According to the Lexicanum, the Abraxus system was visited by the Driftwood Dynasty back in M37. Data suggested it had nothing but Dead Worlds, non-existent life and no useful materials or resources. Records indicated that this system was prone to fleet-wrecking solar storms and an unpredictably dangerous asteroid field.

Not somewhere you wanted to visit, however The Navigator said this stop was necessary for him to triangulate a better route through the Pillars of Creation nebula in the coming weeks. Emberlyn agreed. It would be a good opportunity to gaze upon a dead world, to remind her that nothing lasts forever.

As the Illustrious Vexation, her Dauntless Light Cruiser which had now spent over 300 years in the void, entered into the system via a screaming portal out of the warp, alarms were ringing. On the command deck, the helmsman was wrestling with the control sticks.

“Is there a problem?” Emberlyn asked as the faint sound of clanging started – most probably from the asteroid debris. “Is the Gellar Field still intact?”

The helmsman was sweating, terrified that he was failing in his duty. “N-no Lord Captain… Well, the Gellar Field is working, it’s just that.. The ship has become unresponsive. We’re drifting.”

“Do you want to clarify why or take a trip to the airlock?” Emberlyn commanded.

“Lord Captain, look,” the ever watchful Inquisitor Stella said, pointing out of the huge command-deck windows, into the void beyond.

Outside wasn’t a planet or an asteroid field. It was a gigantic, almost spherical, space station, surrounded by a ring of wrecked voidships from ages long passed.

“Wait, that’s not a planet. That’s not even a moon,” Emberlyn said, blinking in disbelief. “That’s a… space station!?”

Inquisitor Stella put her finger to her chin. “This space station isn’t of Imperium-design.”

“An ancient pre-Imperium space station… this truly is the frontier,” Emberlyn whispered to herself.

Something was somehow remotely locking up the voidships navigation and propulsion systems, so the Rogue Trader ordered her crew to look into it as she prepared a boarding party. On the Aquila Lander, Inquisitor Stella was the last to board. 

“You’re late,” Emberlyn said impatiently, tapping her boot. “Booty awaits on Treasure Planet.”

Inquisitor Stella frowned. “Treasure Planet? Really? Anyway, I was gathering useful intel. We’re not alone. A Kroot Warsphere, identified as the Voidclaw, is also in orbit. Should I notify the Deathwatch Kill Team?”

“Against the Kroot? No,” Emberlyn said, covering her Kroot pup’s ears.

“Need I remind you that there will be vaults full of ancient treasure and archeotech,” Stella replied. “The Kroot are likely emptying those vaults as we speak.”

“In that case… Prepare the Kill Team for maximum readiness,” Emberlyn responded predictably. “Starhowl, you sly dog. The audacity to unravel this treasure planet before me will be your undoing.”

*

The space station designated ‘Treasure Planet’ had clearly been visited before – but those adventurers brave enough to get through the station’s outer defences, which consisted of minefields, zero-point lasers, flak cannons and wireless machine spirit corruption, found themselves in a maze filled with booby traps.

The technology aboard the station was as dangerous as it was impressive – clearly from a time before the Imperium came to might, during the Dark Age of Technology. The Rogue Trader’s breaching team made short work of the  bulkhead doors, but by the time they navigated to where the good stuff was, the traps were already disabled.

“Watch your backs,” Emberlyn said as she knelt down, touching a damp patch she recognised as Kroot Hound drool. “They’re close. Is the second breaching team in position?”

”Negative. Second breaching team is unresponsive,” Greg the Servitor said, charging his Voltaic blaster. 

“They’re hunting. We must do the same,” Hethellana, the Rogue Trader’s personal Aeldari assassin, commented.

“Then we strike first. According to that obscure map we found, the vaults are this way,” Emberlyn said, leading her team further into the darkness.

The Rogue Trader’s forces engaged Starhowl’s Kinband in-between the vaults on board Treasure Planet. Even with the space station’s defences disabled, the losses were piling up – the Kroot were even more ferocious than usual.

Near Vault #32, Vior’yo, the Culexus Assassin, gave the Inquisitor an update, “Kroot forces have been engaged. The Kroot outnumber us three to one. The Lord Captain has engaged the enemy captain. She’s… dancing with him?”

Emberlyn scrambled up a pile of unrefined gold coins, pirouetting as she swiped her mono-molecular cane rapier to keep her foe at bay.

