"For example, apparently Mark"s and my metabolisms are not the same. So whenever Mark"s weight exceeded my parameters, instead of doing the intelligent thing and having Mark"s appet.i.te medically adjusted, Galen would first withhold food for days, then let him gorge, and then force him at shock-stick point to exercise till he vomited. Weird stuff like that, really disturbing. Galen apparently had a hair-trigger temper, at least where Mark was concerned. Or maybe he was deliberately trying to make Mark crazy. Create a Mad Emperor Miles, to replay Mad Emperor Yuri"s reign and destroy the Barrayaran government from the top down. Once-this fellow reported-Mark tried to get a night out, just a night out, and actually got away for a while, till Galen"s goons brought him back. Galen went nuts, accused him of trying to escape, took his shock-stick and-" his eye caught Elena"s paling face, and he hastily edited his nervous outburst, "and did some ugly things." Which couldn"t have helped Mark"s s.e.xual adjustment any. It had been so bad that Galen"s own goons had begged him to stop, according to the informant.
"No wonder he hated Galen," said Quinn softly.
Elena"s glance was rather sharper. "There"s nothing you could have done. You didn"t even know Mark existed, back then."
"We should have known."
"Right. So to what extent is this retroactive guilt distorting your thinking right now, Admiral?"
"Some, I suspect," he admitted. "That"s why I called you all here. I feel the need of a cross-check, on this." He paused, and forced himself to sit again. "That"s not the only reason, however. Before this mess with the Ariel Ariel leaped out of the wormhole, I had started out to give you a real, bona fide mission a.s.signment." leaped out of the wormhole, I had started out to give you a real, bona fide mission a.s.signment."
"Ah, ha," said Baz with satisfaction. "At last."
"The new contract." Despite his distractions, he smiled. "Before Mark showed up, I had it figured for a mission where nothing could possibly go wrong. An all-expenses-paid vacation."
"What, a no-combat-special?" quipped Elena. "I thought you always looked down on old Admiral Oser for those."
"I"ve changed." He felt, as ever, a brief flash of regret for the late Admiral Oser. "His command philosophy looks better all the time. I"m growing old, I guess."
"Or up," suggested Elena. They exchanged a dry look.
"In any case," Miles continued, "Barrayaran high command wishes to supply a certain independent deep-s.p.a.ce transfer station with a better grade of weaponry than they presently own. Vega Station is, not coincidentally, just off one of the Cetagandan Empire"s back doors. However, said vacuum-republic is in an awkward junction in the wormhole nexus. Quinn, the map, please."
Quinn keyed up a three-dimensional holovid schematic of Vega Station and its neighbors. The jump routes were represented by sparkling jagged lines between hazy spheres of local s.p.a.ce systems.
"Of the three jump points Vega Station commands, one leads into the Cetagandan sphere of influence via its satrapy Ola Three, one is blocked by a sometimes-Cetagandan-ally, sometimes-enemy Toranira, and the other is held by Zoave Twilight, politically neutral with respect to Cetaganda, but wary of its big neighbor." As he spoke of it, Quinn highlighted each system. "Vega Station is outright blockaded through Ola Three and Toranira against the import of any kind of major s.p.a.ce-based offensive or defensive weapons systems. Zoave Twilight, under pressure from Cetaganda, is reluctantly cooperating with the arms embargo."
"So where do we come in?" asked Baz.
"Literally, through Toranira. We"re smuggling pack-horses."
"What?" said Baz, though Elena caught the reference and suddenly smirked.
"You"ve never heard that story? From Barrayaran history? It goes, Count Selig Vorkosigan was at war with Lord Vorwyn of Hazelbright, during the First b.l.o.o.d.y Century. The town of Vorkosigan Vashnoi was besieged. Twice a week Lord Vorwyn"s patrols would stop this crazy, motley fellow with a train of pack horses and search his packs for contraband, food or supplies. But his packs were always filled with rubbish. They poked and prodded and emptied them-he"d always gather it carefully back up-shook him down and searched him, and finally had to let him go. After the war, one of Vorwyn"s border guards met Count Selig"s leigeman, no longer motley, by chance in a tavern. "What were you smuggling?" he asked in frustration. "We know you were smuggling something, what was it?"
"And Count Selig"s leigeman replied, "Horses."
