Elios steps forward, knocking on the metal door. The guards open, immediately raising their bolters. Elios waves his hand.


"You didn't see me here. The voice of Slaanesh calls you, and you're his now. Move aside, and tell no one I was here."


"I... no... yes, sir," one says, stepping aside. 


You watch Elios stroll out of the room, giving a final smile and wave as he leaves the room.


You get some sleep, lying wrapped up in your blankets. Blissfully, there's only a few dark, terror-filled dreams, the rest only filling your with a vague, uneasy sense of dread. You awaken to Magos Cern poking you in the stomach with a white-hot pincer.


"AH!" you scream. "What the fuck?"


"My diagnostics told me that I'd be able to wake you up 0.4 seconds faster this way. We need to go," Magos Cern says.


"Where?" 


"First, you require food. Then, you'l get some implants. I'm going through some long overdue upgrades for the... "Goliaths", as you called them, and Kyros asked me to pencil you in for a few biological upgrades."


"Then?" you ask


"Melee practice. In wake of assassination threats, Kyros wants you to be able to fend off a melee assassination as easily as you could a ranged or psychic attack."


"My powers can do that," you say.


"You'd be run through before you could react. Castus and Olive will run through some drills to get your reaction time up and give you a few dodging techniques that will lend themselves to all your battles."


"Then?"


"By then, with the recovery time from the implants, your weak body will require sleep."


"OK", you say.


Magos Cern leads you out of the room, and along the hallways. You find yourself in a massive cafeteria. You walk forward, spotting Fay sitting alongside a badly burnt girl with a long braid wrapping around herself and another with a prosthetic arm replaced by a sharpened, mechanical claw. Fay looks up, noodles hanging from her mouth, spotting you.


"Oh, Karth!" she says, waving, before noticing that her mouth is filled with noodles and blushing.


You take a seat next to her, and she smiles.


"So, how are you doing?" she asks.


"We need to talk. Alone," you say, looking at the two tribals beside her.


"Uh... OK," Fay says, motioning for the two tribals to move, which they quickly do.


"Thanks," you say to the tribals as they walk off.


"So? Is this about what I think it's about?"


"What do you think it's about?" you ask, raising an eyebrow.


"Well, you know... you want to speak to me alone... privately... so I kind of assume it's about us."


"Yeah, of course it's about us, that's why we're both here to talk about it."


"No, I mean... like, us us," Fay says, clearly frustrated by your failure to understand.


"What?"


"Well, like, do you want us to be a couple?"

You say "I really like you, but as a friend."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, I agree," Fay says. "I feel the same way, I was actually really dreading telling you that, and I thought I'd have to tell you it now,  but since we feel the way, it's OK now."


"Oh, good, good."


"So, what was that other thing?" Fay asks, rushing onto the next subject.


"Rebellion."


"Oh?"


"Kyros is mad and paranoid. He's either going to slit our throats or send us on an endless string of suicide missions. We need to do something, and I really need your help. A group of collaborators have planned to rise up, and rid ourselves of Kyros. Then, we take over. I need the support of your Tribals to do so.


"Yeah, totally. Done."


"Done?"


"Yeah. If we don't escape, we die here. Also, they're your Tribals as much as mine. Who else is in on this?" Fay asks.


"Elios, Durge and Elizabeth are all in. No doubt Calpurnia's man will help us," you say.


"What about Cain and the twins?"


"I haven't asked them yet, but we need to get them on board," you say. 


"Do we hae a solid plan yet?" Fay asks.


"Not yet. We need to find out how many people we have fighting for us."


"What happens after we take the ship," Fay asks, raising an eyebrow.


"That is still to be decided. Once we have Cain. Castus and Olive behind us, we'll have bargaining power. So you're in?"


"I'm in," Fay nods. "I'll have the message spread among the tribals."


You notice one of your guards walking towards you, carrying a tray. You motion for Fay to quiet down, as the guard arrives putting the tray down on the table.


"Eat," he says, in a cold voice like the scraping of a blade on rusted metal.


You look at your food. There's a bowl of noodles and strips of thin, cured meat, a small bowl of green jelly with chunks of odd, alien fruit inside, a large plastic cup of wine and a small, dense biscuit-like cake.


"Well, someone's being pampered," Fay says, smiling.


"Clearly I'm just more important than you," you gloat as you have a forkful of noodles and meat. 


Fay grabs the biscuit cake from your tray, taking a bite.


"Hey!" you say in annoyance, as Fay sticks her tongue out.


You quickly eat your meal, polishing off the entire tray and gulping down the wine. Then, Magos Cern arrives.


"Good, you've eaten," she says. "These operations will be safer if you've had a full stomach."


"OK, I'm ready, let's go, you say. "Bye, Fay. See you soon."


"See you later, Fay says, looking a bit sullen, as you wonder whether that put down was too forward.


Magos Cern leads you out of the cafeteria and along the halls, off along halls and elevators. Eventually, you pass through the cyro-sleep section, arriving in a large operating room. Dozens of Goliaths are lying on the surgery tables, many halfway through surgery. A half dozen other Tech Priests wander around between the Goliaths, removing and adding flesh, bone, organs, cybernetic implants and other strange things.


"I didn't know there were other Tech Priests," you note.


"This ship is the size of a small moon. Did you think you've seen enough of it to accurately be able to say that we don't have something? I have scores of Tech Priests who followed me into the embrace of the Dark Gods," Magos Cern says.


Magos Cern leads you to an operating table.


"This is yours. Please get undressed and wait here, I need to grab my materials and equipment. Stay here."


Magos Cern turns around, walking off, leaving you alone. You spot Cain, lying on his operating table, his chest cut open to reveal still functioning organs. You wonder how he can still be alive with such a hastily cut-up torso, before you wince as you see his eyes dart towards you and you realize he's conscious. Looking to see Magos Cern hobbling away, you hop off the operating table and walk over to him.


"Commander Karth," Cain grunts. "Need something?"


"I have... an offer."


"An offer? An offer of what?" Cain says, absent-mindedly picking at a cut alongside his... or at least, one of his stomachs.


"Freedom," you say, catching the monster's attention.


"Go on," Cain says, furrowing his scarred brow and causing a thin stream of blood to pour from his horns.


"We're planning an escape. We could use you and your men," you say.


"We?"


"Elios, Durge, Elizabeth, Fay, others," you say. "That's it, I think."


"When?"


"We don't have details, yet. We need a head count before we can start planning it."


"Hmmm... I'm willing to give you control of my... "Goliaths", as you called them. But, I have a list of conditions that I want to be satisfied once we take the ship."


"Go on," you say.


"I want us to get names. Every Goliath who is capable of remembering and answering to a name will be called that instead of its serial number, by you and ALL other members of command. No more cyro-sleep. I want a bed for every single Goliath. I don't care if it's fine cloth or a slab of concrete, as long as it doesn't freeze them, it'll do us. I want free time that's not just killing."


"Anything else?" you ask.


"That's it," Cain says, spitting out a serrated teeth that's fallen free from his jaw. 


Cain's demands are far from unfair. Really, all he wants is slightly more rights for his Goliaths, which wouldn't even take any more resources. Still, you don't want the beast getting a big head. You ARE still in charge of not only his collar, but the collars of every single Goliath. All you need is a few threats, and the Goliaths will be yours.