Brothers in Arms

Miles chewed on the side of his index finger. 'Oh.' Oh, indeed. He would not panic. . . . 'In that case, sir, may I request you send to Sector HQ as soon as possible?'

'Believe me, Lieutenant, I consider getting you transferred to someone else's command an object of the highest priority.' He rose. 'Excuse me. Wait here.' He exited the office shaking his head.

'What the hell?' prodded Elli. 'I thought you were about to try and dismantle the guy, captain or no captain—and then you just stopped. What's so magic about being Komarran, and where can I get some?'

'Not magic,' said Miles. 'Definitely not magic. But very important.'

'More important than being a Vor lord?'

'In a weird way, yes, right now. Look, you know the planet Komarr was Barrayar's first interstellar Imperial conquest, right?'

'I thought you called it an annexation.'

'A rose by any other name. We took it for its wormholes, because it sat across our only nexus connection, because it was strangling our trade, and most of all because it accepted a bribe to let the Cetagandan fleet pass through it when Cetaganda first tried to annex us. You may also recall who was the chief conquistador.'

'Your dad. Back when he was only Admiral Lord Vorkosigan, before he became regent. It made his reputation.'

'Yeah, well, it made more than one reputation for him. You ever want to see smoke come out of his ears, whisper, 'the Butcher of Komarr' in his hearing. They actually called him that.'

'Thirty years ago, Miles.' She paused. 'Was there any truth to it?'

Miles sighed. 'There was something. I've never been able to get the whole story out of him, but I'm damn sure what's in the history books isn't it. Anyway, the conquest of Komarr got messy. As a result, in the fourth year he was Imperial Regent came the Komarr Revolt, and that got really messy. Komarran terrorists have been a Security nightmare for the Imperium ever since. It was pretty repressive there, I guess.

'Anyway, so time's gone on, things have calmed down a bit, anyone from either planet with energy to spare is off settling newly-opened Sergyar. There's been a movement among the liberals—spearheaded by my father—to fully integrate Komarr into the Empire. It's not a real popular idea with the Barrayaran right. It's a bit of an obsession with the old man—'Between justice and genocide there is, in the long run, no middle ground,' ' Miles intoned. 'He gets real eloquent about it. So, all right, the route to the top on dear old caste-conscious, army-mad Barrayar was and always has been through the Imperial Military Service. It was opened to Komarrans for the first time just eight years ago.

'That means any Komarran in the Service now is on the spot. They have to prove their loyalty the way I have to prove my—' he faltered, 'prove myself. It also follows that if I'm working with or under any Komarran, and I turn up unusually dead one day, that Komarran is dog meat. Because my father was the Butcher, and no one will believe it wasn't some sort of revenge.

'And not just that Komarran. Every other Komarran in the Imperial Service would be shadowed by the same cloud. It'd put things back years in Barrayaran politics. If I got assassinated now,' he shrugged helplessly, 'my father would kill me.'

'I trust you weren't planning on it,' she choked.

'So now we come to Galeni,' Miles went on hastily. 'He's in the Service—an officer—has a post in Security itself. Must have worked his tail off to get here. Highly trusted—for a Komarran. But not at a major or strategic post; certain critical kinds of Security information are deliberately withheld from him; and here I come along and rub his nose in it. And if he did have any relatives in the Komarr Revolt—well . . . here I am again. I doubt if he loves me, but he's going to have to guard me like the apple of his eye. And I, God help me, am going to have to let him. It's a real tricky situation.'

She patted him on the arm. 'You can handle it.'

'Hm,' he grunted glumly. 'Oh, God, Elli,' he wailed suddenly, letting his forehead fall against her shoulder, 'and I didn't get the money for the Dendarii—can't, till God knows when—what will I tell Ky? I gave him my word … !'

She patted him on the head, this time. But she didn't say anything.

Chapter Two

He let his head rest against the crisp cloth of her uniform jacket a moment longer. She shifted, her arms reaching toward him. Was she about to hug him? If she did, Miles decided, he was going to grab her and kiss her right there. And then see what happened—

Behind him, Galeni's office doors swished open. Elli and he both flinched away from each other, Elli coming to parade rest with a toss of her short dark curls, Miles just standing and cursing inwardly at the interruption.

He heard and knew the familiar, drawling voice before he turned.

'—brilliant, sure, but hyper as hell. You think he's going to slip his flywheel any second. Watch out when he starts talking too fast. Oh, yeah, that's him all right. . . .'

'Ivan,' Miles breathed, closing his eyes. 'How, God, have I sinned against You, that You have given me Ivan—here. …'

God not deigning to answer, Miles smiled crookedly, and turned. Elli had her head tilted, frowning, and listening in sudden concentration.

Galeni had returned with a tall young lieutenant in tow. Indolent as he was, Ivan Vorpatril had obviously been keeping in shape, for his athletic physique set off his dress greens to perfection. His affable, open face was even-featured, framed by wavy dark hair in a neat patrician clip. Miles could not help glancing at Elli, covertly alert for her reaction. With her face and figure Elli tended to make anyone standing next to her look grubby, but Ivan might actually play the stem to her rose and not be overshadowed.

'Hi, Miles,' said Ivan. 'What are you doing here?'

'I might ask you the same thing,' said Miles.

'I'm second assistant military attache. They assigned me here to get cultured, I guess. Earth, y'know.'

'Oh,' said Galeni, one corner of his mouth twitching upward, 'is that what you're here for. I'd wondered.'

Ivan grinned sheepishly. 'How's life with the irregulars these days?' he asked Miles. 'You still getting away with your Admiral Naismith scam?'

'Just barely,' said Miles. 'The Dendarii are with me now. They're in orbit,' he jabbed his finger skyward, 'eating their heads off even as we speak.'

Galeni looked as if he'd bitten into something sour. 'Does everybody know about this covert operation but me? You, Vorpatril—I know your Security clearance is no higher than my own!'

Ivan shrugged. 'A previous encounter. It was in the family.'

'Damned Vor power network,' muttered Galeni.

'Oh,' said Elli Quinn in a tone of sudden enlightenment, 'this is your cousin Ivan! I'd always wondered what he looked like.'

Ivan, who had been sneaking little peeks at her ever since he'd entered the room, came to attention with all the quivering alertness of a bird dog pointing. He smiled blindingly and bowed over Elli's hand. 'Delighted to meet you, m'lady. The Dendarii must be improving, if you are a fair sample. The fairest, surely.'

Elli repossessed her hand. 'We've met.'

'Surely not. I couldn't forget that face.'

'I didn't have this face. 'A head just like an onion' was the way you phrased it, as I recall.' Her eyes glittered. 'Since I was blinded at the time, I had no idea how bad the plastiskin prosthesis really looked. Until you told me. Miles never mentioned it.'

Ivan's smile had gone limp. 'Ah. The plasma-burn lady.'

Miles smirked and edged closer to Elli, who put her hand possessively through the crook of his elbow and favored Ivan with a cold samurai smile. Ivan, trying to bleed with dignity, looked to Captain Galeni.