"We"re smuggling s.p.a.ceships. To wit, the Triumph Triumph, the D-16 D-16, and the Ariel Ariel, all fleet-owned. We enter Vega Station local s.p.a.ce through Toranira, on a through-flight plan, bound for Illyrica. Which we really will be. We exit through Zoave, still with every trooper, but minus three aging ships. We then continue on to Illyrica, and pick up our three brand-new warships, which are being completed even as we speak in the Illyrican orbital shipyards. Our happy Winterfair gift from Emperor Gregor."
Baz blinked. "Will this work?"
"No reason it shouldn"t. The spadework-permits, visas, bribes and so on-is all being completed by ImpSec agents on-site. All we have to do is waft through without alarming anybody. There"s no war on, not a shot should be fired. The only problem is that one-third of my trade-inventory just left for Jackson"s Whole," Miles concluded with a descending snort.
"How much time do we have to recover it?" asked Elena.
"Not as much as we need. The time-window ImpSec has set up for this smuggling scenario is flexible in terms of a few days, but not weeks. The fleet must leave Escobar before the end of this week. I"d originally scheduled it for tomorrow."
"So do we go without Ariel Ariel?" asked Baz.
"We"re going to have to. But not empty-handed. I have an idea for a subst.i.tution. Quinn, shunt those Illyrican specs to Baz."
Quinn bent her head to the secured data cube in her comconsole interface, and released a burst of code to Baz"s station. The engineer began keying through advertising displays, descriptions, specifications, and plans from the Illyrican shipbuilders. His thin face lit in a rare smile. "Father Frost is generous this Winterfair," he murmured. His lips parted with delight as the ships" power-plant specs came up, and his eyes moved avidly.
Miles let him wallow for a few minutes more. "Now," he said, when Baz self-consciously came up for air. "The next-up ship in the fleet from the Ariel Ariel in terms of function and firepower is Truzillo"s in terms of function and firepower is Truzillo"s Jayhawk Jayhawk." Unfortunately, Truzillo was a captain-owner under independent contract to the Fleet corporation, not a Fleet employee. "Do you think he could be persuaded to trade? His replacement ship would be newer and faster, but while it"s definitely a step up in firepower from the Ariel Ariel, it"s a slight step down from the Jayhawk Jayhawk. I"d meant us all to trade up, not even, when we first cooked up this deal."
Elena raised her eyebrows and grinned. "This is one of your scenarios, isn"t it?"
He shrugged. "Illyan asked me to solve the arms embargo problem, yes. He accepted my solution."
"Oh," Baz purred, still awash in data, "wait"ll Truzillo sees this . . . and this this . . . and . . ." . . . and . . ."
"So do you think you can persuade him?" asked Miles.
"Yes," said Baz, with certainty. He glanced up. "So could you."
"Except I"ll be headed the other way. Though if things go well, it"s not impossible that I might catch up with you later. I"m putting you in charge of this mission, Baz. Quinn will give you the complete orders, all the codes and contact-people-everything Illyan gave me."
Baz nodded. "Very good, sir."
"I"m taking the Peregrine Peregrine to go after the to go after the Ariel Ariel," Miles added.
Baz and Elena exchanged only one quick, sideways glance. "Very good, sir," echoed Elena, with scarcely a pause. "I shifted the Peregrine Peregrine from twenty-four-hour to one-hour alert status yesterday. When shall I schedule our departure with Es...o...b..ran flight control?" from twenty-four-hour to one-hour alert status yesterday. When shall I schedule our departure with Es...o...b..ran flight control?"
"In one hour." And, though no one had asked for explanations, he added, "The Peregrine Peregrine is the next-fastest thing we have that packs significant firepower, besides the is the next-fastest thing we have that packs significant firepower, besides the Jayhawk Jayhawk and the and the Ariel Ariel itself. I think that speed is going to be of the essence. If we can overtake the itself. I think that speed is going to be of the essence. If we can overtake the Ariel Ariel-well, it"s a lot easier to prevent a mess than to try to clean up after one. I"m sorry now I didn"t leave yesterday, but I had to give it a chance to be simple. I"m a.s.signing Quinn to myself as floating staff because she"s had valuable previous experience with intelligence-gathering on Jackson"s Whole."
Quinn rubbed her arm. "House Bharaputra is d.a.m.n dangerous, if that"s where Mark"s headed. They have heavy money, heavy s.h.i.t, and a sharp memory for revenge."
"Why d"you think I avoid the place? That"s another danger, that certain Jacksonians will mistake Mark for Admiral Naismith. Baron Ryoval, for example."
