The sleeper stirred.

It had been so long. Many lifetimes had gone by, nothing to disturb it. A deep sleep, so deep that some would think it dead.

But it was not dead.

It would not go the way of its brothers and sisters. The hunters neared, but it would not fall to them.

The sleeper stirred, and its dreams turned to bloody vengeance…

"Report!" Tzarine barked. One by one, confirmation lights flicked on in her visor.

"Somewhere else in the ship," said Ysabella.

Tzarine relaxed for a moment, then realised that there was one light missing. "Karis, report," she said. A chill ran down her spine, but why she couldn't say.

"I'm here," the stormtrooper said, after a long pause. She sounded pained, raw. "Power conduit overloaded, taking out a big chunk of the core. I'm the only survivor."

Tzarine closed her eyes for a moment, sighed. Those poor fools in their vacuum suits… "Can you recover anything?"

"I've already pulled as much as I can. I'll reroute and meet you on the bridge."

She grunted. "Keep moving, Sisters. I don't want to stay on this hulk any longer than necessary."

There was silence for some time, save the ominous creaking, felt rather than heard, of the derelict ship beneath them. Bodies and debris floated in the zero-gravity conditions. Tzarine paused at one point, peering at a spindly alien form.

She'd never seen a Tau before. Studied them, certainly, but never seen one in the flesh. Its strange, flat features felt repellent, as did the odd colour and texture of its skin. There was no mistaking it for human. Even the twisted, mutated features of Chaos or the bizarre, exaggerated forms of the Astartes were still recognisably human, but these Tau… no. The bizarre differences in body structure, the 'caste' system she'd read about, were just as disconcerting. The soldiers were a little less alien in body structure, but it still felt repugnant.

Akadia glanced over from sweeping the room to look at the drifting corpse as well. "I could break that thing in two if I wanted," she remarked.

"It's repellent," Tzarine grunted. "So inhuman. I thought ogryns were bad, but this…"

Akadia made a non-committal noise. "If we're going to survive, Sister, we're going to need to do things that will make us uncomfortable and question ourselves. We already did that on Senaav. Maybe questioning ourselves isn't so bad, though. Faith and fury were our guides once, but one has failed and the other is blind. If the Imperial Navy hadn't pre-empted us, we'd have been attempting to ally with these ugly fraggers."

Tzarine had no response for this. Her mind flashed back to their fateful journey to Senaav, the first time she'd really had time to look at Akadia as more than another field grunt. A capable but unremarkable soldier, with no particular future. By contrast, Rhia had been the bright star, the perfect warrior who was on her way up. Weeks of renegade life had turned Rhia into a bitter recluse, and seemingly allowed Akadia to break out of her shell and start marking herself out.

In some strange way, it was a small reassurance. Even after losing all their foundations, at least one of her Sisters was doing more than just surviving.

"I've found an airtight section behind an airlock," crackled Zekka's voice. "Auspex readings are picking up a few lifeforms on the other side. Fairly sure this is the command area, still pressurised."

"Converge on that location," Tzarine ordered.

"There's enough power to cycle the airlock," Karis said as Tzarine approached. The stormtrooper showed no sign of injury, but her voice still had a worn edge to it. "Whatever soldiers they have left will be on the other side of that door and will probably shoot on sight."

"Naturally," Tzarine grunted. "We want to take command personnel prisoner, we need to find out what happened here. Beyond the obvious. Karis, any ideas?"

"My Tau is rusty, but I might be able to call for a truce. They might be desperate enough to cut a deal without the need for a firefight."

"Or they might be fanatical enough to fight to the death regardless," Ysabella replied harshly.

"Then we can oblige them," Tzarine remarked dryly. Zekka gave a snort of suppressed laughter, hefted her inferno pistol. "I'd prefer not to vent atmosphere, but it's an option to threaten them with at least. Karis, talk to them."

Karis tapped at the flickering control panel, and began speaking in oddly lyrical tones. There was a pause, before a static-laden reply in the same returned.

"What are they saying?" Tzarine demanded. She hated relying on translators.

Karis did not reply until several more sentences were exchanged. "As we thought, this was their flagship. They're not being very forthcoming otherwise. I've informed them that we can offer them safe passage in return for information."

"Safe passage where?" Ysabella growled. Tzarine had a feeling that the scarred Sister had a grudge, or at least an axe to grind on this topic. "I for one don't like the idea of going anywhere near Tau space."

"That we can deal with when the time comes," Tzarine cut in sharply, with just enough bite to remind them that she was in command. "They're currently subject to a slow death sentence. We can hasten it or rescue them. They're in little position to negotiate details."

Karis nodded, and apparently conveyed this. There was no reply for some time.

Then, in seemingly reluctant tones, what sounded like assent. Karis gave Tzarine a curt nod. "They'll allow us access. As a sign of good faith, they want to meet with a token force."

Tzarine glanced around at the group. She didn't like the idea much, but she would have done the same in their position. "I'll need a translator. Karis, Zekka… Llth, you're with me. Everyone else, on standby in case things go wrong." She held up a hand to forestall comment. "Those are the two I trust to cause the most damage in a small group if it comes to it. Ysabella, you'll need to use your judgement. Clear?"

