CHAPTER ONE

A Great Distance

The red sun slowly crept over the tall mountains, snow glittering with orange and gold. Trees and hills as far as eyes can see. A crisp wind ruffled the leaves, taking a couple of the weakest ones on a ride through the outskirts of a big and beautiful city: Argo City. A shiny monument of Krypton's finest and most achieved, standing tall and proud, basking in the rising sun. Just outside the city was Argo Valley and Kara, the young daughter of scientists Alura and Zor-El's favourite place. A huge wall separated the valley and the city with a drop too high up for anyone to survive if they were to jump down, and why would they when Argo had one of the most beautiful gates on the planet; dressed with emerald and other treasures and open for everyone. But, if your name was Kara then you definitely didn't let a drop stop you, especially not when you loved inventing new ways of getting up and down.

Kara balanced on the top of the wall tightening straps around her arms, torso and upper thigh. She pulled a hood up over her head and stood tall, closing her eyes. She wrinkled her nose as she took a breath and smelled the mix of concrete and brown city snow, knowing that out there she would finally be able to breathe again. With her eyes still closed Kara leaped off the building with arms tight against her waist, like an arrow piercing through the air. She was falling fast, but Kara wasn't scared, quite the opposite. She counted to ten and extended her her arms and legs, becoming as wide as she possibly could; the hood expanding into wings and with a roar she soared towards the sun. Warm rays kissed her cheeks, she smiled. Kara guided herself down towards the ground, happy that her new invention didn't kill her… yet. She pulled a little too hard with one arm and with a yelp crash landed into the snow. Still happy though, it did work, she'll practice landings later. With a huff, she sat up on her favorite hill, brushed off the snow and pulled the hood back. Fresh air. Kara wasn't really a city kid. It was fine and she liked some parts of it, but nothing could compare to this. Her first years as a toddler were spent out in the country side, near the water and woods. It would be an hour or so commute to work for her parents, but they didn't mind. It wasn't until they had to that they moved into the city and Kara missed moments like this, hence why she got so good at falling off of big walls.

Kara sat there, not moving, just gazing and looking out towards the horizon. She knew she should go back soon, but she was stalling. As much as she loved school, she just needed this today. Or really more and more often. Her parents have been arguing a lot more lately. She doesn't mean to listen, she really doesn't, but the apartment isn't that big enough for secrets and just whispering when they think Kara has gone to bed doesn't mean that she can't hear it, or feel the vibe in the room the morning after. Kara might just be a kid, but she's not blind or dumb. She doesn't really know what they're fighting about, but it seemed big and important. It's not crazy to want to escape that and not go through another awkward family breakfast. As far as they know, she's left for school early. Still deep in thought, she barely felt her morning alarm vibrate and blink on her arm. She pulled up her sleeve and pressed off, bracing herself to go back.

Surprised that it was still beeping she pressed 'off' again.

Still beeping.

She shook her arm and pressed the screen repeatedly. Still beeping and beeping and—

"Fuck!"

A thump.

Kara sighed and pushed herself off from the cold metal floor and turned off the alarm by her bed, running her hands through her hair and taking a moment to compose herself. The ceiling lights slowly lit up on cue with a pleasant warm hue and her coffee maker started brewing. She got up, rolled up her sleeping bag and put it in the storage bin over her bunk bed. Routinely, she sprayed the plant next to her bed, pulled out a sink from the wall, brushed her hair and washed her face.

*RING RING*

Kara accepted the incoming call. A brunette popped up on a small monitor by the coffee maker, "Good morning, Kara. Can you hear me?" Kara poured herself a cup of coffee and gave thumbs up to the monitor.

"We're sending you an updated list of the samples we need. Maggie is also updated on the flight plan. Ping us at first sign of contact and let us know if you have questions."

"Oh, how am I you ask?" Kara dramatically gestured to herself, "Thanks for asking Alex, I'm doing really great. I had some weird dreams, but that's not unusual out here. Does it get lonely? A little, but I'm coping."

Alex smiled and rolled her eyes, "Well good thing our most needy Commander gives us frequent updates on how things are over there when I forget to ask."

