The Vor Game

Gregor faced you down? Oh, to have been a fly on the wall of that chamber. 'Even with you to practice on, all these years,' Count Vorkosigan added meditatively.

'Ah . . . how's your ulcers?' Count Vorkosigan grimaced. 'Don't ask.' He brightened slightly-'Better, the last three days. I may actually demand food for lunch, instead of that miserable medical mush.'

Miles cleared his throat. 'How's Captain Ungari?'

Count Vorkosigan twitched a lip. 'He's not overly pleased with you.'

'I … cannot apologize. I made a lot of mistakes, but disobeying his order to wait on Aslund Station wasn't one of them.'

'Apparently not.' Count Vorkosigan frowned at the far wall. 'And yet . . . I'm more than ever convinced the regular Service is not the place for you. It's like trying to fit a square peg—no, worse than that. Like trying to fit a tesseract into a round hole.'

Miles suppressed a twinge of panic. 'I won't be discharged, will I?'

Elena regarded her fingernails and put in, 'If you were, you could get a job as a mercenary. Just like General Metzov. I understand Commander Cavilo is looking for a few good men.' Miles nearly meowed at her; she traded a smirk for his exasperated look.

'I was almost sorry to learn that Metzov was killed,' remarked Count Vorkosigan. 'We'd been planning to try and extradite him, before things went crazy with Gregor's disappearance.'

'Ah! Did you finally decide the death of that Komarran prisoner way back when during their revolt was murder? I thought it might be—'

Count Vorkosigan held up two fingers. 'Two murders.'

Miles paused. 'My God, he didn't try and track down poor Ahn before he left, did he?' He'd almost forgotten Ahn.

'No, but we tracked him down. Though not, alas, before Metzov had left Barrayar. And yes, the Komarran rebel had been tortured to death. Not wholly intentionally, he apparently had had some hidden medical weakness. But it was not, as the original investigator had suspected, in revenge for the death of the guard. It was the other way around. The Barrayaran guard corporal, who had participated in or at least acquiesced to the torture, though over some feeble protest, according to Ahn—the corporal suffered a revulsion of feeling, and threatened to turn Metzov in.

'Metzov murdered him in one of his panic-rages, then made Ahn help him cook up and vouch for the cover story about the escape. So Ahn was twice tainted with the thing. Metzov kept Ahn in terror, yet was equally in Ahn's power if the facts ever came out, a kind of strange lock on each other . . . which Ahn at last escaped. Ahn seemed almost relieved, and volunteered to be fast-penta'd, when Illyan's agents came for him.'

Miles thought of the weatherman with regret. 'Will anything bad happen to Ahn now?'

'We'd planned to make him testify, at Metzov's trial . . . Illyan thought we might even turn it to our favor, with respect to the Komarrans. Present that poor idiot guard corporal to them as an unsung hero. Hang Metzov as proof of the emperor's good faith and commitment to justice for Barrayarans and Komarrans alike . . . nice scenario.' Count Vorkosigan frowned bitterly. 'I think we will quietly drop it now. Again.'

Miles puffed out his breath. 'Metzov. A goat to the end. Must be some bad karma, clinging to him . . . not that he didn't earn it.'

'Beware of wishing for justice. You might get it.'

'I've already learned that, sir.'

'Already?' Count Vorkosigan cocked an eyebrow at him. 'Hm.'

'Speaking of justice,' Miles seized the opening. 'I'm concerned over the matter of Dendarii pay. They took a lot of damage, more than a mercenary fleet will usually tolerate. Their only contract was my breath and voice. If … if the Imperium does not back me, I will be forsworn.'

Count Vorkosigan smiled slightly. 'We have already considered the matter.'

'Will Illyan's covert ops budget stretch, to cover this?'

'Illyan's budget would burst trying to cover this. But you, ah, seem to have a friend in a high place. We will draw you an emergency credit chit from ImpSec, this fleet's fund, and the Emperor's privy purse, and hope to recoup it all later from a special appropriation rammed through the Council of Ministers and the Council of Counts. Submit a bill.'

Miles fished a data disk from his pocket. 'Here, sir. From the Dendarii fleet accountant. She was up all night. Some damage estimates are still preliminary.' He set it on the comconsole desk.

One corner of Count Vorkosigan's mouth twisted up. 'You're learning, boy. . . .' He inserted the disk in his desk for a fast scan: 'I'll have a credit chit prepared over lunch. You can take it with you when you depart.'

'Thank you, sir.'

'Sir,' Elena put in, leaning forward earnestly, 'what will happen to the Dendarii fleet now?'

'Whatever it chooses, I presume. Though they cannot linger, this close to Barrayar.'

'Are we to be abandoned again?' asked Elena.

'Abandoned?'

'You made us an Imperial force, once. I thought. Baz thought. Then Miles left us, and then . . . nothing.'

'Just like Kyril Island,' Miles remarked. 'Out of sight, out of mind.' He shrugged dolefully. 'I gather they suffered a similar deterioration of morale.'

Count Vorkosigan gave him a sharp look. 'The fate of the Dendarii —like your future military career, Miles —is a matter still under discussion.'

'Do I get to be in on that discussion? Do they?'

'We'll let you know.' Count Vorkosigan planted his hands on his desktop, and rose. 'That's all I can say now, even to you. Lunch, officers?'

Miles and Elena perforce rose too. 'Commodore Tung knows nothing of our real relationship yet,' Miles cautioned. 'If you wish to keep that covert, I'm going to have to play Admiral Naismith when we rejoin him.'

Count Vorkosigan's smile turned peculiar. 'Illyan and Captain Ungari must certainly favor not breaking a potentially useful cover identity. By all means. Should be fascinating.'

'I should warn you, Admiral Naismith is not very deferential.'

Elena and Count Vorkosigan looked at each other, and both broke into laughter. Miles waited, wrapped in what dignity he could muster, till they subsided. Finally.

Admiral Naismith was painfully polite during lunch. Even Lieutenant Yegorov could have found no fault.

The Vervani government courier handed the credit chit across the homeside station commandant's comconsole desk. Miles testified receipt of it with thumbprint, retina scan, and Admiral Naismith's flourishing illegible scrawl, nothing at all like Ensign Vorkosigan's careful signature. 'It's a pleasure doing business with you honorable gentlemen,' Miles said, pocketing the chit with satisfaction and carefully sealing the pocket.

'It's the least we can do,' said the jumppoint station commandant. 'I cannot tell you my emotions, knowing that the next pass the Cetagandans made was going to be their last, nerving to fight to the end, when the Dendarii materialized to reinforce us.'

'The Dendarii couldn't have done it alone,' said Miles modestly. 'All we did was help you hold the bridgehead till the real big guns arrived.'

'And if it had not been held, the Hegen Alliance forces—the big guns, as you say—could not have jumped into Vervani local space.'

'Not without great cost, certainly,' Miles conceded.

The station commandant glanced at his chrono. 'Well, my planet will be expressing its opinion of that in more tangible form quite shortly. May I escort you to the ceremony, Admiral? It's time.'

'Thank you.' Miles rose, and preceded him out of his office, his hand rechecking the tangible thanks in his pocket. Medals, huh. Medals buy no fleet repairs.

He paused at a transparent portal, caught half by the vista from the jump station and half by his own reflection. Oseran/Dendarii dress greys were all right, he decided; soft grey velvet tunic set off with blinding white trim and silver buttons on the shoulders, matching trousers and grey synthasuede boots. He fancied the outfit made him look taller. Perhaps he would keep the design.