Mahendra Verus

Mahendra Verus was a dark-haired, olive-skinned captain and commanding officer of the ISV Mintaka, a heavy battleship. During the campaign against the Cielcin, the Mintaka was boarded and dragged toward a worldship in a decaying orbit.

Sir Verus is a Knight Excubitor who serves as bodyguard and constant companion to Princess Selene since she left Latarra, and also numbers among Hadrian's Excubitor knights. Larger and broader than any ordinary human, Verus wears chrome mirrored plate with a serene-faced helm and carries a highmatter sword, its armor capable of active camouflage that defeats human vision. It obeys Selene, Hadrian, and the Emperor, and never speaks. Hadrian describes it as a homunculus acting on its programming as readily as any dog.

Sir Verus meets its end aboard Tempest's bridge when Sentinels seize Selene. It leaps forward with blade ignited, strikes one Sentinel through a joint in the armor and forces him to release Selene, but is shot from behind at close range through its adamant helmet by Captain Keriot with a highmatter pistol. Selene falls to her knees sobbing over its body.