forbarrayar | [ march ii log: ageless beauty ]

Entry tags:

[ march ii log: ageless beauty ]

Who: Everyone!
What: The skies finally lighten, and so do spirits, but there are still quiet machinations in the dark. The good doctor's fate is finally decided.
When: March 18th - 31st
Where: Barrayaran camp, Cetagandan base & Riverfall Village
Warnings: TBD

Quick links:
Riverfall
Barrayar: Plague / Camp / Missions
Cetaganda: Plague / Base / Missions

First: Special thanks and credit to Vee (

veelynn) for lending us her beautiful photography for this event!
TIMELINE
3/19 Art Fair
3/20 York & Ratchet's arrival to the Barrayaran camp
3/22 Raid: Medical Supplies
3/26 Haut Sei's arrival, Eavesdropping Eta
3/27 Eavesdropping Sigma
3/27 - 3/28 Rat Race
3/29 Official reception for Haut Sei
3/30 Mystery Plot

One thing can be said for the month of March: at least the weather's gotten better. By mid-month, while the piled-up snow is slow to melt, the temperatures have now risen to just freezing rather than well below freezing. It's still a pretty cold March, but by this point, anything close to freezing feels like a balmy spring, and they have a nice string of sunny days for the rest of the month.

riverfall
Although their numbers have been thinned by the flu epidemic, Cetagandan patrols still pass regularly through the village, allowing those spying for the Cetagandans to pass along information via dead drop.

Riverfall was hit just as hard by the epidemic as the camp, and by the end of the month, the village houses no more than sixty people. The aid from the outsiders and soldiers in caring for and treating the sick goes a long way, but by the end, there are still a lot of bodies to bury and souls to burn death offerings for. There's an overall somber cast to the village despite the brightening weather.

barrayar
The Barrayarans haven't been hit as dramatically as the Cetagandans, but their numbers are much fewer, and patrols are still thin. Anyone healthy enough is being asked to pull double shifts, stretching their resources where they can, but at least the food situation is improving considerably thanks to both Xav's relief supplies and the lightening weather.

Once seeing both his daughters recover from the flu, Prince Xav leaves camp on the 19th to rendezvous with his transport back to Vorbarr Sultana so he can make another risky attempt at getting off-planet and back through the wormhole blockade. Ezar, as Piotr's aide-de-camp, sticks around -- and so does Negri, of course.

Knowing that it would be safer (if less comfortable) and possibly more useful for the Barrayarans to rendezvous with Micah rather than try to get them back off-planet, Xav leaves Doctor Niadem's fate in Barrayaran hands…and not to great result. Now that the Cetagandans have Micah, Piotr and his general staff -- and anyone in-the-know enough about the situation to provide any advisement -- are still debating what to do about Micah and the wormhole device. They could either try to rescue Micah to their side…or leave them in Cetagandan hands and hope to make contact via one of their informants.

This makes cultivating informants on the Cetagandan side an even higher priority, and if anyone has any ties to outsiders on the other side, personal or otherwise, Piotr wants to hear about it. Any intelligence about the Star Gate Project is vital.

plague
The ill in the camp and Riverfall are recovering, slowly, but the flu is still spreading, reaching its apex, and people are still getting sick. Even as the weather clears up, it's still damp, and many of the sick are falling to pneumonia, a near-certain death without antibiotics. They've already exhausted the medical supplies Xav and Ezar brought with them, and the medical raids went poorly -- only resulting in enough antibiotics for about 20% of the village and camp's combined population.

By the end of the month, though, the Barrayarans are finally beginning to pull through. The camp and village start to recover, with the mortalities over the month total to 58 influenza-related deaths. It's time to bury the death, burn a death offering, and keep on moving on.

camp
Both Olivia and Sonia have recovered from their bouts with the flu, more or less intact despite Olivia's very touch-and-go health for a while. Now Sonia's repaying everyone's visits to her by tending to the sick and helping out where she can. And as the weather warms up and people start to recover, the line for the bath tent starts getting longer…it's still pretty cold, but after lying around in the sickbay tent for a while, few people are going to complain for the chance to wash.

