Kara was flying over a green scenery, so unlike her home planet, so otherworldly. The rush of wind pulled her hair backwards as she dived over a magnificent blue lake and felt exhilarated. Kara saw a
That was when she noticed the sun was glowing yellow. That wasn't right... Rao is red!
And suddenly Kara was falling. A scream hitched in her throat as she threw her hands to grab at something. Kicking in the air willing her power to come back, Kara saw the water surface coming closer and closer, as a loud buzzing sound filled her ears.
Kara jolted awake with a racing heart. In a haze, sweaty and out of breath, holding a small knife in front of her. The buzzing sound continued. Kara pushed the blanket aside and looked frantically around her for the source.
It took her a few seconds to recognize her surroundings. She had slept in the staff room on a couch in the corner with her rolled up jacket as her pillow and her blanket – Mr. Kar had fortunately neglected to rip it apart. As a habit she always slept with her knife under the pillow. The only weapon she could own that wouldn't raise suspicion.
She followed the persistent buzzing sound with a foggy mind. Her eyelids still felt heavy and her mind had yet to catch up. She stood in front of a locker and as soon as she realized that it was her own, everything became clear. It was the sound of her beacon device! Last night she had briefly reported about her little adventure. Only sent the pictures and deliberately skipped the part about her near death and screw up experience. Even as she knew it was against her code, but last night was overwhelming and she hadn't actually withheld information, it was just summarized and without details.
Kara rushed to open the locker and scrambled through her clothes and found it with the torn chain. It was glowing orange and it grew silent as soon as she touched it. A message. Kara looked around. No one was in the room. It was still too early for the staff to come she guessed. She had no idea what the time was. There was no windows.
She hurried to the rest room just to be sure no one would walk in on her, and opened the encrypted message.
<<B35 DELAYED. >>
B35 was Alex. Alex was delayed?! What has happened? Another message appeared.
<<PROCEED...>>
She was about to shout at the stupid device for giving her the same words even in the face of Alex being in trouble, but then it glowed orange and more words appeared.
<<PROCEED TO CONTACT A MEMBER. >>
A member was referring to a member of the rebellion. They had agreed to call them simply as members. But Kara didn't have any contacts! Alex was supposed to take her to them! Kara felt really concerned. Something was wrong. She thought Alex would call her about these days, and not to mention she was planning to send her a beacon today to tell her about what was going on with her. She hesitantly typed in a message telling them about her lack of contact with a member and waited for an answer. Meanwhile she decided to send a message to Alex anyway.
After a full ten minutes, while Kara was fidgeting with the chain nervously, her answer came through from the base.
<<A LOCATION WILL BE TRANSMITTED IN A FEW DAYS. FIND B35 STAT>>
Find 35 stat? That meant Alex was missing! Kara was now beyond worried. Now her mission was to find out what had happened to Alex. She confirmed her new mission before the device turned off.
Kara went to wash her face. Apart from her wide worried eyes, she looked much better than last night. Changing back into her uniform, Kara checked her watch. It was noon already and she was starving. They didn't serve meals to the staff in the club, but there were some snacks and she decided to go hunting for them in the kitchens.
There was no one there either. Kara scavenged in the fridge storage and some cupboards, managing to make herself a small sandwich with a kind of meat she wasn't sure what it was, but didn't care about at this point. Her stomach felt like a hole in her middle. Kara washed her meal down with some water and sat on a stool, thinking what she should do.
Her thoughts wandered to Kai Rand again. The mysterious Moon River owner. Kara couldn't figure him out. She had to keep an eye on him, had to stay ready to flee at any sign of trouble or royal guards.
She sneaked out of the kitchens, deciding to look around the club, maybe even finding Kai Rand's office to snoop around it. The memory of last night was clear in Kara's mind. She had been super clumsy and had to be more careful. Kara sadly admitted to herself that despite her initial confidence and belief in her training, the real world had been far more complicated. She wasn't quick with planning and scheming as she thought she would be. In training she felt much calmer and her brain could form ideas much faster. But last night? She had gone completely blank. All she was good, was to punch through everything. She even feared to fail the mission right now and it was such a horrible feeling that gnawed her from inside.
She watched for the hidden cameras around the club. Mr. Rand must have seen her last night when she'd gone to the VIP section.
