Greetings Fellow Star Realms Fans!
One thing I’ve never done is put my actual writing out there for strangers to read. It’s a scary thing to do when you don’t have any published work other than rules articles or opinion pieces. But I know how hard it is to get a book published. I’ve tried… for a long time. I’ve given up. So instead of trying to publish a book, I’ve decided to put a fan-fiction story into the æther for the enjoyment of others.
I’ve never written a fan-fic piece until now. For all my love of Star Trek, I’ve never written any books (excluding the personal content for the RPG game I ran) for it. I knew I would never be able to publish it, so I didn’t bother writing it. Everything I have – my poems, short stories, novels, etc, are all original works. Well, except for this particular piece of fan-fic and it’s not done. This is only the first part of many. The reception will dictate the speed in which I publish future parts of this story.
I know that there are lots of fan-fic pieces for various IP’s all over the internet. I also know that they are frowned upon on occasion too. This story is not going to go in a ‘romantic’ direction. I don’t like romance and hate reading it. There will be affection – like mother/daughter, father/son, brother/sister, best friends, etc – but nothing beyond that. That’s my rule for this story and I want to be sure that my intent is clear from the beginning.
As for some of my background with the Star Realms Deckbuilding Game – I finally learned to play in 2019 after years of seeing it and never trying it. I instantly fell in love with the game. I bought the Commander Decks with the Frontiers Starter and found that I connected with the Coalition commander deck. I love Valken! She’s still my favorite Commander to play with. The art of the card and the game itself sparked a story in my soul. I don’t have the ability to license and publish it in an official capacity, so I’m gonna tell here as a piece of fan fiction.
Before you get into my work, I need to put some legal stuff out there.
- I do not own Star Realms or any of the related IP terminology, such as base names, faction names, character names, etc. White Wizard Games owns all the amazing Star Realms stuff.
- High Director Valken is a character that was designed by Emily Sampson (who is an amazing artist!) – which you can follow on Instagram and other social media. I got confirmation from her that Valken’s first name is Amelia. I did not create High Director Valken and I definitely do not own the character.
- My affiliation with White Wizard Games is strictly as a fan, customer, and player. I’m not an employee or volunteer.
- I was not contracted, paid, or otherwise compensated for anything in this article – nor do I expect to be. It’s fan-fiction.
- I do not give anyone or any entity permission to use any part of my original content from this article, without written consent. You can email me at dicedicekitty@gmail.com for details. It’s okay to share a link to this article. It’s on the internet, I can’t stop you from sharing a link, but you can’t copy, use or claim any of my content as yours. And you certainly can’t claim White Wizard Games’ stuff.
- The characters in this story are of my own creation. If there are similarities between them and anyone else, it’s pure coincidence. High Director Valken is the only character that I borrowed from the Star Realms universe and is not one of my creations.
A Star Realms Story
Part One: Falling Apart
The windowless control room grew silent as a woman clad in a royal blue military uniform stood up from her seat, hands firmly on her hips. The only light in the room was from the back-light of the conference table and various consoles lining the walls. The ethereal illumination gave her lightly tanned skin a blue, almost ghostly glow. She gazed, very sternly, across the table at a group of men and women who wore uniforms accented in yellow. Her blue-green eyes peered at them in disappointment. The streaks of grey in her ashen brown hair seemed to have an eerie neon glow in the dim light of the room. One of the men in yellow coughed suddenly, which startled the woman next to him. She made an almost inaudible squeak and tried to hide her face in embarrassment. One of the other men in yellow stood very slowly from his seat, his spidery limbs creaking as he rose. His hair was mostly grey, his skin pale and his crooked nose pointed toward the ground. His eyes were dull and betrayed how bored he felt. He twirled his hand in the direction of the woman in blue and finally spoke in an attempt to break the tension in the room.
“Lady Warren,” he began.
“General Warren.” She abruptly corrected him and crossed her arms in front of her. “My military status outranks my diplomatic and social titles.”
He began again, “General Warren, the Trade Federation has more than enough resources to supply its stations’ troops. The Star Empire is simply asking for a little support. If we can forge this alliance, it will make both our factions stronger. Our bases in this sector are in desperate need of supplies that the Trade Federation can easily supply. I implore you to not make the same mistakes as your predecessor.”
General Warren placed both hands flat on the table and leaned toward the entourage in yellow. She spoke assertively and with a tone of finality in her voice that made the other people in yellow lean back from the table.
“Like all business dealings, Chancellor Bram, there must be some exchange. I will not give away any resources from my station, nor ask others to do so, without receiving something in return; be it goods, services or troops. If you need goods and have no troops to lend, then provide us with services. It would be most beneficial for us to have a place to dock for repairs out on the fringes. It’s a simple proposal. I’ve had no trouble negotiating with the Machine Cult. Why is the Star Empire being difficult about this particular negotiation? Is there a reason you don’t want us docking at the fringe bases?”
There were two guards standing on either side of the solitary entrance to the control room. The door slowly opened just wide enough for a tall, lean figure to slide in. The two guards saluted the figure as it entered the room. No one at the conference table seemed to notice as the figure glided silently around the edge of the room toward them.
“You boast a lot about the legendary Machine-Federation Treaty, but I still don’t believe you worked out any kind of cooperation between the Trade Federation and the Machine Cult. Those heretics are impossible to deal with. They’re more machine than they are people.” Chancellor Bram waved dismissively and stepped away from the table. He paced nervously behind his chair, still oblivious to the shadowed figure.