Baron Ryoval was a persistent danger. The Dendarii had disposed of the latest bounty-hunter Ryoval had sent seeking Admiral Naismith"s scalp only three months ago; he had been the fourth to appear so far. It was shaping up to an annual event. Maybe Ryoval despatched an agent on each anniversary of their first encounter, as a memorial tribute. Ryoval did not command great powers, nor possess a long reach, but he had undergone life-extension treatments; he was patient, and could keep this up for a long, long time.
"Have you considered another possible solution to the problem?" said Quinn slowly. "Send ahead to Jackson"s Whole and warn them. Have, say, House Fell arrest Mark and impound the Ariel Ariel till you arrive to retrieve them. Fell hates Ryoval enough to protect Mark from him for the annoyance-factor alone." till you arrive to retrieve them. Fell hates Ryoval enough to protect Mark from him for the annoyance-factor alone."
Miles sighed. "I have considered it." He traced a formless pattern on the polished tabletop with his fingertip.
"You asked for a cross-check, Miles," Elena pointed out. "What"s wrong with that idea?"
"It might work. But if Mark has really convinced Bel he"s me, they might resist arrest. Maybe fatally. Mark is paranoid about Jackson"s Whole. Mark is paranoid, period. I don"t know what he"d do in a panic."
"You are awfully tender of Mark"s sensibilities," said Elena.
"I"m trying to get him to trust me. I can hardly start the process by betraying him."
"Have you considered how much this little side-jaunt is going to cost, once the bill for it arrives on Simon Illyan"s desk?" Quinn asked.
"ImpSec will pay. Without question."
Quinn said, "You sure? What"s Mark to ImpSec anyway, now that he"s only a left-over from the exploded plot? There is no danger any more to Barrayar of him being secretly subst.i.tuted for you. I thought they only watched him for us as a courtesy. A rather expensive courtesy."
Miles replied carefully, "It is ImpSec"s explicit task to guard the Barrayaran Imperium. That includes not only protecting Gregor"s person, and running a certain amount of galactic espionage-" a wave of his hand included the Dendarii fleet, and Illyan"s far-flung, if thinly stretched, network of agents, military attaches, and informants, "but also keeping watch over Gregor"s immediate heirs. Keeping watch not only to protect them, but to protect the Imperium from any little plot got up by them, or by others seeking to use them. I am acutely conscious that the question of just who is Gregor"s heir is rather tangled at present. I wish to h.e.l.l he"d marry and get us all off the hook soon." Miles hesitated for a long moment. "By one interpretation, Lord Mark Pierre Vorkosigan has a place as heir-claimant to the Barrayaran Imperium second only to my own. That makes him not only ImpSec"s business, it makes him our primary primary business. My personal pursuit of the business. My personal pursuit of the Ariel Ariel is fully justified." is fully justified."
"Justifiable," Quinn corrected dryly.
"Whatever."
"If Barrayar-as you have often claimed-would not accept you as Emperor because of suspicion of mutation, I should think it"d go into spasms at the thought of your clone installed in the Imperial Residence," said Baz. "Twin brother," he amended hastily as Miles opened his mouth.
"It doesn"t require the probability of success at gaining the Imperium to make the possibility of an attempt to do so into an ImpSec problem." Miles snorted. "It"s funny. All the time the Komarrans thought of their faux-Miles as an imposter-claimant. I don"t think either they or Mark realized they"d made a real real claimant. Well, I"d have to be dead first anyway, so from my point of view the question is moot." He rapped the table and rose. "Let"s get moving, people." claimant. Well, I"d have to be dead first anyway, so from my point of view the question is moot." He rapped the table and rose. "Let"s get moving, people."
On the way out the door, Elena lowered her voice to ask him, "Miles-did your mother see those horrific investigation-reports of Illyan"s about Mark, too?"
He smiled bleakly. "Who d"you think ordered them done?"
CHAPTER FIVE.
He began donning the half-armor. First, next to his skin, a piece of the hottest new technology on the market: a nerve-disruptor shield-net. The field-generating net was worked into the fabric of a close-fitting grey body-suit and a hood that protected skull, neck, and forehead, leaving only his eyes, nose, and mouth peeping from the hole. And so the threat of one of the most fearsome anti-personnel weapons, the brain-killing nerve disruptor, was rendered null. As an added bonus, the suit stopped stunner-fire, too. Trust Naismith to have the best and newest, and custom-made to fit . . . was the elastic fabric supposed to be this b.l.o.o.d.y tight?