No other soul was around and most parts of the building were dark. She felt spooked. Was this when they came to take her or kill her? She walked on her toes, careful not to make a sound. Walking close to a wall when she reached a turn, and sneaked a peek to see if someone was there. She saw a door at the end of hallway. It was his office. It had to be. The high security board protecting the door was hard to miss. The door was protected with bio-metric passwords. She knew some of the techs could be manipulated by her gadget, but she didn't want to risk it right now. Kai Rand seemed much smarter than that. He could be even watching her right now, or even standing right behind her! She was totally paranoid and actually looked over her shoulder to find the corridor empty. She let out a breath and tried to calm herself. This wasn't the right time. She needed to gather more information. She walked back to the main salon of the bar. He was there, silently sitting and drinking at the bar! What was he doing here at this hour? To keep an eye on her?
Kara slowly got closer. Maybe if they talked, she could find out more about him.
"Marley! I was wondering what trouble you've got yourself into this time!" He startled her with his loud voice.
Kara was still 10 feet away and he had his back to her, so he must have caught her reflection in the mirrors behind the numerous bottles on the shelves in front him. As she got closer, without answering him, Kara saw he was sipping at a colorless liquid – club soda. Kara went to stand behind the bar across from him.
"Mr. Rand... I wanted to talk to you, actually, I was looking for you."
He seemed a bit looser than last night, though not drunk. His steel blue eyes were focused and clear behind the thick frame glasses, and he was in changed clothes, decent and shiny again.
Meeting his silence, Kara fidgeted with her glasses. "Yes, well...about last night –"
"Do you know how much I've been drinking since last night to wash away the sand from my throat?"
Kara frowned a bit at his complain and crossed her arms. "Well you should have at least used a napkin to cover your face! Haven't you ever been into a sand storm before?"
Kai Rand smirked at her, continuing to sip at his glass. "Well I'd never met someone stupid enough to stay out in the sand storm to actually go out and save them."
Kara blushed with anger. Why did he try to piss her off and change the subject every time?
"No one asked you to come out! Mr. Rand..." She suddenly tried to wash the bitterness from her words. She couldn't afford to insult this man.
He seemed completely unaffected by her short outburst and even a bit amused, like he enjoyed pushing Kara to see her reactions. Putting down his empty glass, he stood up and stared at Kara. "Let's face it Marley, you were playing a very dangerous game last night."
"You never let me explain myself!"
"Then tell me what you were doing last night." He mimicked Kara's pose and folded his arms in front of his chest, his previous humor seemingly gone.
Kara kept his glare for a few seconds. This was going to be the hardest thing she'd ever done, even harder than being in the cross fire of five guns.
"I was trying to find out some information about... some smugglers."
"And why would you need that?"
"To find someone who can take me back to my planet." It'd crossed her mind that her back up story, about being an Earthling trapped on Daxam, could be an acceptable cover up.
"You mean Earth?" Obviously Kai Rand had done his homework. He knew all the details of her profile which she had submitted on her first day at work.
"Yes. I have tried to go back to Earth, but haven't found anyone who travels that far."
"And you thought eavesdropping on some random merchants would help you find someone?" His lips curved into a smirk again. She wasn't convincing enough.
"I know it sounds crazy, but I'm desperate Mr. Rand! I need to go back to Earth! It's been five years! I heard them talking about shipping to far sides of the galaxy and It got me curious enough to try and find out more."
"And what about your sister? Lexie Danvers, was it? Does she want to go back too?" He squinted at her.
Kara's heart stopped at his question. How did he know? She actually looked around the salon for any movements, fearing an attack to take place on her right about now.
Kai Rand unfolded his arms and raised them in the air. "Look, you don't need to fear me. I found out about your sister on the system. There are two Danvers registered in Telos, so I figured you must be sisters. I don't care about the reason why you did what you did last night, anymore. Just don't do it again. Keep your head down and do your job. You don't know how things work around here, and if you try things like that again, you end up dead, or worse."
Kara couldn't tell if he was rally telling the truth, but maybe Kai Rand was just a business man who didn't care about politics, letting her stay around as long as she didn't screw up again.