There was an easing of tension, although she sensed Ysabella would still prefer to slaughter the entire xenos contingent. Still, she'd seen enough of the woman to know that she'd follow her training rather than her gut urges. "Good. Karis, open it up."

The outer airlock opened, and the four stepped in. As it closed behind them, Llthaanhir glanced over with a smirk. "You trust me to cause damage, hmm? You're so sweet."

Tzarine shot her a look. "If you're here, I might as well make use of your talents. Remember your place, demon."

Zekka holstered her pistol, casually gripped her power axe. "A weapon shouldn't get ideas above its station," she remarked. Llthaanhir just smirked even wider, and did not reply.

The inner airlock opened, and half a dozen Tau troopers with short-barrelled, heavy carbines tensely aiming at the little group. Karis shouldered her hellgun, holding her free hand up peacefully, barked something in the Tau language. Slowly the pulse carbines were lowered. Tzarine, with equal reluctance, holstered her bolt pistol.

The apparent commander approached, and in slightly broken Low Gothic, addressed them. "You follow. Ethereal wishes speak you."

"Your Ethereal lives?" Tzarine asked, but the soldier ignored her, leading the way down the corridor and through a large set of doors.

It was the bridge – or what was left of it. It seemed far more utilitarian than the Imperial command stations she was used to, with an emphasis on functionality over symbolism. She could at least give a grudging acknowledgement of their design aesthetics from an efficiency standpoint. A few spindly Air Caste were scattered around the chamber, some clearly injured, others listlessly monitoring non-functional stations. At the heart of the room, flanked by more Fire Caste, was another injured figure. Tzarine knew enough Tau physiology to recognise the diamond shape on its forehead – an Ethereal Caste, and maybe the leader of this entire expedition.

Karis started a lilting speech, but the Ethereal made a silencing gesture, speaking in fluent, if accented, Low Gothic. "I can speak your tongue quite ably, human. It seems only fair not to exclude your commander. You may refer to me as Aun'kar."

"Katarina Tzarine, commander of the cruiser Soul Venom," Tzarine said, concealing her surprise and relief at this turn of events. "Your crusade appears to have gone awry, Aun'kar," she added with a hint of dark humour.

The Ethereal slowly shook his head. "Errors were made, but the war is far from over. You wear the armour of the Sisters of Battle, Katarina Tzarine. I am surprised you would offer us such mercy." He blinked owlishly, a thoughtful smile flitting over his features. "But then, you do not hold yourself like an Imperial servant. Your armour is plain, and while your bearing suggests distaste, it is open-minded distaste."

Tzarine's eyes narrowed, and she was suddenly glad that her helmet lay between her and this creature. Giving it her expressions to read could be dangerous. "I don't answer to the Imperium," she said shortly. "While I'm sure many would be eager to get their hands on one such as you, right now I'm more interested in what you can tell me about recent events here. Cooperate and I'll get you off this hulk. Agreeable?"

The Tau nodded. "Very well. Safe passage to a friendly location, in return for local information. That is acceptable."

"Vensis Gamma. What do you know of it?"

The Ethereal said nothing for some time, but shook his head. "There were suspicions that it held some kind of Imperium base, but since no assaults were made from that location, and no traffic was detected in the area, it was considered low priority." He paused for breath, and made a lyrical enquiry. One of the Air Caste replied, and Aun'kar returned his attention to Tzarine. "Seeing as I suspect your interest in the moon is based upon that theoretical installation, there is one piece of information I suspect you would find relevant. One or more frigate-sized ships have been spotted operating within this system, but they have taken pains to avoid contact with both our forces and those of the Imperium. This 'ghost' did appear near Vensis Gamma shortly before the Imperial Navy arrived in full force."

Tzarine chewed this over. "You never identified it?"

"It appeared to be a human design based on the energy readings, but beyond that…" Aun'kar shook his head. "If you desire answers, you should seek out our allies of convenience."

"Allies of convenience?" Tzarine echoed. She had a feeling she would not like the answer.

"They offered to operate behind enemy lines on Shondar in exchange for non-interference in their operations. I agreed, and they have proved most effective. The ground war would have been far more gruelling without the efforts of the Iron Warriors."

The Battle Sister's eye twitched. "You allied yourself with one of the Traitor Legions?" she asked, her tone a razor's edge of calm.

He smiled faintly. "The phenomenon you refer to as Chaos does not hold the same fear for the Tau as it does for you. We have no warp presence. We have no psykers. We are essentially immune to its corrupting influence. Indeed, only those who have studied the matter in depth understand… what is the saying… what all the fuss is about. They are, as I said… allies of convenience. I concluded that if they posed an obstacle to our efforts, or displayed desires beyond a small area, the deal would be reconsidered."

Tzarine looked away. Gritted her teeth. "Very well. I'll take you aboard the Venom. I'll want to know where the Iron Warriors were operating, and there may be other questions later."

She'd hoped that she'd never have to deal with Chaos Space Marines again. She'd always known that was a forlorn hope, but was a longer respite too much to ask for?

It seemed so.