Over the net-suit went a flexible torso-armor that would stop any projectile up to small hand-missiles and down to deadly needler spines. Fortunately for his ability to breathe, its catches were adjustable. He let them out to their fullest extension, rendering the valuable protection merely comfortably and correctly snug. Over it went blessedly loose camouflage-grey fatigues, made of a combat-rated fabric that would neither melt nor burn. Then came belts and bandoliers with stunner, nerve disruptor, plasma arc, grenades, power cells, a rappel-harness and spool, emergency oxygen. On his back he shrugged the harness holding a neat, flat power pack that generated, at the first touch of enemy fire, a one-man-sized plasma arc mirror field, with so miniscule a time lag one barely had time to cook, much. It was good for absorbing thirty or forty direct hits before the power cell, and its porter, died. It seemed almost a misnomer to call it all half-armor: triple armor was more like it.
Over the nerve-disruptor net covering his feet he pulled thick socks, then Naismith"s combat boots. At least the boots fit without any embarra.s.sing adjustments. A mere week of inactivity, and his body fought him, thickening . . . Naismith was a d.a.m.ned anorectic, that was it. A hyperactive anorectic. He straightened. Properly distributed, the formidible array of equipment was surprisingly light.
On the countertop next to his cabin comconsole, the command helmet sat waiting. The empty shadow beneath its forehead f.l.a.n.g.e made him think, for whatever morbid reason, of an empty skull. He raised the helmet in his hands, and turned it in the light, and stared hungrily at its elegant curves. His hands could control one weapon, two at most. This, through the people it commanded, controlled dozens; potentially, hundreds or even thousands. This was Naismith"s real power.
The cabin buzzer blatted; he jumped, nearly dropping the helmet. He could have pitched it against the wall and not harmed it, but still he set it down carefully.
"Miles?" came Captain Thorne"s voice on the intercom. "You about ready?"
"Yes, come in." He touched the keypad to release the door lock.
Thorne entered, attired identically to himself, but with hood temporarily pushed back. The formless fatigues rendered Thorne not bi-s.e.xed, but neuter, a genderless thing, soldier. soldier. Thorne too bore a command helmet under its arm, of a slightly older and different make. Thorne too bore a command helmet under its arm, of a slightly older and different make.
Thorne walked around him, eyes flicking over every weapon and belt-hook, and checking the readouts of his plasma-shield pack. "Good." Did Captain Thorne normally inspect its Admiral before combat? Was Naismith in the habit of wandering into battle with his boots unfastened, or something? Thorne nodded to the command helmet sitting on the countertop. "That"s quite a machine. Sure you can handle it?"
The helmet appeared new, but not that new. He doubted Naismith supplied himself with used military surplus for his personal use, regardless of what economies he practiced in the fleet at large. "Why not?" he shrugged. "I have before."
"These things," Thorne lifted his own, "can be pretty overwhelming at first. It"s not a data flow, it"s a d.a.m.n data flood. You have to learn to ignore everything you don"t need, otherwise it can be almost better to switch the thing off. You, now . . ." Thorne hesitated, "have that same uncanny ability as old Tung did, of appearing to ignore everything as it goes by, and yet being able to remember and yank it out instantly if it"s needed. Of somehow always being on the right channel at the right time. It"s like your mind works on two levels. Your command-response time is incredibly fast, when your adrenalin is up. It"s kind of addictive. People who work with you a lot come to expect-and rely-on it." Thorne stopped, waited.
What was it expecting him to say? He shrugged again. "I do my best."
"If you"re still feeling ill, you know, you can delegate this whole raid to me."
"Do I look ill?"
"You"re not yourself. You don"t want to make the whole squad sick." Thorne seemed tense, almost urgent.
"I"m fine fine, now, Bel. Back off!"
"Yes, sir," Thorne sighed.
"Is everything ready out there?"
"The shuttle is fueled and armed. Green Squad is kitted up, and is doing the final loading right now. We have it timed so we come into parking orbit just at midnight, downside at Bharaputra"s main medical facility. We drop instantly, no waiting around for people to start asking questions. Hit and go. The whole operation should be over in an hour, if things run to plan."
"Good." His heart was beating faster. He disguised a deep breath in a strung-out sigh. "Let"s go."
"Let"s . . . do our helmet communication checks first, huh?" said Thorne.
That was a good idea, here in the quiet cabin, rather than in the noise and excitement and tension of the drop shuttle. "All right," he said, and added slyly, "Take your time."
