A/N: I've had this in mind for a while, and even posted the first section on the Chuck FanFiction Facebook pages back in September, labeling it 'Chuck in a far distant galaxy.' I decided to continue it.

MicroGirl1225 kindly agreed to pre-read the story, for which I'm very grateful. Of course, anything you find wrong with it is all my fault, not hers.

The quote in the summary is obviously from a well-known movie, but may not completely apply here. Let's just start the story, shall we?

Far Distant Chuck

Chapter 1

Chuck deactivated the holo display. And walked over to slump on his bed. Another fruitless search for his sister.

It had been one-hundred-and-eighty days, nearly half-a-year, since his uncle had told him that his sister hadn't been killed with his parents, as Chuck had been told when he recovered from his coma. Since then, Chuck had spent all his free time searching the dataverse for her.

Uncle Alexei and Aunt Grace couldn't raise both of them and had put her up for adoption. They didn't know who had adopted her. Whoever it was must have changed her name, so it seemed to him like she had died. Now Chuck knew that Ellie had just disappeared.

Of course, she may have died since being adopted, but he had to hope that wasn't true.

He sadly thought that he had no idea what she would look like as an adult. They had only been eight years old when the accident occurred and now he and his twin were both twenty-two. A lot of physical changes occur in those intervening fourteen years. He may even have seen her when he'd gone into town since his uncle had agreed he could be the one to take the crops to the market. However, it was more likely that she'd moved away, possibly even been taken off-world. If they were identical twins, it would be different, but they weren't.

He sighed as he thought of going off-world. He'd never be able to afford that if he found out Ellie had left the planet. Contacting and seeing her by holovid would be wonderful, but what he really wanted to do was to hug his sister, hold her close.

He didn't even know anyone who'd been off-world. He'd heard whispers that the angry-looking man from the other side of the mountain that he'd once seen in town had been, but he didn't know if that was true about Casey.

The chances of meeting the man on the day Chuck brought produce to the market must be almost zero, but when he bumped into John Casey as he headed back to his flier, literally bumped shoulders, Chuck was shocked. More than shocked, actually. He landed on his ass.

The largest hand Chuck had ever seen appeared in front of him to help him up. It was accompanied by a grunt, and a low voice, "Look where you're going."

Chuck replied without thinking, "Says the guy who bumped into me." That could've left him down on the ground, but actually earned him a chuckle and he was pulled up so quickly in the vice-like grip that he almost over-balanced when on his feet.

"Good reply," that deep voice said.

"Can I ask you a question?" Chuck said, seeing who he was with. Not sure if the grunt was positive or not, he plowed ahead, "Have you ever spent time off planet?"

That earned him a bark that he assumed was a laugh. "Sure, kid."

Not sure that a twenty-two year old should get called 'kid', Chuck looked at the face of the man. Yeah, with those wrinkles he was probably around forty. Not old, but not young either.

"How do I get to go off world when I don't have much money?"

Casey stared at him as if he was stupid, and maybe he was. After a few moments, he replied, "Enlist or stow."

Chuck had never considered either. His shoulders slumped. He didn't know what he'd hoped for but now he had nothing.

"You Volkoff's boy?" Casey asked.

Chuck looked up at him. "You know my uncle?"

"I fought with him."

Chuck stepped back. This man was an enemy?

Casey saw the look on Chuck's face. "Alongside him, in the war."

Chuck sighed in relief, but then thought about what he'd just heard. "But-"

"I'm much younger than him? I was probably younger than you are now when I enlisted."

"That wasn't what I was going to say, but yes, obviously you're younger than my uncle. I just never knew he'd fought in the war."

Casey grunted and then said, "I need a drink." He turned and walked away heading for the tavern.

Chuck wanted to know more, so called, "Wait for me."

Casey didn't slow down and Chuck had to follow him into the tavern.

Chuck hadn't been in the tavern before. He was twenty-two, so old enough to drink alcohol, but his aunt and uncle didn't drink, so they never ventured out to eat. They rarely ventured out at all.

There were musicians playing in the corner of the room. That surprised Chuck, expecting music only to be for evenings.

The mix of races seemed more concentrated here, with them all sitting together. He felt like they were all staring at him, but knew that was unlikely. Humans were the prevent race on the planet, so he was nothing unusual. It was just his self-consciousness playing tricks on his mind.

When they reached the bar, Casey took one look at him and ordered drinks for them both. He then led Chuck to an empty table near the left wall. Chuck wondered why the older man had chosen there, as there had been several free tables that they passed.

Casey sat and leaned back against the wall, so Chuck sat opposite him.

Chuck broke the silence that had seemed to envelop them. "How come my uncle has never mentioned you… or the war?"

Casey said nothing for a moment. "We don't talk much about the past."

"He never does," Chuck replied.

"Something must've happened to him after I got reassigned. Next time I saw him was when I retired."

Chuck looked at him. "Retired?"

Casey huffed. "Woman gave me a choice, continue in the forces or her. Maybe the same for Volkoff, but he wouldn't even acknowledge me."

"What did he do in the war? You said fighting?"

Casey nodded. "He wasn't a soldier, but he could use a laser. Pretty well, actually."

This told him what he wasn't. Chuck found talking to this man difficult. "So, what was he?"

Casey actually answered this time, "Some sort of cross between an engineer and a scientist. He had a team, but they'd never got involved in the fighting, so I never met them."

"And you lost touch with him?"

Casey squinted at him. "Kid, you don't build distance friendships when moving from system to system fighting."

"But you said you left for a woman," Chuck pointed out.

Casey grunted. "That was different." He clearly didn't want to say more. He knocked back his drink and said, "That's enough chatter. I'm off. Don't hang around in here for long." He didn't explain that and just got up and left.

