A/N: This is my first attempt at creative writing, so any and all feedback is more than greatly appreciated. But on a side note how was this so much easier to write than my history paper.

Chapter 1

Kara came to gasping for breath, with ears ringing like church bells and a mind too scrambled to make a coherent thought. She was lying face down in what felt like really sticky dirt, something she couldn't quite understand at the moment. A few minutes later she started to gain a greater level of consciousness and the pain hit her like the full force of a truck. She could feel her arm was most likely broken at some point and her shoulder felt like it was on fire along with most of her body.

Kara slowly sat up and took in the scene around her, a humvee was lying destroyed and smoking in the middle of a dirt road and she could see members of her unit strewn about like they had been thrown from the humvee. Just one look at the scene and Kara knew what had happened, on their way back to base their humvee must have gone over an IED. Slowly, Kara stood up ignoring the pain she felt to go check on her friends.

Kara's commanding officer, Captain Holland, was down a few feet away from her in a bad way, she knew his chances were decreasing and that if they didn't get help soon or move from their location they were going to be further up shit's creek then they currently were. Before making her way over to her captain she quickly went through the wreckage searching for supplies. Once she found the med kit she grabbed it and ran to her CO. As she kneeled over him assessing his wounds she noticed the ringing in her ears had stopped and was now filled with the harrowing screams of her friends.

Working faster now she completed a once over of her CO and noticed that the worst injury was his leg which was bend badly out of shape and bleeding profusely, grabbing the med supplies she dug through it until she found a tourniquet and just as she was about to apply it, he grabbed her hand startling her from her actions and drawing her from the autopilot mode she found herself to be in.

Shaken Kara went back to her task of applying the tourniquet, "Captain Holland sir, I need to put this tourniquet on your leg before you bleed out there's so much blood."

"No, take the supplies and check on everyone else first then you can help me with whatever supplies may be left."

Kara spoke as head shot up to look at him, her eyes glistening with tears she prayed to Rao would not fall. "Sir!? I'm not just going to leave you with your leg bleeding like that until I know that you are going to..." But before Kara could finish her sentence she was interrupted by Holland yelling at her "LIEUTENANT DANVERS. This is an order you are going to follow I will not allow you to focus on me when our unit is hurt, listen to their cries go help them"

Captain Holland looked at Kara and saw the look of pain that flashed across her usually bright and sunny features as she fought the tears that were on the verge of falling. With this he knew that she was going to put all her effort in helping the unit that had become his family, so he closed his eyes and felt his own tears fall as he heard her response that sounded unusually far away "Yes sir, but you stay and fight you hear me do not let go. Please, please whatever happens do not stop fighting, do not let go. I promise to bring you home" Kara barely held on as she choked out her plea and promise to Captain Holland, and before the floodgate of emotions opened she grabbed the med kit and moved to help her friends just like she was ordered to.

Running over to the nearest person, she set to work back on autopilot just thinking they had to move fast to avoid the swarms of insurgents she knew were coming. She just hoped and prayed to Rao that the base could see the smoke from the accident or that they realized that her unit missed their check in time and were in desperate need of help. Kara went running between the three others in her unit making sure they were awake and treating their injuries despite the pain she felt from her own injuries. After treating her unit, she determined that the nearby building on the outskirts of the town they were in was the best place to hid, she got the remainder of her team to start heading over while she was to fix herself, their CO and grab a few more supplies.

Once she had patched herself up to the best of her abilities she went to go check on her captain, but as she made her way over to him she knew with a growing sense of dread that his fight was over. So she knelt down beside him and whispered "May we meet again" as she said her own personal goodbye Kara took a moment to pray to Rao asking him to take Holland's soul into the light so he may burn as bright as the stars and that he can hold his place in the universe.

Kara stood up picking up the lifeless body of her captain as she walked over to the remains of the Humvee in search of some supplies and their radio because this was the first chance she got to contact people for help. As she looked through the wreckage all she could think about was Lucy Lane the overly hot lawyer assigned to the base to aid in operations and missions, and just how all she's wanted to do since first seeing Major Lane was walk up to her and kiss her like her life depended on it and maybe once safe she would do just that. But before she could lose complete focus she went back to searching realizing that she was now in charge of her unit and there were families depending on her to bring everyone home.

"For the love of Rao" Kara cried when she realized that the radio had been lost to the explosion and that their chances of survival just diminished by tenfold thankfully when searching she found their survival pack which had both some rations and flares. Grabbing the flares and her officer's body she trudged her way to the building she directed her team to.

Major Lucy Lane paced the operations tent growing more worried and frustrated as hours went by. Today there had been five away missions to various villages around the base and four out of the five had returned the one that had not was Kara's unit. With a growing sense of worry and anxiety she went to her CO to see if she could gather any details.

Steeling her resolve Major Lane walked up to the General's office and knocked on his door. Hearing his brisk "Come In" being shouted from inside Lucy felt herself physically shirk as she entered the office, still she stood tall saluted with a just as brisk "General Lane, Sir."

General Lane returned the salute wary as to why his daughter was standing in his office. Interactions with both her and Lois had always been difficult. Ever so cautiously he asked "Major Lane, what can I help you with" Lucy could sense the discomfort it was a growing tension that was making the room unbreathable but she was going to stay and ask because she needed to know what was going on with the girl that she was crushing on. "General Lane sir, I was wondering if there was any news on the last away unit, they still haven't checked in sir and my friends were on that mission"

Feeling relieved that this wasn't a family matter with confidence General Lane casually explained to his daughter that their unit had to take the long route back to base because there was evidence of IEDs on the usual road back from the village they were visiting and it would take them a lot longer to check in and not to worry because it had been discussed before they left the village.

Major Lane felt the anxiety seep out of her, salute her father and left his office. As her shift was over for the day and there were no projects she could focus her mind on she headed to the mess hall where she grabbed coffee and a quick bite to eat, just waiting for her sunny friend to return hoping to god she would have the balls to tell her how she felt.