"Can I ask why you are giving me a second chance? I thought it's not a Daxamite way." Kara had to ask him, wanting to know his motives.
Kara watched as his jaw clenched and eyes sparkled. "There are a lot of things on Daxam, I don't agree with."
They kept their eyes locked on each other for a moment, before Kai Rand broke the eye contact to check his watch. "I have to go."
Kara only nodded, watching him disappear through the club entrance door, leaving her alone to contemplate on his strange behavior.
*
The weekend two days after that day, was quite uneventful. Kai Rand had been gone since their talk and nothing else had happened, no guards showing up to arrest her and no one questioned her. Kara did her job and slept on the couch, waiting. To her disappointment, the beacon device didn't transmit any more messages to her. Not the base and not even Alex, neither send her anything.
Kara was wandering in the city that morning. The Garata Fest was ending today and streets were crowded with people from various races, trying to enjoy the last day. During the fest, dragons would fight in a pit, while everyone bet on them and today the final fight would take place. A fight that would reveal the winner of this competition, blessing the dragon's owner with a mount of gold from the betting. The loser wouldn't be so lucky. At the very least he would be bank rubbed and left with a dead dragon.
Kara never went to the fight pit as she despised the violence so much. What was the point of watching the poor creatures forced to fight their own kind for the pleasure of other animals who called themselves evolved and civilized?
She kept to herself while looking around, trying to find a room so she could finally move to. Kara wasn't planning to count on Kai Rand's kindness for too long.
With the help of a few other waitresses, Kara found some places that had cheap rooms. After two days of room hunting, Kara found a landlord who promised her a room in a week. Kara went back to the club with an easier mind. Now she knew she would have a place to sleep soon, but of course that was a minor victory compered to all her problems. First of all, she had no income yet. Kara just had to survive this week and then she would be officially hired and could manage to pay the rent and finally buy some food. She was getting sick of just eating small sandwiches and drinking club soda for the past four days.
*
It was passed midnight and Kara was attending to a table, bringing their orders, politely asking them if they needed anything else. The club was considerably quieter than the previous week. Owing to the fact that the Garata Fest was over, a lot of the travelers and gamblers had left Daxam. There were only regulars hanging around, lazily seeping at their drinks. Even the music seemed slow and boring, not luring anyone to the dance floor. Kara went back to sit on a stool since there was nothing for her to do for now. She saw Dana was free as well, leaning her elbows on the counter, observing the salon tiredly. Last week had been a lot to handle for her, especially when she had to do some of Mr. Rand's paper work as well. Once again her thoughts had wandered towards that man. Why would he skip his responsibilities? Kara inwardly groaned at feeling resentment and gratefulness at the same time for him, again.
"You're one lucky girl!"
Dana's voice drew Kara out of her thought.
"Excuse me?" Kara asked with a smile, not sure if Dana was actually talking to her.
Dana smirked and tilted her head. "Mr. Rand send me a message yesterday, telling me to hire you one week before the default period for a new hire!"
Kara looked at Dana in disbelief. "He did WHAT?"
"Oh yeah, you're getting a pay check by the end of this week."
Kara forced a laugh.
"Tell me, what did you do to him? When did you even see him?" Dana squinted at Kara suspiciously.
"I didn't do anything! He... ehm... he saw me outside early morning, the day I asked you to let me stay in the club!" Kara blabbered, keeping all the details to herself deliberately.
Seeing Dana's suspicion still unshaken on her face, Kara added.
"Remember I told you I'm homeless? Well, he let me stay in the club until I find a room and so... he must have tried to help me with hiring me sooner than normal..." she tailed off.
Dana rolled her eyes dramatically. "Of course you won his soft heart, Marley! With those damn blue eyes of yours, you win anyone's heart!"
"That is not true!"
"Oh, you oblivious space puppy! Haven't you seen how men check you out when you walk around? And not just men, I must say!"
"What!?" Kara blushed uncomfortably.
Dana didn't elaborate on her explanation and only shook her head in disappointment and also looking a bit amused.
"So, you mean he'd never done such thing for anyone?" Kara asked, trying to change the subject back to Kai Rand. Since Dana was in a talkative mood, this was Kara's best chance to find out more about him.
"Well, he has helped a few of the staff around the years, helping them buy a house or things like that. So you're not the first he's taken interest in, but you are the fastest one he'd fallen for yet!"
