Star Realms: Rescue Run

by Jon Del Arroz

  That wasn’t the sun—it was the Blob’s strike beam.

  The street ahead crumbled like a cracker in someone’s fist, hovercars spinning uncontrollably into nearby buildings. Windows blew out with a resounding crack. Joan’s ears rang. A few more feet and they would have been vaporized.

  She couldn’t hear anything but Yui seemed to be yelling at her, making a windmill motion toward a back alley. Heart racing, Joan sprinted as hard as she could.

  Minister Jaileen kept up with her special operatives, directing the way toward the spaceport. Several more beams lit up the sky like Armageddon, thankfully none closer than that first blast had been. Behind them, buildings collapsed. Dust and debris rose through the air, blacking out everything.

  Joan covered her mouth with her shirt to breathe through. Minister Jaileen stopped to catch her own breath, the team circling around her. The ringing in Joan’s ears died down.

  “I haven’t tried to get to the spaceport from this low before. I think we’re going the right way, but I need to check my handtab,” Minister Jaileen said, lifting her wrist and tapping in the pertinent information. “Yes, we’re only a few minutes if we run.”

  “If the spaceport’s still there,” Yui said.

  Joan’s eyes went wide. “Oh no. I forgot G.O.D.! He’s with your engineers back at the HQ building. I need to go back and upload him!”

  “We’re not going to be able to do that, Joan,” Minister Jaileen said, frowning.

  “Odds are the building’s not standing anymore,” Trian said.

  “But I can’t do this without him.” Joan turned back toward where they came from. The dust cloud covered everything. It was impossible to see. “I have to try.”

  “It’s just an AI,” Minister Jaileen said.

  Yui watched them silently.

  “It’s not just an AI. He’s more than that to me. My only friend,” Joan said, wanting to turn away in that moment of vulnerability, but she held her ground. What did it matter her reasoning? This was her demand and she was the one they needed to lead this mission.

  Minister Jaileen squeezed Joan’s shoulder. “I understand. Look, I think we had a copy uploaded aboard the Transport One. When we get clear of the Blob attack I’ll request the data transfer.”

  “We should get moving. I don’t want to get caught in one of those beams. Fries the hair,” Yui said, deadpan.

  “Ahh yes, your hair. That’s what I was concerned about as well.” Trian chuckled awkwardly. “Let’s get moving.”

  Yui took off running again. Trian followed.

  “You okay?” Minister Jaileen asked, still gripping Joan’s shoulder.

  Joan bit her lip, staring back at that dust cloud. They were right, her only hope was a backed up copy of G.O.D. off world. Going back would be dangerous. “Yeah, let’s go.”

  They ran through city blocks at a frantic pace. Joan hadn’t pushed herself this hard since her weekly fitness regiments aboard the Destiny, but that sort of experience stuck with a person. Even though the air filled with the debris of buildings behind her and all the burning, her life was on the line. Nothing could make her stop.

  The sky pulsed with blinding light as more beams descended, soon obscured by the ever growing dark cloud of dust. The way ahead to the spaceport became hazy. “What if there’s no spaceport left?” Joan asked.

  Minister Jaileen didn’t turn her head, running just as hard in front of her, impressive for an older bureaucrat. “We hope there’s a ship still functioning and commandeer it,” she said.

  They continued for several long minutes, following the guided markers on the ground toward the spaceport entrance. The building appeared to be intact and thousands of people scrambled to get inside. Holographic logos of different spaceliners illuminated the road while local law enforcement directed traffic. Much of the city grid ground and air traffic controls appeared to be offline.

  Joan looked up to the skies. Directly above them buzzed a chaotic clutter of hovercars, swarming in circles as their autopilots corrected for dangerous conditions in the atmosphere. It had the opposite effect the safety the systems should have provided. Two cars collided above her, nine o’clock. The crash resounded with dozens of other hovercars sounding their horns.

  Minister Jaileen paid no mind to the chaos around them, continuing through the commercial zone and to a restricted area with a labeled electrified fence and a security guard wearing similar attire to the ones who arrested Joan on Balibran station.

