YEAR 1754

LOCATION: QUEBEC

"Kara Zor-El, descent will begin in two minutes," the automated voice within the spacecraft echoed. Kara had woken up from a stasis-coma 12 hours prior to landing on this new undiscovered planet: Earth.

"Please prepare for landing," the voice continued on.

The journey to Earth took four years, therefore after the initial launch from Krypton, a state of suspended animation was induced. The state of suspended animation allowed for her to be preserved at the same age as she departed, and her body didn't need any nutrients to survive.

Kara looked out of her pod, and saw an expanse of green in the horizon. Recalling her studies from school, she assumed they were plants. In her Universal Studies class on Krypton, she had learned that many planets within the universe survived through plant-based nutrition where the plants were on the lower hierarchy of the food chain. The green landscape was finite however, at edge of greenery there was a long stretch of blue. Water. Water was essential for carbon-life forms, like herself, to survive. If water was not present on Earth, Krypton would have not set her off on this mission. Krypton was searching for habitable planets, and lack of water would have automatically make them inhospitable.

The water looked so clear, and calm from above, and if she stared long and hard enough she could swear that she could see the reflection of her spacecraft as if the water below her was nothing but a mirror. Kara was enthralled by the reflection. Rather than looking straight ahead as her descent began, she was watching the descent of her ship through the reflection it projected on the water.

While watching the reflection, Kara observed that her spaceship would occasionally look like it doubled in size, and then quickly returned to be smaller. Kara brushed it off as some trickery her mind was playing on her after being awakened from a prolonged slumber, but then the spacecraft doubled again and refused to become small again. Confused by this, she looked above to see if anything was casting a shadow to allow this double reflection, however; she greeted with clear skies and was bathed and blinded by the sharp rays of the Earth's yellow sun.

"Perhaps the object is beneath me?" Kara whispered, trying to ascertain the cause of this doubled replication in the water. Kara gripped the control of the spacecraft, and toggled it to the right, to guide the spacecraft in the opposite direction, but the craft refused to move. Frustrated, she toggled it again with more force, yet was greeted by the same result.

"Kara Zor-El," the automated voice echoed again, "Descent is currently on auto-pilot, would Kara Zor-El like manual control of the spacecraft?" Kara pondered for a minute. Perhaps this was all in her mind, and she was letting this mind trickery make her paranoid. She looked out the spacecraft again, and saw that her ship's shadow was still doubled. She only needed to move the spacecraft to the left, and see that her mind was truly just playing tricks on her, and then she would return the craft to auto-pilot and put this paranoid induced nightmare behind her.

"Yes, I would like manual control of the spacecraft," Kara said confidently.

"Very well Kara Zor-El. Please hold the control," Kara gripped the two-pronged control before her, "Auto-pilot will be disabled in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5," Kara gripped it more tightly, hoping her muscle memory of flying a craft would kick in, "4, 3, 2, 1. Auto-pilot is disabled."

Kara leveled the craft, and breathed out a sigh of relief when the craft didn't plunge, nose first, into the water below. Kara once again maneuvered the two pronged control to the right, with each hand holding onto each prong. The craft slowly started moving towards the left, as Kara peered out the window to see if anything was truly below or not.

Kara was about to let out a sigh of relief when she noticed a metallic gray structure below her, similar to her own craft. It was smaller than hers, and was probably a one passenger vehicle. The craft was swaying below her, which was probably why the shadow against the water doubled frequently. Kara leaned against the window in her craft to see if she could spot who was in the one below her, but her view was obstructed by the tint on the windows of the other craft, and the sun's ray weren't helping with her vision. Kara leaned even further against her window, curiosity getting the best of her.

Lost in her own thoughts, she forgot the craft was on auto-pilot and the craft moved when she leaned too far onto the window. Momentarily in shock, she pulled the two pronged control towards her, and caused the craft to dive nose first. Kara screamed at the initial change in velocity, but as soon as managed to calm herself down she attempted to level off the craft. But due to the close proximity to the other craft, she didn't have enough time.

As soon as Kara's craft neared the other one, both crafts force fields generated to protect themselves. The blue glowing field crackled at the touch of the others, and a stream of blue-white lightning flared out from her ship, and the unknown one. She saw the lightning pulse through her ship's control, emitting off energy that forced her to release the controls for a brief second. Kara's ship rocked as she lost control of her craft. All the lights were flickering, alternating between a power surge and a power outage. Now Kara had only one goal, try to balance the ship, and get to the mainland before its inevitable crash.

"Kelax, take over," Kara yelled at the automated voice within the craft, "Kelax, take control over the ship," she yelled even louder, hoping that Kelax would be able to land the craft better than she could. No voice responded, "This…this lightning surge must have messed with the craft's main control," Kara looked back towards the mainland, it was about ½ a click away. All she had to do was make it to the mainland before the craft completely powered down.

