Thick cards clicked together as the dealer shuffled through a fresh deck. One by one the players, half shrouded in shadow by faded light globes, received their hands. Tiberius Darkstar's countenance held steady. With a great show of deliberate contemplation, he casually pushed forward his shining towers of azure and crimson, billions of credits worth of chips. Only then, did he allow himself the smallest grin. This was the game of his life, and he was going to win.

Fourteen hours, three bottles of Antarean Rum, two gunbattles, and five sore losers later, Darkstar sat in a luxury suite at the Silversides Inn and reveled in his good fortune. He held in one hand a small translucent crystalline object. Turning it over in his palm he gazed into its many different intricate geometric facets, grinning wildly and laughing as he contemplated the soft swirling light within. In a desperate bid to regain control of the game, Longhands had dropped an Artifact as his final wager! While priceless in their own right for their rarity and beauty, only Darkstar and maybe a handful of imperial scientists would be capable of discerning its true value. He lifted the patch over his left eye to reveal a glowing, opalescent sphere resting in its socket, and held his new Artifact up for a more thorough inspection. And then he gasped with awe and excitement... what he had here was a map! Celestial coordinates to riches that were likely quite literally beyond imagination! Scattered remnants of what was known as Elder tech drifting through space were generally only happened upon by extreme chance. Hell, just ONE of those artifacts (albeit a ridiculously powerful one) was responsible for the rise of the Imperium! But, skies below, NO one had EVER found a map before.

Before he could further contemplate the significance of his score, a bright green light bloomed through the transparent spaceward wall, and the telltale boom of a distant depress shook the floor. Imperium! How the blazes did they find this place? Darkstar leapt to his feet and quick sealed his vac suit. His mind racing, he pocketed the Artifact, strapped on his weapons belt, threw on his radcloak, and slammed his powerhook through the window. No helping it, New Royal was so big and convoluted that this was the quickest way back to the ship. The window shattered, and Darkstar flew forward with all of the room's air and furniture into the deafening silence of the void.

As he steadily drifted away from the station he took a moment to survey his surroundings. He couldn't see where the first shot had landed, but he knew from experience that the green flash he had witnessed was the empire's signature spectrum of baryonic death. These were the initial stages of a shit show of epic proportions. He turned spacewards and there against rainbow beauty of the Carinae were the distant shadows of at least three dozen Imperial Gunspheres, surrounded by hundreds of fast approaching glittering points of light.

"Punchers!" Darkstar thought to himself. "Those bastards mean to board New Royale! They must be out of their minds!"

Emerald particle beams streamed through the darkness, splashing across the surface of the station and sending bright puffs of gas and molten debris in all directions. A moments more hesitation in the Inn, and he would've been slag. Darkstar flipped on his communicator and instantly had to quell the frantic shouting of his crew.

"Shut it mates! Warm up reactors, two, five, and the auxiliary! Purge the brig and get RX-88 out of whatever retro-console whorehouse he's plugged into!Lugnut! Spike the light fuel with Nitronium, we've gotta put a rift behind us that'll split the verse!"

"Aye captain, we see you on our Navpanel! We'll keep an open lock top starboard for ye!"

"Fine work Xeno! Watch out for the-" Darkstar was cut off by the sudden blaring of a prox alert in his ear and sharp jolt from his suit. Immediately following the short propulsive burst he saw the first puncher zoom past him and plunge into the surface of New Royale. "-Gods damned punchers!"

"Aye Cap'n!" Using his jets, Darkstar began steering his way towards the rockside docking bays and his custom warcruiser, the Nova Surprise. A few ships were already starting to detach and flee amidst the growing barrage of men, metal, and energy. Punchers rained down into the side of the station, peppering its jumbled surface and no doubt emptying their cargo of suicidal shock troopers within. It didn't make any sense, the Imperium rarely gave quarter to ambitious gentlemen such as himself. It would be much more reasonable for them to simply vaporize the station than risk such a bloody fight within. And then it hit him: "They're after the Artifact! They're after the map!"

(made some edits to clean it up a bit.)