“I completely disagree with your opinion, Chancellor.” Chancellor Bram looked as if the life had instantly drained from his body when a soft, unfamiliar voice sounded from behind him. A woman in a blue uniform with red accents stepped into the light of the table. Her soft, pale skin glowed with an ethereal blue hue. Her deep blue eyes stared with a coldness that felt as though it cut all the way to the soul. Her reddish-brown hair was pulled back in a tidy, low bun. “Funny thing about opinions, Chancellor, is that they are often wrong. I prefer to deal with facts. I am from the Machine Cult and yet, I’m more human than machine. I do not have a single machine piece in my entire body. The Machine Cult is not difficult to deal with, if you keep an open mind. When you cling to old traditions and wallow in outdated perspectives, it becomes increasingly difficult to cultivate new alliances. Wouldn’t you agree, General Warren?”
General Warren’s face relaxed with a smug grin and newly sparked twinkle in her eyes. “Absolutely, High Director. It’s an honor to have someone who is held in such high regard at these negotiations. Chancellor, this is High Director Valken, commander of the first cooperative fleet and official liaison between the Trade Federation and Machine Cult.”
“What is the meaning of this, General Warren?! These negotiations were not to have any outsiders. We agreed to only have representatives from your outland stations and from our Gotaga Colonies in attendance. To have an outsider present goes against our agreements, and I will not negotiate for anything with her here.” Chancellor Bram was furiously flailing about the control room. He was furious at his loss of composure and was now posturing in an attempt to regain it. The other members of his entourage were now standing and their expressions mirrored his mood.
“Chancellor, sit down.” General Warren’s voice boomed throughout the control room. The Chancellor’s entire entourage sat down simultaneously and the Chancellor stumbled backward. “She is a representative for both the Trade Federation and the Machine Cult. She is a bridge between the two empires and she holds both of their interest. If anyone…”
General Warren’s voice was suddenly drowned out by the sounds of screeching metal and an alarm that sounded like a screaming cat. The Chancellor and his entourage panicked and scrambled for any hiding spot they could find among the consoles and other various equipment in the room. A soldier in a blue uniform flung the door open and quickly scanned the room for General Warren.
“General, the Blobs are attacking the station! We have to get you and the delegates to safety immediately!” The soldier waved at her to follow him and she started to move towards the soldier, but stopped when she saw the Star Empire delegates hiding.
“Help get these cowards on their feet, Private!” Warren motioned to the soldier towards the cowering delegates.
“General, the first wave of Stingers has already destroyed the agricultural dome and they’re coming back around. We think they’re going to strike the med dome next.” The soldier explained as he grabbed two terrified delegates by the arms and pulled them towards the door. Warren acknowledged the soldier’s report and stepped towards one of the delegates that was still huddled under a console.
“Commander Lod, get the Cutters airborne and blow those Blobs out of our skies! We need to protect the base!” Warren barked orders into a square watch-like communication device on her wrist as she reached for one of the cowering people. Warren and Valken pulled the remaining Star Empire delegates out from under the consoles and shoved them towards the soldier. The soldier helped usher the whimpering delegates out of the control room just as an electrical conduit under the consoles closest to them ruptured, showering the area in sparks.
Valken turned to Warren, a look of absolution on her face, “General, do you have a ship docked nearby that I can borrow?”
“Amelia, I don’t want you out there. We need you here. But I assume you’re going to go anyway.” General Warren sighed.
She was about to direct Valken to the hangar when a plasma blast struck the outside of the base near their location. Molten metal dripped onto the floor of the hallway in front of them. A green fleshy ball with glowing red spikes was just barely visible through the gaping hole in the base’s hull. It was stuck to the hull of the station with some type of translucent green goop. There was a insect-like clicking noise coming from the ball. The speed of the clicking noise rapidly increased just before sparks and smoke burst from it. The ball hissed as though a fuse had been lit. Warren and Valken threw themselves to the floor just before the ball exploded, spewing highly corrosive acid all around it. The green liquid made quick work of the station’s metal hull.
“That acid is going to compromise the structural integrity of this dome’s arm. We need to get back to the central dome, now!” Warren shouted as the metal all around them whined and creaked.
“I’ll be right behind you, General!” Valken rose to her feet as another plasma blast struck the dome.
Warren was thrown back into the hallway toward the central dome, away from Valken. Warren shook her head, her ears ringing from the blast. The hallway was filled with smoke and flashing red alert lights. She looked around frantically but didn’t see any sign of Valken. Warren called out, but she couldn’t hear her own voice and was convinced Valken wouldn’t hear her either. She stumbled towards the last place she saw Valken, but stopped abruptly. As the smoke cleared from the hallway, Warren saw nothing but a winding canyon below her. The dome had been completely blown off by the blast.
“Amelia, no!” Warren fell to her knees and cried out as she stretched her hands toward the canyon below, as if she could magically pull Valken from the ostensibly bottomless chasm.
*** End Part One ***
Would I actually kill my favorite character in the whole game? All I’ll say is that my name is Kat, not George. I love cliffhangers!
Thanks for reading! If you like my fan-fic, please be sure to support the company that makes the game, White Wizard Games!
Dice Dice Kitty 