She looked down at the ship below her, it was losing altitude just like hers, and was swaying left and right. Kara assumed it had the same damage that her ship endured. She took in a deep breath and prepared to land. A series of jolts racked through her ship, which let her know she only had a few moments before she systems completely failed.

The ship jerked forwards in sporadic onslaughts that would definitely prevent a gentle landing. The other craft seemed to have a similar trajectory as she did. Kara braced for impact as the ship skimmed above the grass. She gripped her harness tight when her entire body was yanked forward due to the force generated when her ship finally hit the ground below. As quickly as her body was yanked forward, it was pressed flush against her seat as the craft slide across the ground. Kara screamed at the top of her lungs through the entire ordeal but no sound could be heard.

The craft slowly came to stop, and Kara finally felt like she could breathe, the harness no longer weighing on her chest. She took in shallow breathes as she tried to calm herself down.

She had survived the crash. She had survived. She let that relief wash over her, and she tried to steady her heart rate.

The ship had completely powered down. Kara pressed the eject button hoping that at least this would work, yet the ship was unresponsive. If nothing was operational, then she had no way to leave the ship. Rather than going into a frenzy, Kara quickly observed her surrounding for a way out, because panicking was what got her in this position in the first place. Towards the back of the craft she noticed a huge hole behind the right wing. A way out, she thought.

She freed herself from the harness, not even giving a second thought to the amount of strength it would take to do that, and maneuvered her way towards the back of the craft. Her dress was torn when Kara yanked it free when it got caught in some sharp object. Her priority right now was to crawl herself out, not her dress. Finally stepping out on the green grass, she looked back at the wreckage her ship caused. Trees that were in the way were completely leveled, plants were uprooted, and the grass turned black.

"This is bad," Kara murmured to herself, forgetting that the other craft crashed near her as well.

"You think so?" a voice yelled behind her. Kara was perplexed that anyone could have heard her say that, it was barely above a whisper.

Kara turned around to be greeted by a man, who looked about the same age as her. He was wearing a collared red shirt, and simple black pants. The shirt was stained with dirt, and suffered from what looked like burnt holes. She took a moment to look at the damage on his shirt, but when she glanced over the Royal Family sigil on the his upper right pectoral, she quickly looked away from him as a bitter taste ran through her mouth.

"Daxamite," she snarled.

"Kryptonian," he responded, taking a more polite tone. Kara was dumbfounded at the lack of malice in his voice, "Is that how Kryptonians address foreigners, by their race? I would think high and enlightened Krypton would teach its people more manners," he spoke with no hint of contempt.

Kara bit back her tongue. She wanted to give him a rebuttal, but there were more pressing issues to discuss as this point, and angering the one person who could help her would not be beneficial.

"Is your spaceship operational?" she grumbled. Kara still couldn't be completely nice to him.

"No. Is yours operational?" he questioned her, while walking towards her ship.

Kara stopped him in his path with her arms stretched as if he was going to further break the broken ship, "No it does not. Why else would I ask you if your ship was operational, Daxamite," she gritted through her teeth, her face contorted to express her anger: eyes bulged, nose flared, forehead crinkled, and cheeks puffed out. She was annoyed that he would ask such an idiotic question.

"I was simply asking a question Kryptonian, no need to turn into a Grata," he smirked.

"How dare you –."

"How dare I?" he asked incredulously, "you're the one turning into a crazy Grata, not me. I was merely stating a fact."

Kara did not like being compared to an ugly winged reptilian creature, "I am not a Grata. I am more like a Pagae," he scoffed at her comparing herself to a beautiful winged mare, "But that is beside the point. How are you here Daxamite?"

"Let me think Kryptonian," the Daxamite spoke sardonically. He placed a finger to his chin, and looked off into the distance as if he was actually thinking, while he occasionally tapped his chin. Kara groaned at his antics, "Oh I know," he said with fake zeal, "Your spaceship came into contact with mine and ruined my motherboard, and I assume yours as well, and caused us to crash and rendered both our ships inoperative. So the answer to your question: How did I get here? It would be you Kryptonian."

Fury raged through Kara. This Daxamite had the audacity to actual fault her? It was your fault. A voice in her mind echoed, but Kara brushed it off. It might have been her fault but she didn't need to hear it from this hoodlum Daxamite.

"Well, my ship would not have crashed into yours, if your ship was not here in the first place," Kara attempted to twist the situation around.

"Well, your ship would not have crashed into my ship if your ship was not here in the first place," the Daxamite rebutted instantly. The calm, collected Daxamite was replaced with one that seemed to be equally annoyed at her as she was with him.

