Vermilion Level (Short Story)

Vermilion Level is the second stand-alone short story in the Gaunt's Ghosts series of novels by Dan Abnett. Vermilion Level was first published in the Black Library's Inferno! magazine, in issue #30. The story was later adapted into the novel First and Only and later re-published as a stand-alone e-book.

Synopsis
As Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and his men -- the Tanith First-and-Only -- travel to a new war zone, Gaunt is drawn in to a mysterious conspiracy that could imperil the lives of all his men. Can he decipher the Vermilion level message that will reveal the truth before all is lost?