Supergirl: Orbital

One

Everyone agreed, Lena Luthor was a striking, beautiful woman. The brown haired woman strode through the office of her 'new' business, Lex SPACE, drawing everyone's eyes, but seemed mostly unaware of it.

"Miss Luthor, welcome," Nia Nal, her personal assistant, smiled warmly.

"Nia," Lena smiled tiredly.

"Your agenda," Nia passed over the tablet.

"PLEASE tell me we have a new Media Relations Rep," Lena said as she reviewed the day's appointments and such.

Nia sighed, "No, ma'am." She added, "I understand we have another batch on interviews scheduled later today."

Lena nodded glumly.

Lex SPACE was her dream project... a reusable, inexpensive low Earth orbit rocket, for commercial and private use. They had a prototype, MUCH more reliable than Space X, and were looking into commercial missions next year.

But her decision to break them away from the larger LEXCORP was having unexpected effects. Lena was dealing with a lot more bureaucratic issues than expected, as well as bringing in staff. And the media rep was especially frustrating.

"And we have another batch of applications," Nia offered brightly.

"I'll go through them," Lena nodded.

Lena felt they needed something special for their media rep. Not just a pretty face, but someone who could knowledgeably discuss the science involved with the rocketry. And so far, she'd had no luck finding them.

"I'll get you some coffee," Nai said as she strode off.

"More interviews... ugh," Lena sighed as she looked over the head shots. No one leaped out at her, though there was a pretty blond woman.

'Karen Danvers?' Lena noted.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The gleaming armored figure casually stood in the hail of gunfire, the bank robbers weapons firing uselessly. "Shit!" the leader cursed.

The distorted voice ordered, "Throw down your weapons."

"I'll shoot the hostage! I swear!" one guy yelped, holding a guy in front of him.

Instead the woman raised a hand and gestured, and the weapon was yanked from his hand and flew to them. Then she swiftly charged them, punching each with precise force, stunning them.

"Oh wow," the 'hostage' breathed out, looking up at her in awe.

"Are you all right?" the distorted voice asked with strange gentleness.

"Ya.. yes!" she stammered.

"POLICE! Hands up!" the cops called as they burst in, then froze as they realized the situation had already been resolved.

Without a word the armored woman silently rose, then swept over the stunned cops and out of the bank, as the men yelled in surprise and a little alarm.

"Well, damn," Captain Maggie Sawyer blurted, the older woman frowning as she saw the figure flying off.

The figure shimmered then disappeared, cloaking itself from visual light, cameras and electronic surveillance. The armor slid off the figure, reconfiguring into a simple metal sphere while the young woman stood in business wear.

"Kelex, go into a high orbit over the city," Karen ordered.

"Yes miss," the sphere replied then shot up into the sky.

Karen watched it take off, her expression thoughtful.

Not THAT long ago, she had discovered how to reconfigure the space ship that had brought her to Earth as a baby, and turned it into a armored suit. She had had no intention of using it for combat, but she had encountered the crashing helicopter, and couldn't just IGNORE it...

'Ugh, I need coffee. And my interview is soon,' Karen thought, hurrying off.

The coffee place was near Lex SPACE's offices, and she got into line behind another woman. It was a long line, so Karen took out her phone, accessing an astronomy ap she had recently been fooling around with. She had found Krypton's star, and was intrigued that the light of the planet's end hadn't reached Earth.

"Oh, you like astronomy?" the dark brown haired woman in front of her asked, having seen the screen she was looking at.

"Oh," Karen looked up. She smiled sheepishly, "Yes, but I'm no expert. It's fascinating, how we can look into the sky and see light from hundreds of years ago just reaching us."

"Most people don't even consider the time aspect," the woman noted.

"Hmm," Karen nodded, "it's sad that, with the distances involved, we likely won't even leave this solar system in my lifetime."

"Order up, Nicole!" the staffer yelled.

"Nia!" she sighed as she got her coffee, "Nia Nal."

"They never get names right," she smiled, "I'm Karen."

Nia looked at her thoughtfully, "Nice to meet you Karen."

"Kathleen!" the staffer called.

"Seriously?" Karen shook her head.

Nia just shook her head and laughed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Lena Luthor smiled as she said, "Thanks for coming in, we'll call you if you end up in the final interview group."

"Like, I hope I get picked!" the former cast member of 'Real Lives of Gotham's Wealthy' smiled, then tottered out on her high heels.

Lena waited until she left then sat back with a groan. That was possibly the most vapid person she had ever met...

"Miss Luthor?" Nia called, having finally returned.

"Come in," Lena ordered, then blinked as Nia was followed in by a blond haired, attractive young woman.

"Your coffee," Nia passed it over, "and I come bearing the perfect candidate, too."

"Hey, don't build me up TOO much," the woman protested.

Lena had to fight down a chuckle at that.

"Meet Karen Danvers," Nia nodded, "who is applying for the Media Rep position, AND is familiar with astronomy AND the realities of space flight."

"Miss Luthor, it's nice to meet you," Karen smiled shyly.

"And you," Lena smiled back, noting the young woman was REALLY cute. "Let me get your resume," she started.

"Here, boss," Nia already had it ready, as usual.

"As usual," Lena chuckled, "I should call you 'Radar.'"

"You watch that show too?" Karen blurted. "I always watched MASH with my parents."

"I caught it on a oldies network," Lena found herself admitting.

Nia looked at the two of them, amused, "What?"

"Never mind," Lena waved it off. "Okay, you have a journalist degree. You headed up your high school newsletter, were in a journalism club in college, and interned then were employed with WBS (Wayne Broadcasting Systems) under James Olsen," she read the facts thoughtfully.

"Yes!" Karen nodded.

"So why did you leave Wayne Broadcasting?" Lena asked curiously.

"My official reason is new opportunities," Karen smiled wryly, "but can I be honest?"

"Please," Lena nodded.

"I felt they weren't taking me seriously," Karen admitted, "I was mostly getting fluff pieces to write and my only broadcast work was 'fill in weather girl.'"

"Ouch," Nia winced.

"Yeah," Karen nodded.

Lena smiled sympathetically, "Understandable." She looked over the resume, "The only other issue is, you'll need to be very on the ball on the science..."

Nia grinned. "Karen, what would you consider the biggest issue for spacecraft?"

"Life support or fuel," Karen said, "the amount of ANY fuel you'd need with conventional rockets makes long distance travel hugely difficult..."

Lena countered, "Orion drives?"

"Not in atmosphere," Karen grinned, "and the environmentalists will scream."

The questions shifted to a lively back and forth on space science, only stopping when Nia reminded her she had an appointment soon.

"All right," Lena said, "I need to check your references and such, but barring something strange coming up, you're hired."

"Thank you, Miss Luthor!" Karen beamed.

"We'll call in a few days," Nia added.

Karen smiled at both of them, "I look forward to hearing back!"

To be continued...