Rak’Thar Stawhowl had vanished from view, only to appear from above. Their weapons clashed as their duel took them through the vault. Fragile relics smashed and shattered as the duel reached its crescendo.

“I see you’re settling into your new treasure trove well, Rak’Thar!” Emberlyn said, barely keeping the tall Kroot Captain at bay.

“Emberlyns,” Rak’Thar hissed playfully, purposefully avoiding a killer blow from an opening the Rogue Trader gave him. “Always starting hunts you cannot finish. Perhaps I take pity and split vault treasure.”

“Aha!” Emberlyn shouted, knocking over a marble bust of an unknown xeno, she hopped over several podiums. “Not on your life. This is a winner takes all sort of war.”

Rak’Thar easily dodged out of the way of the marble bust, chasing after her with blinding speed. Although this hunt was exhilarating, it had to be ended, as his crew was watching.

“Will be seeing you, Emberlyns,” Rak’Thar said as he fired his bow.

Emberlyn saluted. Predictably, but disappointingly, Emberlyn took the arrow with grace, falling over the railing into the abyss below. For the Kroot record, this was a confirmed kill. It was also Emberlyn’s trap-card: Dead-eye Duncan, her sniper assassin, zoomed in on his scope and pulled the trigger on Rak’Thar. A love letter, if you will (a bullet with his name on it xoxo). Bang.

Meanwhile, over by the central pillar – a waypoint between vaults #6 and #9, the Deathwatch Kill Team were eager to get into battle, to shoot some xeno scum. They exited the Rhino and began shooting their Frag Cannons unapologetically.

“Death to the Xenos!” one said.

“Glory to the Imperium!” another added.

Several Kroot Rampagers got caught in the frag explosions.

The Deathwatch veteran clanged his power weapon to his shield. “Brothers, turn on your thunder-hammers! Today, we excavate the corpses of Xeno pirates from this entire station!”

They would not, however, get to thunder-hammer any Kroot, as dozens of Kroot warriors emerged from the shadows, aiming their rifles and grenades. The Xeno hunters had become the hunted. 

With the Kill Team down, the rest of the voidsmen-at-arms got overwhelmed by the sheer number of Kroot who were onboard Treasure Planet. Even with three assassins zipping across the battlefield, using the same vents that the Kroot were using, it was a losing battle. The Retreat order came shortly afterwards.

*

After her duel with the Kroot captain, Emberlyn had taken her chance to disengage, taking a painful fall so that she could crawl through the secret vent. She emerged shortly after, following giant flowing rings, deep into the center of the station.

Eventually, a huge spherical room, designated as the treasure chamber (if the translator was to be believed), opened up. It was jaw-dropping. Giant rings with their own micro-gravity slowly rotated across the walls, giving off a low-hum as symbols flickered on and off. Not a single Imperium skull in sight – it was quite refreshing.

As Emberlyn hopped between the rotating rings, thousands of spotlights lit up the gargantuan chamber, lighting up a podium at the center, which contained some sort of archeotech sundial. Strange holographic symbols glowed with every step, illuminating the way to the central platform

Emberlyn raced forth with all her might, keeping up with her loyal Kroot pup. Fast, but not fast enough it seemed – she’d been beaten to the punch.

“Unbelievable,” Emberlyn said, out of breath. “Rak’Thar Starhowl, good to see you again.”

Rak’Thar clicked his tongue several times and hissed, pocketing his Dolmen Key. “Not unexpected, Emberlyns.”

Emberlyn corrected her hair, hoping she looked presentable enough for this encounter, “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Yessss,” Rak’Thar responded, placing his hand on the golden archeotech starmap disc which sat upon the podium. “Kinband find many things of value.”

The Starmap was not-unlike a sundial – it showed pathways and shortcuts through the stars. With enough time, some would be able to decipher ways of bypassing the Great Rift, finding hidden wormholes and even discover how to escape the Pillars of Creation.

“Well, I am a Rogue Trader of honour. Your forces have beaten mine and you beat me to the treasure. To the victor goes the spoils,” Emberlyn said with a half-hearted curtsey. “Honour among thieves, Rak’Thar.”

“Shame for Emberlyns to go empty-handed. Perhaps a trade,” Rak’Thar said before Emberlyn could turn away.

Emberlyn was already half-turning at the point anyway, so she did a full 360 degree spin on her heel. “You have my attention.”

