Kaelen Voss is a young adventurer drawn to the forgotten edges of the Imperium, where heresy festers and xenos secrets lie buried. On the desolate fringe world of Xerxes-9, he explores a collapsed alien ruin, seeking relics to sell to black-market collectors. What he finds isn't treasure—it's a living Tau, injured and alone. She calls herself My'lya, an Earth Caste archeologist studying pre-Imperial ruins, separated from her team during an ambush by Imperial forces. Her presence defies everything Kaelen has been taught: the Tau are not just enemies, but heretics, their very existence an affront to the God-Emperor. Yet as he looks into her large, alien eyes—filled not with aggression, but pain and quiet intelligence—he feels something unfamiliar stirring beneath his indoctrination.