"Look... Khalid. The galaxy's a harsh place."


"Oh, I'm sorry, did you learn that from your tiny fucking amount of experience in the world?" Khalid says.


You stare at the psyker as he runs his hands through his hair.


"I wanted... an alliance," you say.


"Ter-fucking-rfic," Khalid the Despised says. "Follow me."


You look at your lieutenants. The slave leaders; Fay, Olive, Castus and Cain are all shocked, while Elios, Durge, Elizabeth and Hayes seem indifferent.


"His attitude has improved," Elizabeth notes.


"Is that a joke?" Olive asks, staring at her.


"No. You should've seen him last time," Elizabeth says. "Come on, let's follow."


You follow after Khalid, and soon follow him into a large library. Khalid points his staff, and a dozen large chairs float over. He sits down into one of them, looking up at you.


"I assume you're here about the psyker, yes?" he asks.


"Uh... what psyker?"


Khalid the Despised rolls his eyes, gently tapping his staff against the ground in annoyance.


"A new psyker has supposedly risen to power in the sector. We're talking a psyker of amazing power. Tremendous power. He's seemingly pledged as the greatest champion of the renegade Chaos God, Malice. I assume you want to make an alliance to take him out."


"No... although I'll look into it. I'm taking Kyros' place as a military power, and rebuilding. I want to secure my alliance with you."


"Ah, a little kid playing dress-up in the robes of his master, yes? Why should I ally with you?"


"Do you have many other offers of alliance?" you ask.


"Fair point," Khalid admits. "Yes, I want to ally with you."


"Oh, that was easy. Shall we discuss military strength? Under my com..."


"I know," Khalid nods. "You understand the amount of knowledge my spies give me? I have quite a few spies on your ship, and that's not even taking into account my psykers trained in Divination. It might seem I'm answering far too quickly. I'm not. I foresaw you coming to ask, did my research, did what I need. I decided what was to be agreed here a while back. What I've not learned is whether I can trust you. So, I have an offer. A Binding Contract."


"A binding contract?" you ask.


"Did Kyros teach you anything other than to take a dick? A binding contract is done brwteen two individuals with strong psychic abilities. We make a contract, binding our very souls to it to be relinquished should we break it."


"What's the contract?"


"We pledge to remain loyal to each other, absolutely no aggression, come to each others aid, yadda yadda yadda. The details are mental. The words don't matter so much as the spirit behind them." 


"What do I do?" you ask.


"Just shake my hand. I'll say the incantation, and our minds will meet. You'll be able to search my mind for mistrust, as I will for you. Are we agreed?"

You refuse

"No," you say, as Khalid snarls.


"Ah. I did not expect that, admittedly. You've genuinely surprised me. I need to devote more resources to Divination classes.This is an issue. My plans revolve around having your manpower to rely on. If you're a wild card, that'll cause issues. It's better to take you out here. You understand."


In unison, the Rubric Marines raised their bolters and fire, as Khalid rises to his feet with a snarl.