Midas Betancore

Midas Betancore was Eisenhorn's first pilot, a dark-eyed gun-cutter ace who treated dogfights as a conversation he was already winning. He flew the retinue through Hubris and the Glaw war and made the Inquisitor look punctual.

Fayde Thuring put a narco dart in him while Midas was covering Eisenhorn. The death stuck. The cutter and the surname passed to his daughter Medea, which is as close as the Ordo gets to a pension for loyal pilots.

Eisenhorn still measures later crews against a man who died doing the job properly. That is not comfort. It is inventory, and it never quite balances. Medea inherited the stick. Eisenhorn inherited the guilt.