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Time goes by. Linya, who already quietly turned nineteen, turns twenty. She collects an accelerated master's degree in neuroscience and starts corresponding with various people on the subject.
Pens spread out; the next time Miles sees Elli he gets a white standard-model pen she bought him on Escobar. She has one too; it's silver. She loves it and thanks him for recommending it to her. (She has bought a whole boxful to unload at a markup on the next planet or station she comes to that doesn't have them yet, but doesn't explicitly mention this in case he objects to her cutting into Lady Vorkosigan's margins.)
Miles also has one actual courier mission in there, just escorting a diplomatic pouch from Pol back home, to pad his service record for the less-cleared eye.
There is a visit to a clinic to collect and mystically join gametes, and Linya collects the resulting assembly in data format for editing. She does the grey eyes first and estimates that if she doesn't particularly hurry she'll have a Little Aral What-the-Heck-Should-His-Middle-Name-Be all ready to put in a replicator in two or three years, though she can accelerate that considerably if something comes up urgently requiring the presence of Little Aral sooner rather than later.
And then Miles gets sent off again and is gone for a very long time.
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isthisart
middlingalong
And then they steal back into their room, and Ivan makes friends with the fur, and they get some sleep.
thisvorlunatic
Lovely, lovely sleep.
Miles wakes up the next morning thoroughly blanketed by the affectionate fur. It doesn't snuggle, it strangles. And purrs the whole time, the vicious, cuddly assassin...
Miles wakes up the next morning thoroughly blanketed by the affectionate fur. It doesn't snuggle, it strangles. And purrs the whole time, the vicious, cuddly assassin...
middlingalong
Ivan, toothbrush sticking out of the corner of his mouth rather jauntily, remarks, "'t likes 'oo." He pets its corner. "Soft, innit, you want to rub it all over your skin."
thisvorlunatic
Miles squirms free of the fuzz at least far enough to growl, "Not an image I needed, Ivan." With some effort, he disentangles himself the rest of the way, and leaves the fur piled on his bed while he dresses and showers and generally makes ready for his day.
middlingalong
"Try to look like you've been in bed since yesterday afternoon," suggests Ivan.
They go to the little room where Miles does Ivan's job.
And then Miles is paged to Galeni's office, half an hour after their shift begins.
They go to the little room where Miles does Ivan's job.
And then Miles is paged to Galeni's office, half an hour after their shift begins.
Where Galeni is smiling, sort of, if you can call that scary put-on false grimace a smile. "Good morning. All over your acute osteo-inflammatory attack, are you?"
"Do sit down." And when Miles has sat: "I picked up a fascinating item on the news this morning. I thought you'd like to see it too."
thisvorlunatic
Miles would in fact rather have an acute osteo-inflammatory attack right there in Galeni's office, but he stays politely sat.
So Galeni shows him the news item.
The shop burns, the Admiral is interviewed, the news clip goes on for an uncomfortably long time.
Galeni switches it off when it's over. And looks Miles in the eye.
"Well?"
The shop burns, the Admiral is interviewed, the news clip goes on for an uncomfortably long time.
Galeni switches it off when it's over. And looks Miles in the eye.
"Well?"
thisvorlunatic
He takes a steadying breath.
"Sir, Commander Quinn called me in to handle this situation yesterday afternoon because I was the closest ranking Dendarii officer. It was a sound decision on her part. People could have died or been gravely injured without my intervention. I must apologize for my actions, but I cannot regret them."
"Sir, Commander Quinn called me in to handle this situation yesterday afternoon because I was the closest ranking Dendarii officer. It was a sound decision on her part. People could have died or been gravely injured without my intervention. I must apologize for my actions, but I cannot regret them."
"Oh, Lieutenant, an apology will hardly do this incident justice. You have apparently managed to teleport, AWOL, unguarded in defiance of standing orders. I have been deprived by a margin of seconds of the opportunity to inquire of headquarters where I ought to ship your barbecued corpse. And this left no ripple in my security records, this after I thought I put the fear of God into them following the incident with Lady Vorkosigan. No, Lieutenant, an apology will not suffice."
thisvorlunatic
"I... was not unguarded, sir," he says. "Commander Quinn met me at the scene."
"Then there is that fraction of the matter accounted for. You may instead start by explaining how you passed through the security net in both directions without a trace." Galeni is scowling fiercely.
thisvorlunatic
"I... left in a group of guests departing the reception through the main public entrance. Since I was not in my Barrayaran uniform, the guards assumed I was a member of the group." There. Fully true, and without bringing Ivan into it at all.
"There's half my answer," purrs Galeni.
thisvorlunatic
Miles doesn't actually know how Ivan diddled security to get him back in last night, or he'd try to come up with a carefully true explanation for that too. Fuck.
"You cannot protect Vorpatril," remarks Galeni. "I'm simply saving him for after you."
thisvorlunatic
"Ah," says Miles. He contemplates innocently asking how Galeni concluded that Ivan was involved. He thinks better of it. Instead:
"Everything Ivan did was done at my command. The responsibility is therefore also mine. I can produce a complete and accurate report of how I penetrated your security net, and I will, if you agree that no charges will fall on him."
"Everything Ivan did was done at my command. The responsibility is therefore also mine. I can produce a complete and accurate report of how I penetrated your security net, and I will, if you agree that no charges will fall on him."
"Your command, eh? Has it occurred to you yet that Lieutenant Vorpatril is above you in this chain of command?"
thisvorlunatic
"Um. It... had slipped my mind," Miles admits. (It's Ivan.)
"His too, it'd seem," mutters Galeni.
thisvorlunatic
Miles sighs.
"Yes, sir. I... had planned at first to be gone only as long as it took to deal with the immediate crisis, but then Admiral Naismith's duties—" He cuts himself off with a shake of his head. "Anyway. I came to the decision that I should return openly, but when I did get back and he'd gone to all that trouble, it seemed ungrateful..."
"Yes, sir. I... had planned at first to be gone only as long as it took to deal with the immediate crisis, but then Admiral Naismith's duties—" He cuts himself off with a shake of his head. "Anyway. I came to the decision that I should return openly, but when I did get back and he'd gone to all that trouble, it seemed ungrateful..."
"Besides," murmurs Galeni, "it looked like it might work..."