Morale is still buckling, so amidst all the doom and gloom, Sonia decides to try and bring a little levity to the camp by hosting a makeshift little art show on the 19th. The Princess can often be seen with her old antique camera, taking candids or scenic pictures in the mountains, although she rarely shows her work to anyone else. Tonight, though, she has hung up a variety of her black-and-white photos around the camp for the art fair -- some of the candids are even of outsiders, and Sonia's aim seems to be catching everyone in their warmest, happiest moment. There's no sense of tragedy or despair in her work.

She's encouraged as many of the soldiers and outsiders to contribute anything in the way of art -- stories, songs, performance, or craft, she invites it all. A few soldiers make a surprisingly harmonic little chorus, and some visiting villagers give engaging tellings of Barrayaran legends. Lakshmi shows off some of her embroidery, and Beth and Tucker both bring a little singing to the table, although the majority of Barrayarans probably aren't going to appreciate a cappella Queen. Daryl shoots a mouse and either fails to understand art entirely or transcends to a brand new plane of artistic enlightenment. Also, please don't let Tucker pose nude for you.

It winds up doing some good for morale -- giving the soldiers some other context to focus on besides the war, something of an escape, or a reminder of what they're fighting for and what they long to live to see again. And for the first time, Sonia doesn't feel quite so useless.

missions
The medical assistance provided by the outsiders doesn't go unappreciated, nor without effect. Not every day is a success, but at least they manage to keep the mortality rate from climbing too high.

The medical raids are a near-unmitigated disaster, with every single raiding party running afoul of Cetagandan guards and losing some of their bounty on the way out. They only manage to make away with supplies/topicals/OTC analgesics for 40% of the population, vaccine for 20% of the population, and antibiotics for 35% of the population.

The race to Micah's location in Vorkosigan Vashnoi is a frantic one, but despite the outsiders' efforts as well as Natasha, Byerly and Kaidan's efforts to slow down the Cetagandans, the Cetagandans get to Doctor Micah Niadem first.

Here are the unabridged mission results.

cetaganda
Piotr's attempt at psychological warfare was a total success: Zahal is furious over the severed body parts of his own soldiers discovered around the camp, and even more so over the wholly unintentional but devastating biowarfare that comes with it. That part has Piotr rather tickled.

With full intel on Micah's location in hand, Zahal sends as many able-bodied squads to Vorkosigan Vashnoi as he can, including several exotics. Natasha, Kaidan and Byerly work covertly to try and slow the operation down, but ultimately, the Cetagandans still reach Micah first and bring them back to base -- taking proper precaution to vaccinate them before bringing them in, of course. It wouldn't do for their newest and very valuable asset to suddenly die of some backwater plague.

The Cetagandan base is still pretty thin on the personnel front, but they're managing to continue operations as normal. The announcement of the visit from the Handmaiden of the Star Crèche has every able-bodied person on base in a frenzy as they try to prepare and make the base suitable for receiving her. This is clearly an occasion of great honor as well as face -- if she were improperly received, ghem-General Zahal and Lady Diya would surely suffer for it.

plague
The plague reaches its apex in the Cetagandan base, but with Ratchet and Natasha's help, they were able to synthesize a vaccine for the flu. The quarantine isn't airtight, so there's still risk of infection, and they have to make sure those distributing the vaccine aren't at risk of spreading the infection. Overall, they're able to inoculate about 80% of the uninfected population.

Amai makes a full recovery, despite being dramatically (albeit not entirely unrealistically) convinced she was on death's door every second.