Suspiciously getting into trouble with filthy thugs, pretending to be businessmen, surely was more than enough reason to pick his interest. Kara though to herself.
"He may seem all cold and hard on the outside, but his a softy. Of course not kind enough to not dump all the paper works on me or Don the accountant!" Dana added to her description, her face turning into a scowl.
"Who is he really?" Kara tried to sound more rhetorical than curious.
Dana sighed. "I don't know much about him. He keeps a lot to himself, but I heard he's the son of a not so famous merchant who died three years ago, leaving him a handsome heritage and he decided to build Moon River with it."
Kara took all these details to memory, planning to investigate Kai Rand's family later.
"Thinking about marrying him?" Dana teased her with a smirk and wiggled her brows, at seeing Kara in deep thought.
Kara was about to protest Dana, when she felt her spy beacon vibrate against her chest under her shirt, making her jump a bit.
Kara had to find some private place ASAP. "Sorry, I just remembered I have to check with the kitchen for an order."
Dana waved at her. "Fine, go. Run! But we both know you totally seduced Kai Rand!"
Kara fidgeted with her glasses and forced a smile, before heading for the back door with a red face. She rushed to a storage room where they kept the cleaning supplies and tools. Locking the door behind her, Kara brought out her device – hanging from a repaired chain – and opened the message.
It was a location. Nothing more.
*
Kara panted hard behind the scarf protecting her face from the intense heat and wind that carried sand grains, throwing them at her skin like tiny needles.
She had started this journey in the morning, finding her way to the out skirts of Telos on a borrowed speeder, and into the desert on foot. It was taking too long and now it was getting dark.
Looking at the sea of sand around her, Kara stopped and removed her make shift mask – there was no need for it anymore. Everything looked the same in this Rao forsaken place. No land mark, no buildings and not even a rock. She checked her device for the thousand time for the location. She was in the EXACT location she had been the past half hour ago she'd checked! How was that possible?! Kara groaned and shook the device in frustration. Maybe it had a glitch or something.
It was completely dark now. Kara felt the stress taking over her other senses, blocking the logical part of her brain from functioning, much like that damn night at the club. If she couldn't find the rebel base, she had to survive the night in the desert with little provision. Kara calmed herself and tried to form a plan in her head. She hadn't practiced in such environment before, but she decided to trust her training to get through it.
First thing to do was finding a safe place.
Kara turned her flash light on, which was almost useless to show her anything from far in that vast expanse. She bounced the bag on her back, trying to loosen her stiff shoulders after six hours of walking, and walked in the direction of a small hill she had spotted before the dark.
Walking tiredly to the top of the hill, Kara threw the light in the lower ground, hoping to find a rock or a small pit.
Nothing.
Kara checked the location again. It was still frozen, and the technicians on Krypton had ensured her that the chances of the device to glitch were next to zero. Tucking it back in her pocket, she gazed at the sky full of stars. In any other occasion, she would enjoy this remarkable scenery. The stars were shimmering magnificently, almost hypnotically. They were in infinity and yet seemed to be so close to touch. Daxam's two small moon were also glowing dimly in the shape of similar crescents close to each other.
Pushing aside her wonder, Kara tried to find directions with the stars. She kept her head up despite the protest of her tired neck muscles and searched for a particular star, she knew would show her north. If she was in west of Telos, then she had to walk east to go back to the city. As plan B, Kara could just walk back another six hours. She wasn't THAT far from Telos.
Turning around to find the constellation, she felt her boots sunk into the soft sand and suddenly she was rolling down the hill side in the dark, coming to stop slowly, partially covered in the still warm sand. Though the fall was relatively short and soft, she felt disoriented in the dark. Kara's flashlight had slipped out of her hand and she tasted the bitterness of sand on her tongue.
She shook her body to remove the sand, while spiting the sands out. Kara frantically sat up to look around for the flashlight, but couldn't spot its white beam. The dim light from the stars was the only thing she had now.
Muttering complains under her breath, Kara reached for her bottle in the bag and gulped down a mouthful of the water before realizing it was almost empty. Great! Soon she would be out of water too.
