'This must be the Geno Five-Two Chiliad. The trooper called me 'hetman,' which, if I remember correctly, should be the rank designation given to company-level officers brought into the Chiliad to lead their gene-bred troops. He also said I didn't want to look bad in front of the 'Uxor,' which should be their female tactician class — minor psykers. Technically, this is not an Imperial Guard regiment. It's one of the Old Hundred — the one hundred regiments that battled alongside the Emperor in his Unification of Terra. They belong to the Excertus Imperialis, which was the Imperial Army during the Great Crusade. The army was only formally split into the Imperial Guard and the Imperial Navy later on.'
Ajax was running the last few minutes on repeat in his mind, trying to extract as much information as possible from the limited clues he had — while trying not to stand out. He was fairly confident that his second life had been the (quite short, from his perspective) life of an Imperial Commissar on a jungle world sometime between M32 (32,000 AD) and M40 (40,000 AD). He didn't think the Imperial Commissariat had been established during the Great Crusade. Only post-Heresy did commissars become commonly mentioned in the 40k setting.
'"40k setting." Heh. I'm still thinking of this universe as a fictional setting made to sell inordinately priced plastic miniatures by a bunch of British nerds. Unless this is one prolonged hallucination, I am really here.'
Ajax realized he had gone totally off-track. Apparently, his new body suffered from ADHD as well — that, or his thought patterns were still shaped by how he had lived in his first life. However, that tangential thought had brought to mind a troubling prospect he'd missed.
'How exactly do I understand everyone when they should be speaking Low Gothic? It all sounds like English to me. I guess you could chalk that up to the weirdness of being reincarnated, but that seems a dangerous assumption to make when there's a better explanat—'
"10th Company, attention!" screamed a loud non-commissioned gene-trooper, sounding the arrival of the Uxor to inspect Ajax's company. The NCO seemed to be expecting Ajax to do something. The Bashaw — which Ajax recalled was the Chiliad's rank for political officers — seemed particularly large and aggressive, even bigger than the standard troops. He was staring a hole through Ajax.
'Fuck it, here I go.'
"10th Company, ready, front!"Ajax cried out as he saluted the Uxor and the Bashaw with the Fist of Unification — his fist pounding his chest above his heart.
It was hard not to cringe from the dread of hoping he hadn't guessed wrong.
From behind him, Ajax heard a unified clattering as wooden buttstocks clapped into outstretched palms. He didn't dare check with his eyes, but he figured the company had brought their weapons into position for inspection. His eyes still watched the Bashaw — it was like the man's body language was screaming that Ajax still had something left to say.
"10th Company is ready for inspection, Uxor,"said Ajax.
The words flowed from his mouth, but they felt different. They had a sensation that didn't fit within the standard five senses. It was almost like they tasted different from the language Ajax had been using with his unit.
The Uxor's eyes widened slightly. Her eyebrows raised, and a faint grin touched her face. The slightly cheeky grin made Ajax knot up in both excitement and fear.
The Uxor was a ravishingly beautiful woman. Standing at 1.9 meters, she had long, elegant lines and respectable… uh… assets. Her fiery red hair and sly grin were right up Ajax's alley. He bit his tongue hard to refocus his thoughts away from her appearance.
'Now's not the time to be thinking with the wrong head, dumbass. You have a psyker right in front of you.' Ajax admonished himself.
"Been practicing your High Gothic, Hetman Kjarrick? Your accent has improved tremendously. It's much better than when I was first teaching you to speak High Gothic," said the Uxor.
Her words tasted like the ones Ajax had spoken to her — which made the pit in his stomach grow deeper.
"Of course, ma'am. I appreciated your tutelage greatly. Decided to finally put in the work and show you that I took your lessons to heart," Ajax said, bluffing his ass off.
"That's funny to hear you appreciated my tutelage, Drogant, as I seem to recall you squealing like a stuck swine about why you had to learn the language of uppity officers and useless government officials in the first place. But it gladdens my heart to hear that you've turned over a new leaf," the Uxor said to the slightly perspiring Ajax.
The Uxor turned her eyes to the formation of men standing behind him, scanning them all. Then her eyes returned to his. Her violet irises seemed to bore holes into Ajax's skull. It was only after a few heartbeats that she finally broke eye contact.
"Have the 10th ready for boarding procedures in an hour for the departure to orbit. When we board the Truth's Razor, report to me in the Archivum. I would like to see how far your hard work has brought you toward fluency," the Uxor said sardonically.
As soon as she and her attendant Bashaw left earshot, the chuckles started from 10th Company.
'Okay, take a deep breath and don't immediately pull a Dexter thinking she knows about my situation just from that. I know at least two things I didn't before. One: my new name and rank isHetman Drogant Kjarrick. Two: I am definitely a psyker — specifically a logokine.'