He was getting under her skin, and while she knew this entire situation was her fault she wasn't going to admit it to this Daxamite.

"Why are you here?" Kara asked, "What purpose does Daxam have to send you here?"

"We are searching for habitable planets," he knelt down and picked up scraps from her ship, apparently his anger long forgotten.

Kara now understood exactly why Daxam would send someone to this planet, "You want to colonize planets now? I thought Daxamite were too drunk off their asses too actually accomplish anything. But I guess when it comes to spreading your xenophobic ways, Daxam will spare no expense?"

The Daxamite stopped picking up the scraps and just glared at her. The intense stare was burning a whole straight through her face. Initially, Kara stared right back at him, but the longer he held the gaze the more she began to waver. She finally looked away, unable to retaliate with the same degree of energy he was emitting.

"Kryptonians are such hypocrites. Sitting on your lofty perch judging us lowly peasants for the same deeds your planet has done. Correct me if I am wrong Kryptonian, but Daxam was a colony of Krypton centuries ago. Or have you forgotten your history? That's so unlike you Kryptonian, I thought you knew everything," the Daxamite spoke with such rectitude that Kara felt herself becoming smaller, "I am simply here to seek out and judge potential habitable planets. That is my job as an explorer, what I was born to do. If the Royal Family of Daxam decides to colonize this planet then that is their prerogative. You have no right to judge me and my people on something your planet has done, and is currently doing –"

"Krypton did not send me here to help colonize this planet," Kara interrupted him, she couldn't bear to hear any more truths from him and decided to defend herself, and her people, against his harsh words, "I am here to explore and report back to Krypton about the life on this planet. I am doing all of this for science, not for conquering, Dax –"

The Daxamite roared in laughter, "For science?" he continued laughing, bending over to grab his mid-section as if this was this the best joke in the galaxy. Although, it seemed like he did it more for the theatrics than it being actually hilarious, "If that makes you sleep better at night Kryptonian, sure you can call it science. The truth is, that both our planets want to conquer more planets, more stars, to gain more of a foothold in this expansive universe. Or did they not teach you that?"

"You are lying," Kara stated bluntly. Krypton would not wish to do that, would they? Truthfully, all she knew was that her mission was to explore Earth. She didn't question the orders, because just like this Daxamite, she was born to be an Explorer and she couldn't deny herself the purpose of her birth.

"Like I said, if that helps you sleep better at night."

Kara wanted to continue the argument, but she knew she wasn't going to convince this bullheaded person of anything, and why should she waste her breathe on him? She knew the truth, and that was all that mattered, and the Daxamite could keep his incorrect opinions to himself, if that helped him sleep better at night.

Kara giggled at that thought, and he looked at her puzzled, "You find this funny?"

Kara tried to stifle her laughter, "Oh no, I find you funny," he was about to speak, probably to try to defend himself, but Kara did not allow him to interrupt her again, "What do we do?" she asked, trying to prioritize the situation at hand.

"May I?" he pointed to the ship behind her, seeking permission to examine it. She stepped aside and watched him crawl through the same hole she had escaped from. She could faintly hear him pushing some buttons, and trying to pound something? She moved her hair out of the way, and took a step closer to the ship to see if she can hear anything else, but then her ears rang with a high-pitched sound and then she could hear the chirping of birds, the waves hitting the Cliffside, and everything was magnified, and it felt like her ears were bleeding from the inside. All the sounds meshed together, resonating in her ear, and pounding against her skull. Just as she was about the collapse from the sound, the Daxamite jumped her out of her reverie, and the lack of concentration caused her ears to stop ringing.

"Just as I suspected, your motherboard it completely fried. I assume when our force fields connected it generated enough power that resonated throughout our ships that eventually short-circuited and then fried our entire systems," he said, completely oblivious to what had just happened to Kara, "Daxam ships are meant to be indestructible from outside force, but the energy generated was internal. If the system just simply short-circuited I would be able to rework the board to be operational, however; both of our systems are completely ruined, and well your ship is missing its entire right chunk. We need to fix the motherboard, it may –."

Kara scoffed, "Fix the motherboard? Do Explorers on Daxam not do research of the planet they plan to explore? According to the Intergalactic Union, Earth is a Level 7 planet, they do not possess the technology we need to be able to fix our ships. They have not even developed a proper sewage system and you expect them to have technology to fix our ships."

"Are you finished?" he said, staring at her with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yes I am."