She was about to get her feet under herself to stand, when she heard the rattle. A low vibrating sound, clear in the dead silence of the desert, coming from her right. Unable to guess what was making the sound, Kara froze as she felt it coming closer to her.
Kara stopped breathing when she saw the long, slim and leathery form of a hideous creature emerging, slithering with its soft body. The end of its tail oscillated continuously which could answer her question about the source of the rattling sound, if her eyes weren't locked on the two raised heads on the top of this reptile.
Four glowing eyes had kept Kara locked under their gaze. The reflection of stars in them glinting ominously and deathly. Kara felt her heart rate spike with fear. She was paralyzed and her hands were strained behind her while holding her weight.
Before she could do anything, the two headed snake moved dangerously closer to her legs. Kara almost felt faint when it moved one of its coils around her right foot, its light weight pushing her foot down into the sand.
"Don't .Move."
The hushed male voice broke Kara's haze of fear and helplessness. It could have made her jump if she didn't feel so weak in the face of two pair of poisonous fangs hovering only a feet from her face, but she didn't even flinch. She wasn't sure she hadn't imagine the voice.
Quiet footsteps followed the order for her to keep still, and then silence.
For long minutes, Kara kept switching her stare between each narrow slit eye. Watching its two long tongues snapping in and out from between their sharp fangs repeatedly, smelling her. The occasional rattling sound was the only thing filling her ears.
Kara's hands were about to give out, her whole body numb. Was she even breathing anymore? And finally after what felt like an eternity, it moved pass her feet, softly sliding away. She let out a shaky breath, never taking her eyes off the little monster that was still near enough to attack.
She slowly bent her elbows, not able to keep them straight anymore. It was such a small move, but the snake hissed and jumped on Kara like a coiled spring going free, both mouths wide open, their fangs directed right at her throat.
Kara had automatically screwed her eyes closed when the snake jumped, accepting her fate. But then she felt a strong hand wrapping around her waist, throwing her aside and a loud crunching sound put an end to the hissing and rattle.
Kara opened her eyes immediately. A dark tall figure was crouching in front of her, facing the now motionless snake. Kara took shallow and shaky breaths, not feeling strong enough to stand right away. She felt so angry at herself. Kara was trained to react in dangerous situation, then why had she frozen when it attacked?
The man turned around to face her. Kara looked at him with wonder. Who in the world was this person? Where had he even come from?
"Are you alright?"
His voice was muffled from behind a scarf and in his eyes were also hidden behind a pair goggles. Kara saw he held a long knife in his hand.
"Yeah I'm fine." Kara quickly managed to stand on her slightly trembling legs and answered the stranger with a pitched voice. "Thanks for saving me."
The man didn't say anything while cleaning and sheathing his knife. Kara looked at the snake with one detached head in disgust. "Is it dead?" she asked, doubting it could still live with one head.
He just nodded and handed her something. It was her flash light, but it was turned off.
"Keep it turned off." He instructed.
Moving past her, the man walked along the hill side, then stopped and turned back to look at Kara, silently asking her to follow him. Kara gladly took fast steps to close the distance between them, not wanting to be alone in the dark, near even the dead body of that beast.
Walking closely behind her savior, Kara kept her eyes open on the sand for any kind of danger. All her senses were heightened as her skin crawled remembering the snake.
After minutes propelling her tired feet in the sand, in a seemingly random path, Kara tried to engage her mind with other thoughts to decrease her nervousness. Should I even follow him? What if he wants to kill me? But if he wanted to do that, he could have just let the snake finish the job! How can he even see in this dark?! Wait, maybe he has night vision goggles, yes! That explains. Wish I had one... and why shouldn't I use my flashlight? Is it because of the snakes? That's ridiculous! No, maybe his one of the Rebels! Maybe we would be found out?
Her silent companion stopped short, making Kara pump into his back. Something about this felt a bit familiar.
Squinting in the darkness, Kara couldn't see anything special about this location. She was about to ask the man, when he crouched down, reaching for something in the sand and following a faint beeping sound, Kara gasped as she saw a small circular door opened in front of their feet, next to a small rock.
The man nodded at her to go inside. Kara hesitated at first, but what was to think about now? This was what she was looking for, after all. So she gathered her bearings and moved down into that empty pitch darkness lying beneath the sands.