Minka made a little conversation, but it was hard listening to the tedium of Dido’s life, and the irritation that came out of it. At last Minka had to go. ‘Anything you want me to pass on?’

‘Tell the bastards that if they get soft then I’ll roast them,’ Dido said.

Minka had reached the door when the bandaged man started to moan.

‘Told you!’ Dido called out. Minka turned and looked at her lieutenant, lying crippled in bed, and lifted a hand in farewell.

It was a week before Minka could make it back to visit Dido. She hitched a lift in Commissar Knoll’s Centaur.

‘How is the arm?’ Minka asked.

The commissar had taken a las-bolt to his forearm. He regarded the wounded limb with a curious disinterest, as if it had somehow let him down. ‘It’s a clean wound. It went straight through. I am told it will heal well.’

She nodded. The commissar was not much of a conversationalist, and after a few brief stabs at getting him to talk they fell into silence.

This time, when she got to Dido’s ward, she found Banting standing at the end of Dido’s bed.

‘Lieutenant Lesk,’ he said. He had Dido’s wrist in his hand. After a pause he let her hand go.

‘Any change?’ Minka called out.

‘I’m still alive,’ Dido answered.

‘You are,’ Banting noted as he bent over her and moved her para­lysed limbs.

‘And unfortunately I’ll still be alive tomorrow,’ Dido sighed.

Minka sat quietly as Banting went through his final checks. At last he looked up from the clipboard and hung it from the end of Dido’s cot. ‘Any hope?’ Dido called out.

‘There’s always hope,’ Banting said. ‘Put your faith in the Emperor.’

Banting turned to Minka. ‘I saw the mess you made of Karni’s arm.’ Minka winced at the memory. He didn’t give her a moment to respond. ‘How are those two cadets?’ he said at last.

‘Yedrin and Blanchez?’

He tucked Dido in and stood up straight. ‘Are those their names?’

‘Yes. They’re not Whiteshields any more. They’re full Cadian Shock Troopers now.’

Banting snorted.

‘They were very slick on Tor Kharybdis,’ Minka told him.

Banting made a contemptuous noise. He turned to Dido. ‘This is it. The onset of the rot. Replacing troopers like you with cadets. Here,’ he said and handed her a pair of pills. They were pink triangular lozenges.

‘Suppressants,’ Dido said as explanation to Minka. ‘Knock you out.’

Banting handed her a glass of water to swallow them.

Dido pulled a face. ‘I’ll talk to Minka first. She hasn’t come all this way to watch me drool.’

Banting nodded. When he had turned his back she made an offensive hand gesture. Bastard, she mouthed. To Minka she said, ‘So. Tell me the news.’

‘The big push on Tor Tartarus is coming,’ Minka said.