Deuces Wild opens in the House Sector – a sector of space trademarked by its card-based vernacular and governed by a corrupt magistrate known as The Deck. The Deck’s four Kings have hailed the mercenary crew of The Quinary (Captain Fara, Sprocket, Gauge, and pilot Gigs) to track down Deuces, a Discarder who has unshuffled himself from the Deck and is systematically assassinating governing members in pairs.

Fara and her crew waste no time in closing in on Deuces at Big Ten McStein’s Casino located on the sector’s flagship planet Diamond-Gadol. But the Discarder slips by the team and successfully eliminates two Deck members - casino owner Big Ten McSteins himself (also known as the Ten of Diamonds) and the casino’s architect, Crabby Jackson (Three of Spades). Left with only a single hint from Deuces as to who the next two targets may be, the defeated crew returns to the Kings’ chambers empty handed to regroup. The displeased monarchy detains Gigs as punishment, forcing him to pilot the Quinary remotely, and sending the rest of the crew back out into the House Sector to complete their assignment.

In the midst of the crew’s seemingly bleak mission, dark truths surrounding an historical cataclysmic event known as “The Turn of the River” begin to surface, unveiling the Stars – a forgotten fifth suit – that was accused of mutiny against the other four suits in an effort to usurp power.

With the absence of their pilot, and trying to get ahead of Deuces, the crew sets out to wrangle up who they believe to be the assassin’s next two targets - Deck members Nina Ross (Nine of Diamonds) and Sharp Top (Four of Clubs) - both of whom are discarded before the crew can get to them.

In a mid-climax rooftop showdown, Gauge takes a hit to the chest courtesy one of Deuces‘ bladed cards. Before once again escaping, the shifty Discarder manages to disable the Quinary with an electromagnetic blast which, in turn, disables Gigs’ remote connection to the ship. Furious and out of patience, King Diamond lowers Gigs into the brig of the chambers where the pilot meets a mysterious old prisoner who shares the truth surrounding The Turn of the River: a truth that shows the House Sector’s four Suits unjustly exiling the Stars and performing planet-wide memory wipes in an effort to reshuffle history.

When the depleted crew discovers that Deuces’ bladed card is actually a map of the House Sector leading them to his next and final hit, they set their sights on the constellation Diamond of Virgo. However, en route, Gigs discovers that Deuces’ map actually drops our crew directly into a black hole. By the time Gigs reconnects to warn them, the crew has been pulled into the abyss.

Inside the void, a still-connected Gigs, Sprocket, and Gauge awaken to a dreamscape where they physically relive their own forgotten childhood memories; memories that show the crew’s lives intersecting at a much earlier age - during The Turn of the River.

Another truth revealed - Fara’s crew were all victims of the planet-wide memory wipes.

The two-fold climax reveals Deuces’ previous targets to not only be premeditated retribution for the past crimes against the crew’s families, but that he and Fara - his long lost adopted sister and daughter to the murdered King of the Stars - have been secretly spearheading this mission since her youth.

The unjust persecution of their father set Fara and Deuces on a lifelong objective - embed Deuces as a sleeper agent within The Deck, misdirect the Kings, and reveal the ultimate hand when the time was right.

Having discarded the King of Diamonds in the final climax, Deuces and Fara – the newly risen King and Queen of the Stars – return to reclaim the House Sector and begin a rebellion against the corrupt Deck.

BrettBrooks

Selected works

Brett
Brooks