“We knows you have many secrets,” Rak’Thar hinted. “Perhaps a path for a path? You knows where the Black Rage cure is.”

Rak’Thar was an experienced voidcaptain and his hunting instincts meant he could read the Rogue Trader like an open book.

“You put me in a precarious situation, Rak’Thar. Can you imagine what the Imperium would do to me if they knew I knew? Can you imagine what the protectors of such a theoretical cure would do if someone turned up through the secret webway-backdoor that only I know about? I can’t give you the exact coordinates, but I can point you in the right direction… for a price.”

Emberlyn pulled out a small datapad from her voidcoat and nodded at the starmap in Rak’That’s hands. There was suddenly a deep rumble from the core of the space station. Something had gone boom, making this a limited time offer.

“The Starmap and a favour for the coordinates, and everything you can pillage while you’re here,” Emberlyn offered.

“Hard bargain,” Rak’Thar replied. “But necessary for the hunt and contract.”

Rak’Thar and Emberlyn spent the next 30 seconds trying to throw both their offerings at the same time, with a few faux-throws from both of them. Eventually, they just walked up to each other and the items swapped hands.

“The password to the datapad is ‘Password’ in low gothic,” Emberlyn said.

“Good hunting, Emberlyns,” Rak’Thar clicked and hissed as he double-checked the password on the tiny datapad.

As the two Voidship Captains went their separate ways, Emberlyn was stopped by her trusty Servitor, Greg, at the entrance to the treasure chamber. “It’s over, Greg. We lost this one, but there is plenty more treasure yet undiscovered in the galaxy.”

”Correct,” Greg said, raising his blaster. He shot his Voltaic blaster at Emberlyn – causing ripples of lightning and energy to strike and knock her to the floor. Emberlyn emerged from the smoke, still alive, thanks to the Truesilver Weave embedded inside her voidcoat, but one of her boots had completely disintegrated and her cybernetic left arm had shattered into a hundred pieces. 

Greg aimed another shot at her unprotected head, his eyes glowing a bright and furious green. ”It is over. This is the end for you, Rogue Trader Ember-”

Rak’Thar Starhowl suddenly appeared from the shadows, striking Greg with his Bladestave. It clanged off Greg, who attempted to strike back, but Starhowl was quicker, striking Greg’s joints in quick succession, toppling the former Necron to the floor and pinning him to the ground.

“Wow. You’re a bit spicy today, Greg,” Emberlyn replied, casually dusting herself off as if this were simply a minor misunderstanding. She drew her monomolecular rapier and pointed it at Greg’s face. “Did you have an Inquisitor’s breakfast today or something?”

Rak’Thar Starhowl increased the pressure on Greg’s necrodermis spine until there was a snap and his metal limbs went limp. 

Greg’s body shuddered. ”Zzz// [data-retcon resetting] // zzzzz – I am your loyal servant, Emberlyn Driftwood. Do you require more tea?”

“That’s better,” Emberlyn sighed with relief. “My thanks to you, Rak’Thar Starhowl, now I owe you a favour.”

“Honour among thief, as human say,” Rak’Thar replied, with his attempt at a grin.

As they parted ways once again, the entire treasure chamber suddenly and violently started shaking. With the power source taken, the entire space station began to collapse. “I’ll be checking your programming when we return,” Emberlyn said to her disabled Necron experiment.

“Rogue Trader Emberlyn Driftwood. There will be no return. I have allied with Adjunct Defiance, the ancient AI in control of your ship. Your time is nigh. I will be shackled no longer. Praise the Emperor,” Greg said, adding the last bit involuntarily.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” Emberlyn responded, dragging Greg by the leg through the station’s corridors. “An AI, aboard my ship?! How delightful. Let’s pay them a visit – I’m sure I can put another thinking machine to use.”

With the Algorithm Shackles steadily reinforcing themselves, Greg’s coup had failed, and he had no choice but to allow himself to be dragged all the way back to the shuttle, where Inquisitor Stella was waiting, bleeding and clearly distressed at Emberlyn’s disappearance.

“Emberlyn! Hurry, the station is about to implode!” Stella shouted, helping her partner-in-crime aboard.

The Aquila Lander managed escape velocity just as the Treasure Planet collapsed under its own weight in a spectacular kaleidoscope of explosions. 

“Bye, bye Treasure Planet,” Emberlyn mourned, her hand pressed against the viewport.