  The guard approached Minister Jaileen. “Commercial lines are around the bend,” he said.

  “We’re not here for commercial lines,” Minister Jaileen said, flashing her handtab.

  The man scanned it with his own device. It brought up a holo of Minister Jaileen, her thumbprint information and retinal scan. He turned back to them. “My apologies, Minister,” he said, tapping a button to the side of the terminal that retracted the gate.

  Minister Jaileen stepped through. Joan and the others moved with her. Beyond the gate held no sign of flight stations, platform shuttles, or further security checks. This road bypassed the civilian area entirely, leading back to the vast pads of ships waiting to take off. Joan had seen this side of spaceports back in her navy days. Her crew often was escorted through the secured spaceport area. She wondered what type of ship would be reserved for the Minister’s use. Hopefully, a vessel with robust shielding.

  Before Joan could determine which ship would be theirs, a contingent of Star Empire soldiers approached the team. Minister Jaileen went to talk with one of them. They exchanged words and one of the soldiers pointed toward a hangar. Minister Jaileen thanked them and returned.

  “Our transport ship is ready to lift and a fighter squadron is set for cover fire for our take off. We need to hurry, launch window is in fifteen minutes,” she said.

  “Let’s go then,” Yui said. She trailed after Minister Jaileen.

  Joan jogged to keep up, as they turned toward a parked Cargo Launch vessel. The same class as Joan’s own ship—albeit a newer model. The sight of the stubby wings, dual cockpit and three rear thrusters comforted Joan, even amidst the chaos. Her ship had taken quite a beating at points, and still survived to fly. At some point, she would have to find out where the Star Empire was keeping it. The Council of Ministers had promised to eventually return Joan’s ship to her. She would see if they kept that promise.

  Joan moved to the ramp but Minister Jaileen gripped her by the hand. “Ms. Shengtu. We’ll be parting ways here. Your ship is the Money Hauler and I’ve been told its onboard nav system has been given false logs to show it originated from Meinkala, in Trade Federation space about the same distance to the Terran System from here. Your cover is simply that you’re trade merchants, not far off from your civilian life. You’re contracted to ferry your two passengers to the Sol system. Let them worry about their own assignments. Ms. Amitosa and Mr. Mubari can handle themselves, they’ve trained for it. I apologize that we had no time to run simulations, but there should be enough briefing material to keep you occupied through the trip. Do you have any questions?”

  “Wait, we’re going on the mission now? Where are you going?” Joan asked, surprised that the Minister had proceeded with Trian’s plan, and with no word.

  “I have to take care of the people here. My apologies for not including you on the briefing through my integrated comm.” Minister Jaileen touched the side of her head. “But I’m the ranking government representative on planet. There will be a substantial amount of panic, and I’ll be needed. It’s never an easy process, these attacks, but we’ve dealt with them before. We’ll recover.”

  “Well, thank you,” Joan said, frowning despite herself.

  “No, the Star Empire must thank you, Ms. Shengtu. Good luck on your mission, our fate depends on it.”

  “No pressure,” Joan said with a laugh to herself.

  Minister Jaileen gave her arm one final pat and began to move away.

  Joan was about to let her go, but realized s
he’d forgotten something important. She caught Minister Jaileen by the sleeve, stopping her from moving away. “What about my AI? You promised you’d look for a copy when you arrived on the Transport One.” Those plans had changed, but Joan wasn’t about to leave without him.

  “I didn’t forget. I tapped in the request to my handtab. Your AI should be loaded into the Money Hauler’s primary computer. Please be careful. The Transport One’s engineers tell me they added an emergency shutdown protocol in case the AI had problems with its current condition. The code word “bluetide” will act as a kill switch if you need it.”

  Kill switch? Joan hoped she wouldn’t have to use that on G.O.D. It would be akin to stabbing her best friend.

  “Don’t worry,” Minister Jaileen said, seeming to mistake her concern for G.O.D. over nervousness for the mission. She pulled her arm back, removing herself from the clutches of Joan’s fingers. “You’ll do fine. Our intelligence team is rarely wrong. I look forward to seeing you on the other side.”

