Ghostmaker (Gaunt's Ghosts)

Ibram Gaunt, newly-promoted to Colonel-Commissar by Warmaster Slaydo himself, arrives on the world of Tanith, to take command of the first Imperial Guard regiments ever raised from that world; the Tanith 1st, 2nd and 3rd. While the members of the regiment aren't due to ship out until the day after, he orders that they begin packing up and shuttling up to their transport vessel immediately, as he doesn't intend to waste any time. Privately he resents being away from the battlefront to shepherd a group of — as they seem to him at the time — inexperienced, poorly-trained bumpkins. Even more he resents the long evening of Founding ceremonies laid on by the Tanith aristocracy.

Gaunt's orders come as an irritant to several ordinary troopers in the regiment, including bunkmates Colm Corbec, Elim Rawne and Hlaine Larkin.

The Founding Ceremony that Gaunt is obligated to attend that evening is soon terminally broken up by the horrific news that a Chaos fleet has been detected translating in-system, perilously close to Tanith, clearly intent on sacking it. With no possibility of reinforcement before the world is destroyed, and no hope of victory against such odds, Gaunt takes the hard decision to order the evacuation of as much Imperial resources off the planet as possible, effective immediately. Arriving in the launch bay of the last shuttle at the same time as Chaos troops, Gaunt witnesses the death of his adjutant, Sym, and then stares his own in the face, until the Chaos intruders are momentarily driven off by the actions of a civilian teenager, Brin Milo. The pair run for the shuttle, which closes its door as soon as Gaunt gets on board and prepares to take off. Gaunt forces the crew to open the door again, and Milo scrambles aboard. Moments later, the shuttle launches, the passengers the last to leave Tanith.

Afterwards, Gaunt is confronted aboard the regiment's transport vessel by a deputation from the men, there being no senior officers left alive and in fact the majority of the regiment variously slain or left behind. These troopers, Corbec and Rawne, protest strongly about Gaunt's decision to abandon their world to die, but are grudgingly swayed by both the reality of the situation and the fact that they can still die for Tanith... just not on Tanith. Seeing as they were the picked representatives of the men, Gaunt promotes them on the spot to Colonel and Major respectively, and gives them authority to set up the NCOs and initial organisation of the regiment. As for the lone civilian with the regiment, Brin Milo, Gaunt decides to take him on as his replacement Adjutant.

The regiment soon receive their first taste of war, when Gaunt leads a portion of them into action on the world of Blackshard, and is awestruck by their natural skills at stealth and infiltration. In the resultant combat, Major Rawne draws his sidearm on Gaunt, but the Colonel-Commissar knocks him out and brings him back to Imperial lines, resolved to overlook the incident in case his executing the regiment's executive officer makes the rest of the troopers revolt.