly they are up to, and stay ahead of them. It is not completely clear how deep this goes into their system but we conclude that even the queen is involved, and that means weapons. We need confirmation on this matter and we need to know what kind of weaponry they are preparing. We need an undercover agent to infiltrate the rebellions. The Rebels have the best chance to get close to the royalty and to the mobs at the same time. Agent Alex Chy-Lee has been on this mission on Daxam. She has the first hand information about the current situation on Daxam."

The lieutenant turned and looked at Alex. Alex leaned forward and cleared her throat. She looked at Kara first, and then with her strong and familiar voice, continued to explain the situation on Daxam.

"I've been on Daxam for the past seven months, observing their people, and have made a lot of connections with different members of Rebellion. The Rebels are very spread out, and have a lot of disagreement among themselves. That's the main reason why they can't actually be a threat to the regime. Most of them are escaped slaves, or are from other planets but have been stranded on Daxam. There doesn't seem to be any influential individuals among them. The only high ranking undercover rebels I'm aware of, are two sodiers in the royal guard and a few palace servants. From my time there, I learned they have confirmed that about five years ago, King Lar Gand was poisoned by the queen because he had been associated with the rebels during his last year. The economic situation on Daxam has deteriorated exponentially ever since, due to their failure to form an alliance with the Byrnians. Daxam and Byrnian were about to unite their power by an arranged marriage between princess Niro of Byrnian and Prince Mon-El of Daxam, right about the same time the king was killed. But right before the wedding, the prince went missing. The queen announced that the rebellion had kidnapped the crowned prince, but the rebels claim that he has joined them. Either way, I haven't found any trace of the prince during this time. And as for the general situation of Daxam, the planet is on the verge of complete social and economic collapse. Only smugglings and their relation with Dominators have helped them survive this far. "

Alex finished her preliminary explanation about Daxam and the rebels, all the while flipping through pictures, changing them according to her saying. Kara kept looking at them. She saw pictures of the infamous Queen Rhea and then there was one of the last pictures taken from Prince Mon-El, hand in hand with princess Niro of Byrnian – both in elegant clothing.

Kara could easily see the deep frown and cold eyes on prince Mon-El's face. She didn't like the prince. In Kara's mind, he was a kind of boy who played the girls, never care about anyone but himself. She had her reasons to believe that the prince hadn't join the rebels, but had ran away from a life of responsibilities. He had chosen the easy way out. Most probably, he was sun bathing on some other planet surrounded by beautiful girls. He was the frat boy of the galaxy.

Alex paused for a moment before moving on with her report.

"During the last month, the Beasts have been much more active, as if they are up to something bigger which raises concern for us. Beasts have never been this close to our system and Daxam is their haven, as the planet itself seems to run with smuggling chains while the royalties support them. They have less reasons to stay hidden on Daxam. I've been trying to get close to them and I need to put distance between myself and the rebels if I want to actually infiltrate them. But we also need eyes and ears in the rebels. Therefore I have suggested the council to enter another undercover agent to Daxam to take my former place among the rebels."

At this point Alex flashed Kara a brief smile. Kara was beyond grateful for Alex's trust in her. Major Dar-An laced his fingers together before putting them on the table, making Kara turn her attention to him.

"This Kara Zor-El, shall be your first mission. You will infiltrate the rebellions and gain their trust and gather information, while being in touch with us and send regular reports. We believe something big is happening on Daxam that will affect us. You will not be in touch with agent Alex that much though, which makes this mission a real one for you. This is your chance to prove to us that you can finally operate fully as an agent. The details of your mission will be discussed in another briefing, in two hours with agent Alex and other tech assets who will equip you with proper gadgets. Now Kara Zor-El, are you ready for this?"

Kara took in a deep breath while looking at the hologram pictures on last time. "Yes Sir. "

"Good, then dismissed. "

Kara almost jumped from her seat and saluted once more, before marching out of the room, with excitement oozing from her every corner. This was it! That two hours seemed so long.

Kara really liked to talk Alex after all this time apart. Like really talk, not about this mission. She waited around the hallway a few more minutes, but apparently the other occupants of the room had exited through the other door.

Kara sighed. Alex must have other more important duties to attend to, so she decided to spend her time in the training room. She tried shooting at targets for a few minute, then she tried to warm up by sparring with the dummy in the room. There were only two other people in the room.

Half an hour later when Kara was working on an especially hard move that Alex had taught her, she felt someone grabbed her hand a bit too harshly and she acted out of practice and kicked back only to be countered by another kick and suddenly she found herself face to face with Alex. She was so happy that no word could come out of her mouth.

"Good. Your reflexes are still sharp." Alex commented with a playful smile.

Kara threw herself at her and gave her a bear hug. "Oh gosh Alex! I missed you!"

Alex hugged her back with a chuckle, pushing Kara back to see her face.

"Jeez Kara I have a reputation here." Alex protested, but she was grinning.

