Star Realms: Rescue Run

by Jon Del Arroz

Her door chime sounded.

  “Come in,” Joan said.

  The door opened, and there stood Dario. He looked a little skinnier, like he hadn’t eaten or slept well in the last few days. She couldn’t blame him. If he had heard the reports of back home, how the company he’d worked for was collapsing in on itself, how his father was being held for questioning, there would be no telling how that impacted him. Also, if he had gone through the same or worse questioning that she had…

  Joan moved away from the window, toward him. Her feet felt a little lighter as she moved. Now that she thought about it, his presence always made her feel comforted, happier, warmer. Joan embraced him right away. “They let you out,” Joan said.

  Dario hesitated a moment before his hands clasped around the small of her back. It was cute the way touching her made him so nervous. “Sort of. I have two guards outside. Commodore Zhang authorized me to see you.”

  Joan frowned. “If they’re going to keep harassing you, I’m going to talk to someone, do something.”

  Dario shook his head. “No, this is expected. They’re not mistreating me, just being cautious. I would do the same if I were them. I’ve worked for their enemies for a long time, they want all the information I have, and they want to make sure I’m not some spy.”

  “Like I was,” Joan said, chuckling.

  “More like Jake,” Dario said, glancing out toward the window and the destruction beyond. “But he really wasn’t trying to hurt my company, or me. I know that for a fact.”

  “No, I don’t think he was,” Joan agreed. She slipped over to his side, linking her arm with his and leading him back to her sofa. “But if they let you come see me, it means they trust you, at least a little. It’s not all that bad.”

  Dario nodded, but stared out the window all the same. “Life isn’t as easy out on the colonies as it is back in the Terra system, is it?”

  “Not at all,” Joan said, not patronizing in her tone. He had never seen the level of destruction that colonists lived with daily. He’d never had to fight for a meal like Joan had. She didn’t begrudge him that. It was lucky for him, but he could use a good eye opening. Even if they were odd, computerized eyes.

  “I’d like to help. Somehow,” Dario said.

  “I’m sure once this is over, Commodore Zhang would take you on. Even if she used you for your implants by themselves, you’d be an asset. Maybe some military quality control?”

  Dario shook his head. “I want to do something new. Something that makes a difference for real people. I know what quality control does. I mean, it makes sure that people’s products, their bodymods function correctly, and that’s good for individual lives. I want more than that.”

  “I know what you’re saying,” Joan said, side-glancing at him. She forced a little smile.

  “What’re your plans?” Dario asked.

  “Commodore Zhang offered a full reinstatement in the Star Empire Navy. The Council of Ministers struck my court martial from my record, paid off my debts, upgraded my ship.” Joan shrugged.

  “I can’t really see you following orders well,” Dario said, his voice teasing.

  “Scrap that!” Joan laughed. “No, she offered me an independent supply run gig. Pay isn’t quite as good as what I’ve been used to, but I don’t have to worry about going to prison either. I don’t know. It’s something to think about later.”

  “Later?” Dario asked, cocking his head at her.

  “I thought of heading to the Mech World, where G.O.D.’s programming was designed.” Joan stepped away from him.

  “Why would you go there?” Dario asked, alarm showing in his face. He gripped her hand and squeezed it tightly. “People don’t just travel to the Mech World, you know. I’ve heard stories that they get brainwashed, that there’s some kind of strange technology cult that they bring back with them. You don’t want them messing with your mind, Joan.”

  Joan shook her head. “No, I don’t, but G.O.D. is important to me. I need to find his creator, see if they can restore him to the way he was. The engineers here have had no luck even deciphering his basic code.”

  “It’s just an AI, you can get an—”

  “No!” Joan pulled her hand back, staring at him. He didn’t understand, but then who did? The others had mostly ignored the way Joan interacted with her AI. She hadn’t seen an AI quite like G.O.D. anywhere. It’s because people didn’t trust the tech that came from the Mech World. It was like Dario said; the people from there seemed odd. They carried an air of contentedness about them that seemed unnatural. She remembered the vendor who’d originally sold her G.O.D. His glassy eyes, his quirky smile. She wasn’t entirely sure it was a good purchase, but G.O.D. had proved to be her most valuable asset.

  Dario frowned. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  Joan patted his arm, trying to reassure him. “I know you didn’t. G.O.D. has been the only friend who’s really been there for me these past couple of years. I mean, until you, Trian, and Yui. You’ve talked to him though; he’s been in your implants. You know there’s something special about him.”

  Dario nodded to that. “Yeah. I mean, it’s a very useful AI, I can give you that. I don’t understand your devotion. It’s pretty intense.”

  “Yeah, it is,” Joan said. She paced around the room and back to him again. “And that’s why I have to do this. I promised him I would. I have to take care of him like he took care of me when I needed it most. I know Commodore Zhang isn’t going to like it. The Council of Ministers wants a hero to go on the media, help them with public relations, but that’s not me. I go it alone, mostly alone at least.”

  Dario tensed at her last words then, and Joan could see it hurt him. “Is that your plan then?”

  “What?”

  “To go it alone,” Dario said. His eye implants seemed to focus in on her, meeting her with more intensity than any natural eyes she had ever seen.