There were over a hundred channels in use in the command headset, even for this limited raid. In addition to direct voice contact with the Ariel Ariel, Thorne, and every trooper, there were battle computers on the ship, in the shuttle, and in the helmet itself. There were telemetry readouts of every sort, weapon power checks, logistics updates. All the troopers" helmets had vid pick-ups so he could see what they were seeing in infra-red, visual, and UV bands; full sound; their medical readouts; holovid map displays. The holomap of the clone-creche had been specially programmed in, and the plan of attack and several contingencies pre-loaded. There were channels to be dedicated, on the fly, to eavesdropping upon enemy telemetry. Thorne already had Bharaputra"s security guards" comm links locked in. They could even pick up commercial entertainment broadcasts from the planet they were approaching. Tinny music filled the air momentarily as he switched past those channels.
They finished, and he found himself and Thorne staring at each other in an awkward silence. Thorne was hollow-faced, apprehensive, as if struggling with some suppressed emotion. Guilt? Guilt? Strange perception, surely not. Thorne couldn"t be on to him, or it would have called a halt to this whole operation. Strange perception, surely not. Thorne couldn"t be on to him, or it would have called a halt to this whole operation.
"Pre-combat nerves, Bel?" he said lightly. "I thought you loved your work."
Thorne came out of its lip-sucking abstraction with a start. "Oh, I do." It took a breath. "Let"s do it."
"Go!" he agreed, and led the way at last out of his isolated cabin-cave into the light of the corridor and the peopled reality his actions-his actions-had created. actions-had created.
The shuttle-hatch corridor resembled his first view of it, reversed; the hulking Dendarii commandos were filing out, not spilling in. They seemed quieter this time, not as much clowning and joking. More businesslike. They had names, now, too, all filed in his command headset, which would keep them straight for him. All wore some variety of half-armor and helmet, with an array of heavier equipment in addition to such hand-weapons as he bore.
He found himself looking at the monster sergeant with new eyes, now that he knew her history. The log had said she was only nineteen years old, though she looked older; she"d been only sixteen, four years ago when Naismith had stolen her away from House Ryoval. He squinted, trying to see her as a girl. He had been taken away at age fourteen, eight years ago. Their mutual time as genetic products and prisoners of House Bharaputra must have overlapped, though he had never met her. The genetic engineering research labs were in a different town from the main surgical facility. House Bharaputra was a vast organization, in its strange Jacksonian way almost a little government. Except Jackson"s Whole didn"t have governments.
Eight years . . . No one you knew then is still alive. You know that, don"t you? No one you knew then is still alive. You know that, don"t you?
If I can"t do what I want, I"ll at least do what I can.
He stepped up to her. "Sergeant Taura-" she turned, and his brows climbed in startlement. "What is that around your neck?" Actually, he could see what it was, a large fluffy pink bow. He supposed his real question was, is that around your neck?" Actually, he could see what it was, a large fluffy pink bow. He supposed his real question was, why why was it around her neck? was it around her neck?
She-smiled, he guessed that repellent grimace was, at him, and fluffed it out a bit more with a huge clawed hand. Her claw-polish was bright pink, tonight. "D"you think it"ll work? I wanted something to not scare the kids."
He looked up at eight feet of half-armor, camouflage cloth, boots, bandoliers, muscle and fang. Somehow, I don"t think it"ll be enough, Sergeant. Somehow, I don"t think it"ll be enough, Sergeant. "It"s . . . certainly worth a try," he choked. So, she was conscious of her extraordinary appearance. . . . "It"s . . . certainly worth a try," he choked. So, she was conscious of her extraordinary appearance. . . . Fool! How could she not be? Are you not conscious of yours? Fool! How could she not be? Are you not conscious of yours? He was almost sorry now he had not ventured out of his cabin earlier in the voyage, and made her acquaintance. He was almost sorry now he had not ventured out of his cabin earlier in the voyage, and made her acquaintance. My home-town girl. My home-town girl.
"What does it feel like, to be going back?" he asked suddenly; a nod in no particular direction indicated the House Bharaputra drop-zone, coming up.
"Strange," she admitted, her thick brows drawing down.
"Do you know this landing-site? Ever been there before?"
"Not that medical complex. I hardly ever left the genetics facility, except for a couple of years that I lived with hired fosterers, which was in the same town." Her head turned, her voice dropped an octave, and she barked an order about loading equipment at one of her men, who gave a half-wave and hustled to obey. She turned back to him and her voice re-softened to conscious, careful lightness. In no other way did she display any inappropriate intimacy while on duty; it seemed she and Naismith were discreet lovers, if lovers they were. The discreetness relieved him. She added, "I didn"t get out much."
His own voice lowered. "Do you hate them?" As I do? As I do? A different kind of intimate question. A different kind of intimate question.