Alex liked to be all fierce and tough in front of others, but Kara knew in her heart she was one of the kindest persons in the galaxy. Kara giggled at her and let her go. Nodding her head towards the other agents in the room who hadn't even looked in their direction, Kara gave Alex her famous pout. "Oh come on! No one saw that! And you know how much I've miss you!"

"Okay, okay. Fair enough. So what's new around here? "

Kara moved to take her towel from her bag in the corner of the room, shaking her head, while Alex accompanied her. "Oh… nothing. Just the same old same old."

"I see. "

Kara gave Alex her megawatt smile. "I'm really thankful for putting a good word for me Alex!"

Alex shrugged. "It was only the truth. You are ready for this."

For a moment they just stood there, appreciating each other, until Alex pointed her head in the direction of the sparring mat in the middle of the room. "So you wanna prove me you're ready?"

"You bet!"

And for the next hour, Kara and Alex went through all the techniques that Kara knew. She performed them perfectly but no one was a match for Alex.

"Ouch… ouch… okay I'm not ready!"

Alex was pushing Kara's head into the mat with her knee and her right hand was twisting Kara's left on her back. Alex laughed and held her like that for a little longer just to tease her. "Not bad for a rookie. Okay time to get changed for the briefing. "

Alex released Kara and she jumped back on her feet, huffing. She was sore, but really happy. She loved sparring with Alex even though they almost always ended with her locked under Alex's grip. They headed for the showers and managed to reach the conference room for the debriefing in time.

It took almost a full hour to go over all the details. Then Kara had to head back home to say goodbyes and get ready for her departure with Alex, three hours after Rao had set.

Kara wasn't sure how she felt exactly. Too excited to be upset about not seeing her parents for a long time, but also a bit nervous about how they would react. She reached the doors to their house and her heart was pounding in her chest with anticipation.

The doors opened and a robotic familiar voice welcomed her. "Welcome back Lady Kara!"

"Thanks Kalex."

She searched their living room with her eyes and saw no one around. "Kalex where are my parents?"

"While you were gone Lady Kara, Lady Alura and Master Zor-El were called into a meeting with Master Jor-El at the Argo city hall. "

Kara almost huffed in frustration. "And when will they come back?"

"I'm afraid, they did not share that information."

"Great…"

"But they did left me a message for you. They asked if you could keep Lady Lara and young master Kal-El company. "

Kara thought about that for a moment and figured that would be the best option. At least she could see Kal one more time before she left.

"Okay Kalex. I'll be at uncle Jor-El's house. Notify me if my parents came back."

"Of course Lady Kara. "

And she headed back to her pod and zoomed over to her uncle's house. Usually uncle Jor-El lived in Candor, but they owned a house here in Argo city as well – since it was the capital city – and some part of the year they lived here. Kara stopped her pod in the small hanger in front of the house and hopped out. She felt her stomach dropped when she saw fourteen year old Kal sprinting out of their door and ran to hug her.

"Kara! I missed you!"

Kara hugged him back tightly and kissed the top of his head. "I've missed you too Kal!"

"I have a lot of things I want to show you!"

He let go of her and gave Kara his biggest smile. She smiled back at him and let him drag her into their house. When they reached his room, he started showing her all his little stuff and class projects. She couldn't concentrate on all he was saying because all she could think of was her mission and how little time she had to say goodbye. She wasn't oblivious to the dangers of her job so she wanted to make sure that she had said what she wanted to all her loved ones.

"Kal would you let your cousin breathe first?"

Aunt Lara's voice came from the direction of the door, chastising Kal. Kara turned around and saw her aunt standing at Kal's door.

Lara was tall and beautiful in her white long dress. She had blond hair and brown eyes. If anyone didn't know any better they would say Kara resembled Lara, while they weren't closely related by blood. Kara smiled warmly before moving forward to hug her. "Hi Aunt Lara."

"Dear Kara. How are you? "

Kara really didn't know how to answer that right now. She just shrugged. "Everything's good. "

She knew her face said another story, but Lara wasn't the type of a person to push her. That was one more reason to love her.

Since Kal was tapping his foot impatiently on the ground, Lara just nodded kindly and decided to let them be.

"Kal's been waiting for this opportunity for a while. I let you talk. But come find me later. I would like to talk to you as well."

"Of course Aunt Lara. See you later."

Kara spend enough time with Kal, until he showed and told her all he wanted. Kara then went to find Lara. It was almost dark and she was getting more nervous. Kara very briefly explained that she had a work related trip and wasn't sure when she would be back. She didn't even disclose the destination. She wasn't allowed to share any details. Lara listened to her and after a moment of silent she simply nodded before reaching to squeeze her shoulder with a genuine smile.

"I know you will do great things Kara. I pray to Rao that he keeps you safe from any harm."

Kara felt tears pulling in her eyes but blinked them away quickly, thanking her.

They heard footsteps and Kara saw her parents and uncle came through the living room area. Kal was following them with a shining grin on his face. Excited that his uncle, aunt and beloved cousin Kara had come over to their house after a long time. Kara and Lara stood up to greet them.

Kara thought this will be a very long night.

And now will be leaving Krypton and into Daxam and it's really about to start!

Take care, see you next week XOXO