  “Well, yeah. It’s not like the Star Empire will give me a crew or a strike team to help me with this. Even though they paid me well for the mission—or at least say they’re going to, it’s not like I can afford mercenaries.”

  Dario’s sadness turned to indignant anger. “I’d go with you.”

  Joan bit her lip. “I can’t ask you to do that. For the same reasons you said I should probably not go myself.”

  “You can’t control me, Joan, and I’m not some person to be held in protection. I’m my own person.”

  “I know that,” Joan said.

  “Let me come with you.” Dario looked downward at the metal floor. This time, he took both of her hands into his. “I want to help you. I want to be with you. Can’t you see? There’s nothing for me here. I’ve left my company, the job I was supposed to do for the rest of my life, and the people I was supposed to interact with until I retired. There’s nothing for me out here. Nothing except for one thing. One person. I… I love you, Joan Shengtu.”

  Joan’s throat went dry. She stared at him, frozen, words escaping her. She knew he’d had feelings for her, but love? Was this the way people talked about these things? It felt like a cheesy holovid. Except for the fact that her stomach tightened and she couldn’t breathe. What could she say that could compare with his heartfelt words?

  The room felt like it was closing in around her. She had nowhere to go, nowhere to escape. She couldn’t even think of an excuse to extricate herself from the situation.

  But why should she? Something in the back of her mind nagged at her. This man had been there for her every step of the way. When he’d met her, from when he’d thought she was just another corporate employee and even through when he found out the truth of who she was, he never hesitated. He had exactly the kind of loyalty Joan had expected from her unit back when she was in the Navy, when they’d betrayed her, ratted her out to lighten their own sentences for theft.

  That’s why she was so scared. She’d never allowed herself to fully rely on someone else since then. Over these past few weeks, however, she’d had to r
ely on Dario. He’d saved her multiple times.

  Joan wanted to save him, too. Truth be told, she couldn’t bear the thought of taking off without him. Why was she fighting it? She didn’t have to be without him. He was here, offering himself freely to her. Joan pressed forward, standing on her tiptoes to give him a gentle kiss on the lips. She lingered there longer this time than their first, not in any rush to be anywhere else. “I love you too,” she finally confessed with her lips so close to his.

  She dropped from her tip-toes and rested her head against his chest. His heart beat quickly. G.O.D., if he were here, would no doubt make a comment about his vitals. This did mean that she would have to wait to leave until the powers that be were done investigating Dario, that it may take a little time for her to be able to help her AI. That was okay with her. As long as Dario went with her.

  Joan’s admission had relaxed Dario considerably. He seemed much more at ease now, elation all over his face. “So, where do we start?” Dario asked.

  “With a plan.” Joan led him to her room’s terminal so they could begin.

  Acknowledgments

  First, I would like to thank everyone who believed in this project, which started by talking about the great card game, Star Realms, at a bar outside of San Diego Comic-Con in 2014. I wanted to bring this world to life and talked to my wonderful publisher, Katie Cord of Evil Girlfriend Media, about my dreams of the Star Realms universe before bringing the idea to the awesome people at White Wizard Games: Darwin Kastle, Rob Dougherty, Debbie Moynihan, and Ian Taylor. This book couldn’t exist without you and your game that’s brought immense joy to my family and me.

  Next, this book couldn’t exist without all the people who have pushed me along in writing over the past decade: Dario Ciriello, Setsu Uzume, Herma Lichtenstein, Aiden Fritz, and Emily Sandoval for reading the, as of this writing, unpublished books that led to this point. Jan Schroeder and Katie Baker have been a huge help as well in that regard. Todd McCaffrey has been a huge source of encouragement for me to keep going. Then all of the teachers in my life who have been invaluable to my writing, starting with Sarah Tuuri who first assigned me creative writing in high school, and especially Jody Lynn Nye for her incredible instruction at DragonCon 2012.

  Much love to the Star Realms Fan Created Community Facebook page and all its members, as well as the Megahaulin’ podcast. You guys have kept my interest in the game at an all time high throughout this whole process. If I ever end up playing you, please let me have Brain World and The Ark.

  Jennifer Brozek has been the best editor anyone could ever hope for. Thank you for your patience as I took my time to deliver this, and for honing in the manuscript and pushing me to be better. You’ve taught me a tremendous amount and I hope to continue to learn from you in the future. Shout out to Sarah Hendrix-Craft for your keen eye on the edits as well.

  Finally, much thanks to my family, my parents, and especially my wife Samantha for letting me go hide for hours on end to make up pretend people to shoot wordy space ship lasers.

  Jon Del Arroz

  Danville, CA 2016

  About the Author

  Jon Del Arroz began his writing career in high school, providing book reviews and the occasional article for the local news magazine, The Valley Citizen. From there, he went on to write a weekly web comic, Flying Sparks, which has been hailed by Comic Book Resources as “the kind of stuff that made me fall in love with early Marvel comics.” He has several published short stories, most recently providing flash fiction for AEG’s weird west card game, Doomtown: Reloaded, and a micro-setting for the Tiny Frontiers RPG. Star Realms: Rescue Run is his debut novel. You can find him during baseball season with his family at about half of the Oakland A’s home games in section 124.

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