By the end of the month, the Barrayaran flu has about a 30% mortality rate on the Cetagandan base, resulting in about 3000 influenza-related deaths.

base
The quarantine remains in effect until nearly the end of the month, but finally, once the epidemic has died down and the Handmaiden has been vaccinated, Haut Sei Navarr arrives. The base hurriedly puts together a formal reception for her on the 30th, and rather than another party, it is just that -- a clearly ritualized receiving of her presence, so rarely seen beyond Eta Ceta, let alone the rest of the Empire.

The reception for Haut Sei is exceedingly formal, and unlike the relatively lighter air of the party last month, inappropriate behavior is going to be much less generously tolerated here. The exotics are not required to attend, but if they do, it'll be about a four-hour reception with a clear ritual protocol that will nonetheless seem very obtuse to outside viewers. Diya is prominent in the reception, being the only other haut on base, and is in fact the only one truly suited to receive her -- although, unlike Diya, Haut Sei does not appear in public unmasked. As is the custom of haut ladies still in their constellations, Haut Sei travels in a float chair encased in an opaque force bubble -- she can see out, but no one can see in. She brings with her a small entourage of servitors known as the ba, who serve not only as testing grounds for new genetic combinations, but are also genetically engineered for loyalty and service. Ba are not clones -- each ba is a work of art unto itself, each carefully created, and while they are not quite so fey in their beauty, the aesthetic effort is undeniable. All of the ba with Haut Sei are curiously hairless, which seems to be a popular trend in their design among the haut these days.

Meanwhile on the scientific end, the Cetagandans are delving deeper into what is officially referred to as the Star Gate Project. They're working with Satya to build a hard-light mapping device, but in the meantime, they have laid out the most crucial parts needed to build it: high-precision electromagnetic bearings to hold up the Necklin rods and spin them by a magnetic field for reduced friction; high-quality seals and pumps to create the necessary vacuum required for precise jump-plotting; something generating EM shielding to prevent interference, a problem unique to creating a Necklin field of this size and in this environment; and high-precision controls and controls software based on those used in existing jump ships, modifications for which are underway. And, of course, the Necklin rods themselves, which they have yet to figure out a way to fabricate.

And now that Micah is on base, the Cetagandans can finally put them to work in the wormhole lab on some of those elusive five-space math problems.

They're still developing their theory of neural netting and how a Necklin field might directly interact with the human brain without a jump implant. Based on their research so far, this may not actually be much of a problem, but there's another factor they have yet to work out: how to key the Star Gate to an exotics' own home universe. The Cetagandan neurologists have a few theories that they're working with Deanna and Natasha on.

missions
With help from the exotics, they're able to vaccinate 80% of the base's uninfected population. Satya and Pearl, despite their hard efforts, have yet to finish the hard-light mapping device by the end of the month.

A few exotics learn a bit more about Sei and Diya's history, as well as Diya and Amai's plans for covering up their less than authorized experiments. It also comes to light that the haut are planning to open gene therapy trials for any exotics who experienced power loss.

The race to Micah's location in Vorkosigan Vashnoi is a frantic one, but despite the outsiders' efforts as well as Natasha, Byerly and Kaidan's efforts to slow down the Cetagandans, the Cetagandans get to Doctor Micah Niadem first.

Here are the unabridged mission results.

Note: Negri, Amai, Zahal, and Olivia are available for threads by request only. Please hit up Madi (Negri & Amai) or Ammay (Zahal & Olivia) respectively for you want threads with either of those NPCs. You can also request a thread with Village Speaker Yakiv Gura if you want, in which case hit up Madi.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He's learned his fair share of trapping before Daryl became sick. The man's illness had forced Duv to apply that knowledge practically for a while with the help of Beth lest the traps go untended. It had drilled the knowledge into his head and he's happy to share what he knows of basic survival with Wash. He leads the way as they speak, glancing occasionally at the other man. What Wash had brought back had been disappointing. Duv had seen Vorkosigan Vashnoi himself, but the events Wash had been part of had been another set of historical importance that he wishes the man had seen more of. ]

You never did explain fully why that was, [ he remarks dryly and raises a brow. He's waiting for a good explanation, Wash. ]

[ He hadn't explained mostly because he still isn't very happy with what happened, and he -- mostly just has himself to blame. He'd acted out of frustration, more than anything else, just wasn't thinking. He was lucky. It could've been worse. It could have been a whole lot worse, not just for him, but for the mission, for the safety of others. The explanation he'd given before was simple, run-in with the Cetagandans, stunner fire. ]

A mistake on my part. [ It's clear from his tone that he's not at all happy with himself about it. ] I underestimated him. Byerly Vorrutyer.

