“Civil Wars” is episode six of season one of Krypton.
In the previous episode, “House of Zod”, Lyta had found where Seg was being held and fought with the man who had captured him. During the fight, the man saw her necklace and started laughing. Then showed her one that was the same. Not just identical, but the same one. Exactly the same one. He told Lyta that she was the one who gave it to him – for she’s his mother. Given that he’s older than Lyta, this would mean that time travel is involved.
The episode opens with the man telling Seg and Lyta that Lyta made him work for it and gave it to him as a boy, telling him that they kneel to no-one. At which point Adam arrives and holds a gun to the back of the man’s head. Adam says that he knows who the man is – everyone in his time knows who he is. General Zod. Superman’s greatest enemy. And that they should kill him now.
Ona is being questioned by the Voice of Rao, who is asking her what makes her think that Rao created all life. Ona says she has faith. The Voice – although, given that he was taken over by a Sentry in “The Word of Rao”, the Voice is no longer the Voice – says that faith may be a delusion, a sign that a species may not be given to clear thought. Ona asks if the Voice is testing her; he agrees and says he’s seeing if her city, and her world, is worthy of eternal life. Ona wants to know what happens to those who are not worthy. The Voice tells her that she knows what the opposite of eternal life is.
Daron and Nyssa are talking to Jayna about planning an attack on the Voice of Rao at the end of the Nova Cycle. Jayna is going to recruit Dev-Em. She tells them that Dev simply mouths his loyalties to the Voice; his heart belongs to her daughter and his loyalty to Jayna.
Adam claims that General Zod has travelled back through time and is working with Brainiac to destroy Krypton. Zod denies this, and Adam tells him he doesn’t believe it’s a coincidence that Zod is here just as Brainiac is arriving. That’s because it isn’t. General Zod discovered in the archives that this was when Brainiac ripped Kandor City away from the planet and made it a part of his collection. Brainiac didn’t travel through time to launch an attacks – this is what he’s always done. Elementary Kryptonian history according to Zod.
General Zod says that when Brainiac takes Kandor City, he destabilises Krypton’s core, causing the planet to explode in 200 years. Which is something that Adam hadn’t actually mentioned to Seg. General Zod tells Seg that no Zod would every destroy Krypton. At this point Seg doesn’t know which one to trust, so tells Lyta to cuff them both.
According to the general, he discovered a weapon that was created before the cataclysm, a weapon that would cause even Brainiac – a nigh immortal with knowledge gained from many, many civilisations more advanced than Krypton – pause. He has one clue, a symbol but of no house he recognises. The symbol is where the weapon is hidden – and it’s a symbol that Seg has already seen on a vault door. Adam tells them that if Brainiac hasn’t travelled from the future, then it must be Zod who is trying to stop Superman from being born.
Adam wants to preserve the timeline. Given that this would cause the eventual destruction of Krypton, this is a rather hard idea to sell to Seg. Zod admits to not being Superman’s friend, but he wants to stop Brainiac. So Seg and Lyta free General Zod – which does cause some confusing conversations about the future – and go to find the vault. Inside it is a weapon, but one it would be a really, really bad idea to try and use.
Matters are deteriorating in Kandor City. A coup is being planned against the Voice of Rao, and it would probably succeed. If the Voice hadn’t been taken over by one of Brainiac’s Sentries, which is really going to throw a spanner in the works.