  “Yeah, you too,” Joan said, her own arm falling slack to her side. There was little more she could ask of the woman, and prolonging goodbyes wouldn’t give Joan any more comfort with the situation. They’d flung her onto this mission as fast as they could. No time to prepare.

  Yui frantically motioned for Joan to make her way up the ramp. “Hurry. Our departure window is short. You’re the pilot, right?” Yui said.

  “I’ve flown before,” Joan said.

  “Well, get in the cockpit. We need to get scooting before another beam vapes us.” Yui stepped into the cabin and pointed toward the front of the craft.

  Joan grimaced, not fond of Yui’s command mode that she’d fallen right back into, years later. Minister Jaileen had told Joan this was her mission, her team. But those technicalities were something she would have to deal with later. For now, she moved inside the ship. The door closed behind her and air pressurized inside the cabin. The stale recycled air flavor came over the place almost immediately.

  The cockpit itself looked a lot like her own vessel. A more modern holodisplay projector, gauges of cabin oxygen levels, engine energy quotient, gravimetric plate control, and finally, a whole subset of flight control levers and buttons. Joan slipped into the seat. It contoured itself to her back arches for comfort in long journeys. Safety belts protruded and clipped on for a planetary launch. The dash powered up and space traffic control monitors came online.

  “Money Hauler, you’re clear to launch,”

  Joan tapped the comm button. “Read you, traffic control. Launching in five… four… three… two… one…”

  The cargo ship shot upward with incredible speed, the city shrinking from the cockpit window almost faster than Joan could see. Several Blob beams still pummeled the planet. The dust cloud obscured as most of her view, then became a small section of the round world. They were through the atmosphere and into the vacuum of space within moments, where Joan switched on the multispacial grid view of the holodisplay.

  “Everything good in there?” Yui asked in a patronizing manner from back in the cabin.

  “I’m fine, thank you for asking. You and Trian buckled in?”

  “We’re good or you would have heard a lot of crashing and tumbling on lift off,” Trian said.

  “We’ve still got a long ways to go, so hang tight,” Joan said.

  The nose of the ship rotated away from the planet. On the grid were four large capital sized Blob ships along with a couple of dozen fighters registering in three different clusters. The computer was able to differentiate between the Blob ships, which it registered in green and the Star Empire planetary defense ships in gold. The Money Hauler was flanked by almost a full squadron of Imperial Fighters and Corvettes.

  “Money Hauler, come in,” a voice came through the comm.

  “Money Hauler pilot speaking,” Joan said.

  “We’re going to try to pass around the starboard flank of the Blob Carrier for you to make your escape into hyperspace. Enter in the coordinates I’m about to send you and set your nav to evasive pattern delta. Let our fighters worry about the rest.”

  The coordinates broadcast to her holodisplay. Joan swiped across the air to add them to the nav computer. “Money Hauler, set evasive pattern delta.”

  The nav computer chirped in acknowledgement.

  “All set,” Joan said through the comm. “Thruster burst in three.”

  “Godspeed, Money Hauler pilot.”

  Her ship drifted to starboard, cocking up and away from the planet. Joan watched, fingers on the control of any last minute adjustments she might need to make. A cluster of shapes the size of a fist was in front of her, growing as the Money Hauler sped away from Trantine X. The shapes spread out into a swarm of Blob fighters and the carrier ship. It was still a decent ways off but the massive carrier nearly filled her view from the cockpit.

  Its pulse beam fired—a wide spread toward the planet. Joan tensed but the beam shot well below her vessel. If that thing had been remotely near her, she wouldn’t be around to be afraid of it. The ship’s delta pattern banked her aft and further upward.

  Blob fighters appeared at nine o’clock. Joan engaged the weapons controls to lock onto the fighter group. Something shot in her direction that broke into more than twenty mini-explosions. Joan grabbed the control and hooked the Money Hauler around the explosions.

  “What are those?” Joan asked to herself.