[ Duv's eyes narrow at the name. It's been no secret that he's been on unpleasant terms with the Vor since they're meeting here. Miles had shed some light on Byerly's occupation, but Duv didn't fully trust the man and he could tell Byerly didn't trust him. ]

You had a run in with Byerly? [ The question is accompanied with a brow raise. He would love to hear the details. ]

[ His tone is heavy with a bitterness in it, the kind of thing that Wash would normally keep out of his voice -- but Duv is a friend, and maybe Wash just hasn't been in the best frame of mind since the mission. It might be clear, too, how that bitterness isn't necessarily directed at Byerly. It might mostly be directed at himself. ]

To put it lightly.

I tried to corner him, but he -- was quicker with the stunner, than I expected.

[ He notes the bitterness even if he's not entirely sure how to read its direction. He frowns as he imagines the scenario. As much as he hates the man, Byerly was Imperial Security trained. ]

Do you know if the stunner was issued to him or stolen?

[ Because as strange of a question as that is, Duv has to know how much the Cetagandans trust Byerly. Enough to be armed or had the man made the most of the situation as he was trained to do? ]

[ Huh. An interesting question, not one he'd considered -- and Duv has a whole lot more context than he does about this whole mess. He frowns, runs back through what he remembers of the mission on his head. ]

-- Was there a way for me to tell, just visually? Otherwise, I'm not sure. [ He shakes his head. ] There was once when he pointed out to me that he was using a Cetagandan weapon.

Barrayar doesn't have stunners at this time unless they've stolen them. [ So the make and model of the stunner would be of no use, all of them were likely to be Cetagandan weapons at some point. ]

So visually no though I do wonder why he felt the need to tell you his weapon was Cetagandan. [ Likely to confuse Wash, the galactic outsider. ]

[ Because Wash had implied that Byerly might not be working for the Cetagandans, after all. But he's, ah. Not going to talk about that. ]

More likely it was issued, though. He was there in the first place, after all -- part of the team they sent.

Already they trust him that far? [ He frowns. Either Byerly works very well and quickly or he's offered up something valuable in exchange for their trust. ]

Did you see what he was doing there? Besides their main objective.

He's a clever little bastard, isn't he? [ With a grimace. Wash, at this point, is sure of Byerly's actual loyalties. Doesn't mean he dislikes him any less, though. ]

No. I think he was helping to cover their retreat, after they'd gotten ahold of the scientist.

Yes, he is. [ And Duv wonders how much about Byerly Wash knows about. No doubt his source would be Miles, the younger man did love to talk. ]

How much do you know about him?

[ Miles has actually been remarkably tight-lipped about Byerly. What Wash knows, he's figured out on his own. All the more reason he's cautious about it. ]

Not all that much. Just what Byerly told me himself. [ And his tone indicates that he's sure that means it's all lies. ]

And I'm sure that was padded with extraneous information. [ Because Duv too has met Byerly and doesn't believe most of what comes out of the man's mouth. ]

I never met him back home, I only have what I've learned here to go by.

He's -- a good liar. [ A very good liar, unfortunately. ] Guess that'd be why he managed to stay here for so long to begin with.

What've you learned?

He claimed to be uninterested in working with me. [ Whether that was because he was Komarran or the man wanted to distance himself from being 'Imperial Service' while here, Duv still isn't certain. ]

I thought he was more interested in partying, but it seems he's found his own work to do. [ There's a pause as he considers Wash. The man was putting his life on the line for Barrayar, it was best he knew. ] What I'm about to tell you doesn't leave us.