"See how I let you finish your monologue? Now if you had extended me the same courtesy, you would have heard me say 'we need to fix the motherboard, it may take a couple hundred years', and you might have saved yourself from that long and unnecessary speech. I know that Earth is a Level 7 planet, and for them to reach Level 10 it might take a couple hundred years, but I have to believe these homo sapiens will figure out space travel, intergalactic relations, and aliens sooner rather than later. And I hope you know that Intergalactic Laws states that we cannot influence Earth's discovery of space by revealing ourselves as aliens, they have to figure it out themselves."

"Of course I know. If anyone is going to break that law, it will be you Daxamite," Kara sneered, and then drooped her voice to a murmur, "As if anyone actually obeys that law anyway."

"I know that law is hardly obeyed, and most aliens influence and guide newer planets to win their approval and force them into horrible treaties and unstable alliances, but I would like to follow the law Kryptonian. Come on now, let us hid these crafts. They obviously would influence these humans."

"How do you expect us to move these crafts by ourselves? We do not possess the strength or means?"

"Well, this is new," he chuckled, "A Daxamite knowing more than a Kryptonian. This must go down in the history books."

"What do you mean?" Kara asked, not liking being mocked.

"Earth's yellow sun, dear Kryptonian," he pointed at the sun above them, "It grants us great strength and power."

"What do you mean?," Kara repeated herself, her question still unanswered by him, "We have learned that Earth's yellow sun will grants us a longer life span, but what is this strength and power you speak of?"

"We discovered a similar planet like Earth in the Nebula Galaxy years ago, orbiting around a young sun, just like this one. It granted the Daxamite explorer enhanced strength, agility, and increased range in hearing," Kara gasped at that revelation. Is that what happened to her moments ago?

"Oh, and longevity, as you noted," he added on, "There was a cave near my crash site, we can hide our ships in there for the time being, until a more suitable location can be found," he pointed in the direction behind her, and she noticed his crashed ship among the clearing of trees. He began to walk back to his ship, and Kara turned around to look at hers. She had the strength to move this ship with her bare hands? The thought made her chuckle, clearly the Daxamite had hit his head one too many times on his descent to this planet, but he was right about her increased hearing, so maybe he was right about this as well?

Kara moved to stand behind her ship and placed her hand on it and pushed the ship as hard as could, trying not to refrain herself. And to Kara's shock, she actually saw the ship move across the grass. Bewildered, she removed her hands from the ship and saw two imprints of them etched into the metal. Krypton definitely did not know about this.

She returned her hands to the ship and continued to push it towards the cave's entrance. The Daxamite and his ship were gone, so she could only assume that he already managed to get into the cave. She pushed her ship along the ground until it was right next to his in the cave. There wasn't even an ounce of sweat on her, on Krypton she would pass out from running ½ a click, but even after all this she felt more energized than fatigued.

From her periphery, she saw him return with scraps of metal that must have detached from both of their ships. He then placed a black orb on the cave wall and pressed a button and a mirage generated from the orb and camouflaged both ships. The mirage looked like the cave wall. Kara walked through the mirage to notice her ship again, and then moved back to see it disappear.

"New Daxamite technology," he said, "It will keep our ships covered from curious humans…for a while. Once you find a more secure location, just come back and grab your ship."

Kara nodded, words escaping her. It finally dawned upon her that she was marooned on this planet, for what could be centuries, with no means of communication to her home world, her family. Tears began to brim in her eyes, she was an alien alone on this world, and her only company was an alien from her rival planet. Kara choked down a sob. No, this was her duty as an Explorer and she knew the risks when she embarked on the journey, she was going to be remain strong to honor her home world. The academy had prepared her, to an extent, just in case a similar situation like this occurred. They taught her how to survive on a different planets, how to assimilate, how to thrive, and she will take those teachings and endure till she was able to return back home. Or you could die before Earthlings managed to successfully create the right technology, a voice echoed in her mind. She pushed those dreary thoughts away, she had to optimistic otherwise her will to survive would be crushed.

The Daxamite approached her, and held out his hand, "My name is Mon-El of the Explorer's Coalition of Daxam. Thought you should know my name, it is better than being called Daxamite," he winked at her.

Kara chuckled as she reached out to shake his hand, "My name is Kara Zor-El of the Research Union for Discovery and Exploration. So this our life now?" she sounded defeated.

"I guess so," Mon-El shrugged. Kara couldn't tell if her was hiding his sadness or he just didn't care, "I hope to see you around Kara Zor-El, have fun exploring Earth," there was no hint of sarcasm, or malice. He genuinely wished to see her around, and why wouldn't he? They were the closet kin they had on this planet.

"I hope so as well."

Hope you guys liked it! I will be updating the story after I finish the next chapter. I have already completed up to Chapter 4, so once Chapter 5 is done, I'll post Chapter 2.

So where and when do you think they will meet again?