  “A frag cluster weapon. Something new the Blob have developed,” came through her comm. “They’re a bitch to navigate around as you—“

  The comm cut off into static. Joan checked the holodisplay. The grid showed one Imperial Fighter destroyed, then two and three. Her escort was getting picked off by these cluster weapons one by one.

  The Blob carrier came into better view, and from its launch bays came three more squadrons of Blob fighters. “We’re never gonna make it,” Joan breathed to herself.

  Two of the Corvettes escorting her broke off, firing their thrusters straight toward the carrier. Joan’s throat tightened. They’d get blown out of the sky far before they reached the fleet. What were they thinking?

  Then it occurred to her. That was their plan. Joan engaged her thrusters to a full side-strafe away from the breaking off Corvettes. The rest of her escort did the same, avoiding several more frag cluster explosions in the process.

  The two Corvettes close to the carrier exploded almost immediately. However, each dropped a small, head-sized canister right before their sacrifice. If Joan hadn’t been looking for it, the sensor nets wouldn’t have even picked them up. They looked like space debris, but…

  Rings of energy burst from each canister like a supernova. One shot laterally and the other horizontal on a similar axis. The burst engulfed all of the recently launched Blob fighters and even managed to knock out the Blob carrier’s shielding.

  The explosions gave the Money Hauler the distraction it needed from its current Blob fighter attack to punch through. The rest of the fighters escorting her flipped around to fire main weapons while reversing.

  “Fifteen seconds until safe hyperspace launch,” the Money Hauler’s computer announced to her.

  One of the Star Empire’s Dreadnaughts came about to engage the now shieldless Blob carrier. It fired all of its main batteries toward the gigantic vessel, which split into three from the assault. Lights dwindled as its power core was drilled by Star Empire’s weapons.

  The Money Hauler’s holodisplay blinked with green lights.

  Joan pushed the lever to thrust the ship into hyperspace and safety. Relative safety, at least. As in a couple of days, they’d be dropping out directly into the heart of the Terran Trade Federation.

  Chapter 10

  Released

  Regency BioTech Central Office, Mars

  Local Date January 28th, 2464

  Dario jogged through the Trade Federation Private Security reserved area of the Central Office. He’d received a call a few minutes ago from Antonio, who request
ed Dario’s immediate assistance. Regarding what, Antonio hadn’t said. Had his employee run into trouble with security? It seemed unlikely that he would have tangled with the military, even if he was a hothead.

  When he rounded the corner, Dario saw an entryway with a large Trade Federation logo hanging above the door. He slowed his pace to step inside, finding a reception room with a glass window, sealed door and several recruitment posters for Trade Federation Security on the walls.

  Part of Regency BioTech’s funding requirement for the Central Office’s construction was to maintain a T.F.P.S. presence and recruiting station. This ceded some space to the greater Trade Federation at large, but without that boost in funds, the company wouldn’t have had the funds to create a station like this.

  An armed guard stood by the door, and a woman behind the counter. Her lips pressed together into a thin line, appearing annoyed at the person in front of her who gestured and argued with her. Dark spiked hair with sandy tips gave away that man’s identity—Antonio.

  Dario stepped toward them. “Is there a problem here?”

  Antonio turned toward Dario, fire in his eyes. That fire diminished when he realized who stood there. “Boss! Thanks for coming. I’ve been trying to get information for over fifteen minutes, but I keep getting a runaround.”

  “Information about what?” Dario glanced to the woman behind the counter.

  “Security matters,” the woman behind the counter said.

  “See what I’m saying?” Antonio flippantly motioned toward her.

  The guard by the door watched but didn’t move.

  Dario had to do something to calm Antonio down before he made more of a scene than he bargained for. He intercepted Antonio’s arm, pushing it downward. “Should we talk about this somewhere else? You still haven’t told me what’s happening.”

  “Nah, I can tell it to you right here.” Antonio didn’t fight Dario’s move but glared at the woman behind the counter. “Indy news feed this morning popped up that there was a prisoner transfer to here. An older woman, worn looking, just like one of the underlevelers. I’ve been keeping my ear to the ground since the incident and figured this matched the people brought in before, which means they weren’t all released like you ordered.”