[ Wash looks around at him at that, his eyes narrowing slightly. He's his own suspicions about Byerly, formed after his own opinions, his own observations, following a thread that no one else could've seen apart from him unless Miles had decided to blabber on about it, and something Duv had told him when he first arrived had informed that suspicion, too. Duv's told him a lot. Possibly too much. And he does appreciate the trust, and if Duv wasn't someone he thought of as a friend Wash would take the information without any misgivings, but, well. ]

Of course, but. Galeni. [ Looking at him carefully. ] You're trusting me with a lot.

[ It's not a no, don't tell me -- it's just. A reminder. He'll hear whatever it is Duv has to tell him, and no one will hear of it from him, but. Think this through. ]

[ He is trusting Wash with a lot, but in this time period, he knows he has to trust someone if he wants to make it through alive. His options happen to be rather limited and a neutral party removed enough from the conflict that involves his home planet happens to be a safer bet than most. ]

As you're aware, I have few allies in camp. [ Though his brows are raised in question. If Wash would rather Duv keep his peace, he will. Though it's not as if he owes Byerly any allegiance with the way the man made it very clear that he didn't consider Duv his superior officer here. ]

[ There's a bit of a problem, though -- Wash isn't quite as removed from the conflict, anymore. He's picked a side, might be a little in over his head with how far he's involved with some things, honestly.

He nods, though. ] You can count me as one, just. Be careful.

What's this about, then?

He serves in the Imperial Service on Barrayar as an officer. [ The truth, but partial. The in the spy branch is conveniently left out. ]

I would guess he has a foolhardy plan to aid Barrayar up his sleeves, but given his assurances he had no intentions to do anything useful, it's hard to tell.

[ Another piece of the puzzle. Things are falling together, in Wash's head. He still isn't sure but he has enough things to be pretty damn close to it, and what Duv just told him is another push in that direction. Natasha will be who he needs to confirm it. He already means to ask her, when he sees her later -- and then it'd be straight to Miles to see if he's right or not.

Maybe too involved. All Wash does is nod, though, frowning. ]

I could tell he had training, of some kind. [ The way he'd moved, it was precise. ] Does that really make it any less likely he's turned?

I don't know, [ he answers honestly. Duv prefers to deal in facts instead of making assumptions. There's a reason he works as a data analyst now. ]

He is untitled, but from the military caste. His family is well-known in Barrayar's history although I have not studied his branch of their family tree.

[ Ah, this is something Wash could certainly do with more learning about, though -- and since it's history, surely it can't be that much of a risk to Duv to share it. ]

The Vorrutyers? [ The question there implies he knows essentially nothing about them, and yes, he doesn't, aside from Byerly, aside from them maybe coming up sometimes around Duv's lessons. ] Byerly had mentioned he was disinherited.

That would explain his... personality. [ Vor town clown. Or at least, the persona he's cultivated for himself even here. ]

Yes, the Vorrutyers. They're closely tied with the Imperial line on Barrayar. Or at least those in the Count's direct line which Byerly is not.

[ Politics on Barrayar are complicated, too much so for some stranger to be able to understand them too easily, lessons or not -- but he knows that there are Vor, and that there are higher Vor. The Vorbarras are the imperial line, and Vorkosigans are somewhere up there, and apparently the Vorrutyers are closely tied to them, as well. Information to file away. ]

Is him being a Vorrutyer significant, in any way? [ It's prompting -- Duv knows how little context Wash has, here. He'd appreciate the information around it, if Duv is inclined to give it. ]

Here? That depends on what tales he's spun. In our time, it means nothing beyond carrying the legacy of the name. He has no title and if he is truly disinherited, he is living off of his own finances.

[ No trust fund or external sources of luxury to drain dry on whatever extravagant lifestyle Byerly settled on for himself. Only his meager allowances as an officer. ]

iv

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