Kara huffed into her coffee cup, "Exactly. Ruuuude," she gave Alex a teasing smile. "Thanks for the update, sis."

Alex smiled back, "Good luck. We all miss you and we're all looking forward to your return."

Kara knew that Alex was being so formal due to superior officers probably around, but she could see so much love in her sister's eyes. The trips were always hard on her due to missing her family. She didn't handle separation very well, all things considering. Kara touched the monitor and said her goodbyes to Alex, hoping the brunette could see how much she loved her back. The call hung up.

Kara turned towards her window and selected de-frost. A yellow sun beamed through the window in a blaze; stars and darkness as far as eyes can see, both beautiful and equally terrifying. Kara closed her eyes and basked in the rays, the memories from her dream coming back to her. Feeling uneasy she stretched and fell to the floor, landing in push up position. Her morning routine called for a 100, but today she felt like pushing it to 150. She was interrupted by a pounding on her door, almost a welcomed distraction. Her intercom buzzed loudly.

"Wakey wakey! It's adventure time!"

Kara chuckled. There were only three from her crew accompanying her on the ship. Considering it was a simple collect and return mission it was unnecessary to bring the big crew and a bigger ship. Today they were on the Flash: a small cargo ship with Maggie Sawyer as her pilot, Winn Schott, the interrupter, as Mission Specialist, and she was their Commander. A small, but solid group.

Kara entered the shuttle cantina and was greeted by an overly enthusiastic Winn, "You know what's so great about porridge, Cap?" He gestured with a full spoon of the grey goop, "It lasts forever, it's nutritious and it tastes so very little that you can totally imagine eating something else without getting taste or smell interrupted!" Maggie, sitting next to Winn, ducked out of the way to avoid any accidental spills from the goop-spoon, "Easy there, junior!"

Kara laughed, just sipping on a fresh cup of coffee this morning not really in the mood for breakfast.

Winn aimed the spoon towards Maggie, "You know I'm only 3 years younger than you."

"Yes, but you're so helpless and tiny!" Maggie pulled Winn's spoon back and released, porridge hitting his face and leaving him stunned. Kara shielded herself from splatter, "We have a man down! He's been hit!" The group laughed together. Yes, space could be very lonely and isolating, but not so much with Maggie and Winn around.

"I've added our new coordinates, we're ready for you to take us out." Maggie announced as Kara joined her on the flight deck.

Kara sat down in her chair, put on her seatbelt and selected a command on the panel to her right, making her chair slide forward and lock into place. The Commander seat and Pilot seat where right next to each other, with one slim lane for passage. Each chair was equipped with a touch panel and a joystick attached to the chair, letting Kara and Maggie to control the direction of the shuttle when needed and personalized controls. In front of them was the main control panel of the ship. "Let's get the engines warm." Maggie nodded, flipped two switches on the front control panel for the engines and slid two fingers up on her touch panel. Kara activated light speed, setting a 30 seconds countdown which would give her enough time to get the ship on the new course.

Maggie pushed two buttons over her head and Kara's which controlled the lighting, dimming them to make it easier to see ahead. The flight deck wasn't huge, maybe it could fit three to four people at the same time. The view however, was gorgeous. Kara and Maggie had trained and flown together for years. Their partnership was like a well oiled machine.

"Counting down."

Kara got on the intercom and told Winn to buckle down. Nowadays lights speed wasn't that big of a deal and way better engineered than a decade ago. It was rare that people got sick from it, but a slight tremble could be felt sometimes so it was always good to be on the safe side during the ignition.

Maggie leaned back in her chair and tightened the seat belt. She didn't really get seasick anymore from flying, but she still liked to keep her eyes fixed on the "road". Unlike Kara who never got sick, not even in the academy, which was astounding to Maggie. She had never seen anyone so resilient before or more enthusiastic to go again. Nothing was better to Kara than flying. She had always loved it.

Kara turned towards Maggie and smiled, punching her arm lightly, "Ready Sawyer?"

"Ready Danvers."

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