Shards of Honour

slight and thin with a scholarly stoop, made an even less likely looking warrior, the too-large uniform he wore folded up at the wrists and ankles, with one ankle coming unfolded and getting under the heel of his boot.

She opened her mouth once to speak, closed it, then finally ripped out, 'Why aren't you on your way home? I gave you an order, Lieutenant!'

Stuben, anticipating a warmer reception, was momentarily nonplussed. 'We took a vote,' he said simply, as though it explained everything.

Cordelia shook her head helplessly. 'You would. A vote. Right.' She buried her face in her hands a moment, and sobbed a laugh. 'Why?' she asked through her fingers.

'We identified the Barrayaran ship as the General Vorkraft —looked it up and found out who was in command. We just couldn't leave you in the hands of the Butcher of Komarr. It was unanimous.'

She was momentarily diverted. 'How the devil did you get a unanimous vote out of—no, never mind,' she cut him off as he began to answer, a self-satisfied gleam starting in his eye. I shall beat my head against the wall —no. Got to have more information. And so does he.

'Do you realize,' she said carefully, 'that the Barrayarans were planning to bring an invasion fleet through here, to attack Escobar by surprise? If you had reached home and reported this planets existence, their chance of surprise would have been destroyed. Now all bets are off. Where is the Rene Magritte now, and how did you ever get in here?'

Lieutenant Stuben looked astonished. 'How did you find all that out?'

'Time, time,' Lieutenant Lai reminded him anxiously, tapping his wrist chronometer.

Stuben went on. 'Let me tell you on the way to the shuttle. Do you know where Dubauer is? He wasn't in the brig.'

'Yes, what shuttle? No—begin at the beginning. I've got to know everything before we set foot in the corridor. I take it they know you're aboard?' The beat of the klaxon still sounded outside, and she cringed in expectation of her door bursting inward at any moment.

'No, they don't. That's the beauty of it,' said Stuben proudly. 'We had the greatest piece of luck.

'They pursued us for two days when we first ran off. I didn't put on full power—just enough to stay out of their range and keep them trailing us. I thought we might still get a chance to circle back and pick you up, somehow. Then all of a sudden they stopped, turned around, and started back here.

'We waited until they were well away, then turned around ourselves. We hoped you were still hiding in the woods.'

'No, I was captured the first night. Go on.'

'We got everything lined up, put on max boost, then cut everything we could think of that made electromagnetic noise. The projector worked fine as a muffler, by the way, just like Ross's simulation last month. We waltzed right past 'em and they never blinked—'

'For God's sake, Stu, stick to the point,' muttered Lai. 'We haven't got all day.' He bounced on his heels in impatience.

'If that projector falls into Barrayaran hands—' began Cordelia in rising tones.

'It won't, I tell you. Anyway, the Rene Magritte's making a parabola around the sun—as soon as they get close enough to be masked by its noise, they're supposed to brake and boost, then shoot back through here for a pickup. We'll have a two—hour time window to match velocities starting—well, starting about ten minutes ago.'

'Too chancey,' criticized Cordelia, all the possible disasters inherent in this scenario parading through her imagination.

'It worked,' defended Stuben. '—at least, it's going to work. Then we struck it lucky. We found these two Barrayarans wandering in the woods while we were looking for you and Dubauer—'

Cordelias stomach tightened. 'Radnov and Darobey, by chance?'

Stuben stared. 'How did you know?'

'Go on, just go on.'

'They were the ringleaders of a conspiracy to unseat that homicidal maniac Vorkosigan. Vorkosigan was after them, so they were glad to see us.'

'I'll bet. Just like manna from heaven.'

'A Barrayaran patrol shuttled down after them. We set up an ambush—stunned them all, except for one Radnov shot with a nerve disruptor. Those guys really play for keeps.'

'Do you happen to know which—no, never mind. Go on.' Her stomach churned.

'We took their uniforms, took their shuttle, and slid on up to the General as neat as you please. Radnov and Darobey between 'em knew all the countersigns. We made it to the brig—that was easy, it was where they were expecting their patrol to go anyway—we thought you and Dubauer would be there. Radnov and Darobey let all their buddies out, and went to take over the engine room. They can cut off any system from there, weapons, life support, anything. They're supposed to cut weapons when we make our break with the shuttle.'

'I wouldn't count on that,' Cordelia warned.

'No matter,' said Stuben cheerfully. 'The Barrayarans will be so busy fighting each other we can walk right through. Think of the splendid irony! The Butcher of Komarr, shot by his own men! Now I know how judo is supposed to work.'

'Splendid,' she echoed hollowly. His head, she thought—I'm going to beat his head against the wall, not mine. 'How many of us are aboard?'

'Six. Two at the shuttle, two looking for Dubauer, and we two to get you.'

'Nobody left planetside?'

'No.'

'All right.' She rubbed her face tensely, ravenous for inspiration that would not come. 'What a mess. Dubauer's in sickbay, by the way. Disruptor damage.' She decided not to detail his condition just then.

'Filthy killers,' said Lai. 'I hope they choke each other.'

She turned to the library interface by her bed, and dialed up the crude schematic map of the General Vorkraft , minus technical data, that the library was programmed to allow her. 'Study this, and figure out your route to sickbay and the shuttle hatch. I'm going to find something out. Stay here and don't answer the door. Who are the other two wandering around out there?'

'McIntyre and Big Pete.'

'Well, at least they have a better chance of passing for Barrayarans close up than you two do.'

'Captain, where are you going? Why can't we just go?'

'I'll explain it when I have a week to spare. This time follow your damned orders. Stay here!'

She slipped out the door and dog—trotted toward the bridge. Her nerves screamed to run, but it would draw too much attention. She passed a group of four Barrayarans hurrying somewhere; they barely spared her a glance. She had never been more glad to be a wallflower.

She found Vorkosigan on the bridge with his officers, clustered intently around the intercom from engineering. Bothari was there too, looming like Vorkosigan's sad shadow.

'Who's that guy on the comm?' she whispered to Vorkalloner. 'Radnov?'

'Yes. Sh.'

The face was speaking. 'Vorkosigan, Gottyan, and Vorkalloner, one by one, at two—minute intervals. Unarmed, or all life support systems will be cut off throughout the ship. You have fifteen minutes before we start letting in the vacuum. Ah. Have you patched it in? Good. Better not waste time, Captain.' His inflection made the rank a deadly insult.

The face vanished, but the voice returned ghost-like over the loudspeaker system. 'Soldiers of Barrayar,' it blared. 'Your Captain has betrayed the Emperor and the Council of Ministers. Don't let him betray you too. Turn him over to the proper authority, your Political Officer, or we will be forced to slay the innocent with the guilty. In fifteen minutes we will cut life support—'

'Cut that off,' said Vorkosigan irritably. 'Can't sir,' said a technician. Bothari, more direct, unslung his plasma arc and with a negligent gesture fired from the hip. The speaker exploded off the wall and several men ducked the molten fragments.

'Hey, we might need that ourselves,' began Vorkalloner indignantly.