Chuck moved to take the seat by the wall that Casey had vacated and looked around the bar. He saw no direct threats, but nor did he see any friendly faces. He drank his beer fairly quickly and left.

When Chuck got home, only his aunt was there. "Your uncle had to go to see one of our suppliers in Freetown." That was almost the other side of the planet. He wouldn't be back for some time.

"Grace," Chuck asked. "Can I talk to you about how you met Alexei?"

She got a wary look for a moment, but then that cleared and she smiled. "Sure."

They sat together and she said, "We met on Vodana."

That was the first time Chuck had known she had lived on any other planet.

"And you left there because?" he asked.

"People used to move a lot when we were younger. My parents moved to Corisson on Cordax, and I went with them."

"So, you lost contact with my uncle?"

"Sadly, I did," she replied, but it seemed like she was holding something back.

"When did you meet again?"

She smiled at the memory. "Twenty years ago. We moved here to start our lives together."

"What was he doing during those twenty years?"

Her smile faded. "You'll have to ask your uncle about that."

"You don't know?"

"It's his story, so I'll leave it to him to tell you." She got up and walked to her bedroom, leaving Chuck on his own.

Chuck had searched on the dataverse for Alexei Volkoff, something he'd never done before. The uncle that he had thought had always lived here growing crops, had a past unknown to Chuck. After two hours, it seemed as though he hadn't existed until meeting up with, and marrying twenty years ago. That had been on Valdach, where his aunt had lived with her dying mother. Alexei had turned up at the funeral, but from where wasn't recorded. A month later, they were married and moved here.

So, another unsuccessful search. He frustratedly stopped. His aunt was still in her bedroom, and when he asked if she wanted to join him for dinner, she declined.

He cooked, ate and cleaned up after the meal. Then he decided to get an early night's sleep after a day in which he'd learned some new information about his family, but it had left him with more questions. His uncle wasn't who Chuck thought he was.

The following two days, he returned to his studies and had no time to pursue any of the puzzles.

On the third day, he had to go to the college for his regular check-in with his tutor. Arguing that they could do that by vid didn't get him anywhere, so he had to travel by flier a hundred kliks to get to the college.

The sun was setting as he flew back. He dialed up the polarization on the screen. Flying into the red glow made that necessary.

However, as he got to the final rise before reaching the farm, he discovered the sky wasn't providing all the glow. The farm was aflame. Horrified, he increased speed.

There were figures moving about the building, trying to put the fire out. He recognized the fire department's bulky flier.

There were also men in the dark blue uniforms of the Republican guard standing watching. All of them around Chuck's height. Some were even taller.

He didn't want to talk to them. He needed to get to his aunt.

He skirted around to the other side of the building and saw the back entrance was unharmed by the flames, so he landed by that and jumped out, rushing toward it.

He just sensed movement on his left side before someone tackled him. He crashed to the ground.

"I have to get to my aunt!" he cried, trying to escape.

"Too late," a woman's voice replied.

She released him and he scrambled away from her but didn't attempt to get to the door again, instead he glared at her, but with some fear in his voice said,. "Did you kill her? Set the building on fire?" He didn't know what he'd do if she confirmed that was what had happened.

She frowned and her eyes seemed to go steely gray. He hadn't noticed what they were before with everything that had happened. Blue? In an angry tone, she said, "Of course not! We're not murderers!"

"Then-"

She cut him off stating coldly, "It was like this when we arrived."

"So, how'd you know my aunt is dead?" He was getting ready to attempt to rush in again.

"Because one of the firefighters suited up and went in." She paused and then added, "There was only one body."

His shoulders slumped. "Why would anyone do this?" he wailed.

"Probably because Volkoff lives here."

He was shocked by that statement. "But he's lived here for twenty years!"

"No one knew that until a few days ago," she replied.

Realization hit him. "Oh no! Me searching for information on him?"

Her demeanor warmed as she looked sadly at him. She nodded.

He dropped his head down and covered his face with his hands. His actions had caused his aunt's death.

A hand gently rubbed his shoulder. "Where's your uncle?" she asked.

He looked up at her. "You think they did this and then went after him?" He got another nod. He had no idea why anyone was after his uncle, but he told her what he knew.

She simply said, "You can't stay here, so you should come with us."

He looked at the building. Everything he owned had been in there. He had nothing now.

He looked back at the woman and took in her appearance for the first time. She was dressed in the same uniform as the other men, but obviously filled it differently. She had blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. The effect was quite severe, but he could tell she was beautiful, all the same. "What's your name?"

"Captain Sarah Walker," she replied, and held out her hand.

He clasped her forearm as she clasped his. She was strong. Not as strong as Casey had been, but more so than Chuck himself.

"And I assume you are Chuck Bartowski?" she asked.

He just nodded. He wished he wasn't right now.

She led him to a small flier on their side of the building and guided him inside. She called to one of the men, "We've a lead on Volkoff. I'm taking his… nephew with me. I'll send you details of where we're going. Follow us as soon as you can."

"Will do," the man replied.

"Will you be taking me off world?" Chuck asked and then cursed himself for asking that, when they obviously weren't.

"We need to find your uncle first," she replied.

He said nothing else. He just hoped that they would find his uncle alive. And maybe then he'd get some answers to his questions.

A/N: So, we've met some of the key players in this story. They're not all together yet, though.

Just as in the movie's universe that inspired this story, the time is made up of days, hours, minutes and seconds, just like our time. Even the years and months are similar to ours but absolutely not identical (e.g. consistent number of days).

I'd really like to know what you think of this so far, if you can spare the time to leave a review.