Red Company

The Red Company operated from the Tamerlane, an Eriel-class battleship more than twelve miles long carrying over ninety thousand soldiers, naval crew, approximately five thousand aquilarii with Sparrowhawk and Peregrine fighters, Ibis troop carriers, and Shrike boarding craft. One thousand Irchtani auxiliary soldiers were also attached to its complement. Officers wore undress blacks; soldiers wore red and black fatigues in the field with the pitchfork-and-pentacle insignia. The company's standards bore the pitchfork-and-pentacle bordered by a twisting labyrinth pattern recalling Hadrian's mother's Greek heritage. Combat troops operated in organized triases (knots of three). The company also carried the Ascalon, a Challis-class interceptor, in its launch bay. At full strength the company comprised three legions' worth of men, making it one of the largest independent military forces in the Empire. The Tamerlane itself was eventually lost, crash-landing on Eue under Cielcin control and then dying under Corvo's last stand while its remaining weapons provided covering fire for the escape. Senior officers at the time of the Akterumu massacre included Lorian Aristedes, Tor Varro, Ilex, Elara, Halford, Koskinen, Pherrine, and Bastien Durand.

The Red Company originates as the Meidua Red Company, established by Hadrian and Bassander Lin as a cover operation for an Imperial mission to locate Vorgossos. During the Vorgossos mission, the company operates three ships — the Pharaoh, Balmung, and Mistral — and acquires both the Pharaoh and Mistral in the Pharos affair, fighting the planetary dictator Marius Whent. After a mutiny against Commodore Bassander Lin, the company splits; Hadrian retains the Mistral under Otavia Corvo and considers the company disbanded. It is later reconstituted as the Red Company based aboard the Tamerlane when Hadrian is knighted by Emperor William XXIII and given the battleship in lieu of a planetary fief. The reconstituted company fights at Aptucca (killing Cielcin prince Ulurani), Cellas, Thagura, Berenike (killing White Hand generals Iubalu and Bahudde), and on the road to Nemavand. During the Nemavand corridor mission, the Red Company's fleet encounters a Cielcin worldship: the Androzani is destroyed when Cielcin boarders trigger a matter-antimatter annihilation, and the Mintaka is harpooned by an internal cable and dragged toward the worldship. The company also conducts the Eikana Fuelworks assault. After a twelve-year Chantry trial at Thermon forces the company into mothballs, it is restored for the Padmurak diplomatic mission, where it loses six guards and battles Lothrian security forces during an embassy escape. The Tamerlane is then captured by Syriani Dorayaica's forces near Padmurak. After approximately seven years of captivity, the Tamerlane is crash-landed at Akterumu on Eue during the Aetavanni, where Syriani proclaims itself Elusha and king of the united Cielcin blood-clans. The approximately ninety thousand captive soldiers and crew are executed in a mass massacre by the assembled Cielcin horde. Named officers killed at Akterumu include Bastien Durand (beheaded by Syriani), Elara of Emesh (killed by a nahute drone aboard the escape shuttle), Ilex (killed by Aulamn's thrown blade on the Tamerlane's hull), Felix Koskinen (killed by Cielcin during the massacre), Juliana Pherrine (killed during the massacre), and Roderick Halford (killed during the massacre). Pallino of Trieste dies on the Tamerlane's hull killing the White Hand general Aulamn, buying time for Hadrian and Valka to reach the Ascalon. Karim Garone (Crim) is killed when he detonates magnetic mines against Aulamn to save Hadrian, destroying the vayadan's arm but killing himself in the blast. Otavia Corvo stays aboard the dying Tamerlane to fight on and cover the Ascalon's escape; her fate is not confirmed but she is presumed to have died with the ship. Of the ninety thousand, only approximately thirty-five reach Crim's Ibis shuttle, and nearly all of those die on the Tamerlane's hull or in the ship's collapsing corridors. Lorian Aristedes is sent away by Syriani as an emissary to Nessus before the massacre; he is the sole officer confirmed to have survived. Hadrian and Valka escape aboard the Ascalon. Hadrian reflects that the Red Company was home to him, now lost forever.

Hadrian Marlowe serves as Lord Commandant throughout the company's existence. Otavia Corvo serves as Captain of the Tamerlane; she remains aboard the dying ship to provide covering fire for the Ascalon's escape and is presumed killed. Bastien Durand serves as First Officer; he is beheaded by Syriani Dorayaica at Akterumu after identifying himself as the captain of the humans. Crim (Karim Garone) serves as Lieutenant Commander and Security Officer; he is killed detonating magnetic mines against the White Hand general Aulamn during the escape from Eue. Tor Varro serves as scholiast advisor; he is present among the captured officers at the base of the altar stair at Akterumu, wearing officer's blacks, and his fate after the massacre is not confirmed. Ilex serves in technical and combat roles; she is killed by Aulamn's thrown blade on the Tamerlane's hull during the escape. Pallino serves as chiliarch and captain of Hadrian's guard; he dies on the Tamerlane's hull after killing Aulamn, succumbing to injuries from the vayadan's attacks. Elara of Emesh serves as Quartermaster; she is killed by a nahute drone aboard the escape shuttle. Lorian Aristedes serves as Commander and tactical officer; he is the sole senior officer confirmed to have survived, sent by Syriani as an emissary to Nessus before the massacre. Felix Koskinen serves as Helmsman; killed in the Akterumu massacre. Juliana Pherrine serves as communications officer; killed in the Akterumu massacre. Roderick Halford serves as night captain; killed in the Akterumu massacre. Alessandro Hanas served as Jinan's second-in-command aboard the Balmung during the Howling Dark era; his subsequent fate is not recorded. Bassander Lin (formerly Commodore, later Tribune) is no longer part of the company by this point. Valka is associated with the company throughout; she escapes with Hadrian aboard the Ascalon. Siran of Emesh, a long-serving myrmidon, died at some earlier point and is buried on Colchis. Prince Alexander serves as Hadrian's squire during the Demon in White era. Petros of Pallioch serves as a chiliarch; killed in the evacuation at Akterumu. Leon, a hoplite and ensign, participates in the Eikana assault and the final escape through the Tamerlane; he does not survive. One thousand Irchtani auxiliary soldiers are attached to the company's complement from the Gododdin assignment onward; they are among the captive force executed at Akterumu.